Abstract: Verf. gibt einen Ueberblick ueber: 1) Grundausbildung des Reiters: a) Vorbedingungen fuer eine erfolgreiche Ausbildung, b) Sitz und Sitzschulung, c) Einwirkung des Reiters, d) Reiten von Grunduebungen und Dressurlektionen, e) Springausbildung, f) Gelaendereiten sowie 2) Grundausbildung des Pferdes: a) Grundkenntnisse fuer den Ausbilder ueber Charakter und Wesen des Pferdes, Grundsaetze und Erziehung, anatomisch-physiologische Voraussetzungen, b) Allgemeine Grundausbildung, c) Grundausbildung im Springen und im Gelaende, d) Arbeit mit Pferden mit Gebaeude- und Temperamentsfehlern. Schiffer

Abstract: This experiment was designed to determine if a horse could learn the location of grain by watching another horse find grain in one of two feed buckets. Both experimental and control groups contained 9 quarter horses consisting of five 2-year-old mares, two 2-year-old geldings, and two 3-year-old geldings. Two mature geldings were used as “demonstrators”. An “experimental” was a horse that could watch three times daily another horse, the “demonstrator”, choose between and eat grain from a black or white bucket, only one of which contained grain. A “control” was a horse that could watch a demonstrator in the same arena for 3 min daily when both feed buckets were removed. When the demonstrator was removed on each of 15 successive days, the experimental or control horse was given five trials to determine if it could find the feed bucket with grain. No significant difference between experimentals and controls occurred for both first and total correct choices and for time to reach the feed bucket with grain. We conclude that no observational learning occurred. This experiment was also used to determine if the identity of horses that learned rapidly by trial and error could be predicted by the time it took to reach the feed bucket with grain. Data from the last three trials of experimentals and controls were combined. Significantly less time to find feed was needed by horses with more than the median number of correct choices. Both number of correct choices and time needed to contact a feed bucket summed over the first 5 days accurately predicted the same data summed over the last 10 days. We conclude that horses that learn rapidly by trial and error make correct choices rapidly, and that these horses can by identified after 5 days of testing.

Abstract: Forty weanling Quarter Horses, from the Pitchfork Ranch, Dickens, Texas, were randomly assigned to one of five groups based on the amount of handling they would receive. The five groups were: (1) limited handling; (2) 1 week of handling; (3) 2 weeks of handling; (4) 3 weeks of handling; (5) continuous handling for 18 months. As 2-year-olds, the horses were tested in a simple place-learning T-maze after being preconditioned. A maximum of 30 daily trials were conducted for 20 consecutive days, with feed location alternating between sides on successive days. If a horse met the criterion of 11 out of 12 correct responses with 8 correct responses being consecutive, it was retired without completing the 30 trials. Group 1 made fewer correct responses during the 20 days than any other group except Group 3. All groups achieved learning by Day 10, but the most-handled group reached a consistently higher percentage of correct responses earlier than the less-handled groups. Group 5, the group receiving the most handling, was the least emotional, as determined by the animals' reactivity to a novel stimulus, and received the highest scores for trainability after being ridden. Preconditioning trainability scores, or estimates of the horses' ability to learn prior to conditioning and testing, tended to predict maze-learning ability. These scores were also significantly correlated with post-maze training scores.