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| Author | McGee, S.; Smith, H.V. | ||||
| Title | Accompanying pre-weaned Thoroughbred (Equus caballus) foals while separated from the mare during covering reduces behavioural signs of distress exhibited | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2004 | Publication | Applied Animal Behaviour Science | Abbreviated Journal | Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume | 88 | Issue | 1-2 | Pages  |
137-147 |
| Keywords | Distress; Foals; Maternal separation; Stereotypies; Welfare | ||||
| Abstract | Some Thoroughbred stallion farms separate the mare from the foal during breeding, leaving the foal alone in its stall. Such separation often leads to distress in the foal, as evidenced by behavioural indicators such as vocalisations, pacing or moving about, pawing and striking the body against solid objects. This study examined whether the foal's distress is reduced if a handler accompanies it during the period of separation. A total of 57 foals on an Irish stud farm were observed: 27 foals were accompanied during separation and 30 were left in isolation but discretely observed from outside the stall. On average, unaccompanied foals vocalised at significantly (P<0.001) shorter intervals (14.8 s versus 26.8 s), and spent significantly (P<0.05) more time pawing (29.6 s versus 6.8 s) than accompanied ones. In addition, 17 of the unaccompanied foals hurled themselves against a solid object on at least one occasion, while not one of the accompanied foals did this (P<0.001). Age, gender and number of times the foal had been previously separated from the mare while she was being teased or covered were not significantly related to any of the behavioural indicators of distress. Overall, the data provide clear evidence that accompanying a foal reduces the distress that it exhibits when separated from the mare. This procedure has obvious welfare benefits in the short term, in that the foal both experiences less distress and has a reduced likelihood of injuring itself, and it may have longer-term benefits by reducing the chance of the animal later developing a locomotory stereotypical behaviour. | ||||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 3639 | ||
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| Author | Williams, J.L.; Friend, T.H.; Toscano, M.J.; Collins, M.N.; Sisto-Burt, A.; Nevill, C.H. | ||||
| Title | The effects of early training sessions on the reactions of foals at 1, 2, and 3 months of age | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2002 | Publication | Applied Animal Behaviour Science | Abbreviated Journal | Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume | 77 | Issue | 2 | Pages |
105-114 |
| Keywords | Equine; Imprint training; Imprinting; Learning; Training; Handling; Foal | ||||
| Abstract | An early training procedure commonly termed “foal imprint training” is widely promoted in the horse industry. However, there have been no published scientific investigations of its efficacy. This study determined the effects of a training procedure on foals and their reaction to stimuli used in the early training procedure, and to a novel stimulus, at 1, 2 and 3 months of age. Twenty-five foals received a standard training procedure at 2, 12, 24, and 48 h after birth. After the training procedure, the foals received minimal additional handling that included veterinary treatments and occasional relocation. Twenty-two foals born over the same time period served as controls. All 47 (25 trained, 22 control) foals were tested at 1 month of age. Only 20 were available for testing at 2 months of age, and nine were available at 3 months. Percentage change from baseline heart rate, time required to complete exposure to each stimulus (foals that were more reactive took longer) and the behavior of each foal during the introduction of each stimulus were recorded. Overall, the control foals tended to receive lower (better) behavioral scores at 1 and 2 months of age. Foals that underwent the training procedure tended to require less time to complete exposure to the stimulus and had lower heart rates during exposure to the stimuli at 1 and 2 months of age. By 3 months of age, there were no significant differences between trained and control foals for any measures. Early training was not efficacious in this study. | ||||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 4331 | ||
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| Author | Waran, N.K.; Clarke, N.; Farnworth, M. | ||||
| Title | The effects of weaning on the domestic horse (Equus caballus) | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2008 | Publication | Applied Animal Behaviour Science | Abbreviated Journal | Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume | 110 | Issue | 1-2 | Pages |
42-57 |
| Keywords | Behaviour; Foal; Horse; Stress; Weaning; Welfare | ||||
| Abstract | For free-living or feral horses weaning takes place naturally at around 8-9 months [Gill, E.L., 1988. Factors affecting body condition of New Forest Ponies. Ph.D. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Southampton]. Some mares will continue to suckle their foal until shortly before the arrival of their next foal, gestation being approximately 342 days depending upon the breed of the horse [Ropiha, R.T., Mathews, G., Butterfield, R.M., 1969. The duration of pregnancy in Thoroughbred mares. Vet. Rec. 84, 552-555]. Under domestic conditions, weaning tends to take place earlier, typically between 4 and 6 months of age. The weaning process has been identified as associated with potential psychological, physical and nutritional stressors that are of welfare concern. Following a review of the literature it is evident that there is a need for detailed research into what should constitute best practice with respect to foal and mare welfare. In addition, there is a need to understand the potential long-term impact of weaning on, for example, trainability and later maternal behaviour, and whether the stresses associated with early weaning have detrimental effects on the performance horse. There is also a lack of clear information concerning the most frequently observed weaning practices and the reasons why certain weaning methods are chosen. Some variables should be closely managed during weaning in order to minimise stress responses. These include: early creep feeding to familiarise the young animal with the food it will be exposed to during weaning, feeding a high fibre diet and keeping the animal in extensive conditions using a gradual approach to weaning. However, we conclude that there may not be one best method for weaning, since the chosen method must take into account a number of factors including: available resources, the housing environment, the individual foal's stage of development, the strength of the mare-foal attachment, the foal's ability to cope with changes in social conditions and the ability of the horse owner to implement the chosen method. We do however suggest that the fewest stress responses appear to occur where foals are weaned gradually and allowed to have social contact either with other foals or with older horses. | ||||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Admin @ knut @ | Serial | 4348 | ||
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| Author | De Pasquale, A.; Ingala, A.; Innella, G.; Luigiano, G.; Malara, L.; Panzera, M. | ||||
| Title | The influence of the enriched environment on the reactivity of the precociously handled foals (Equus caballus L.). | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2008 | Publication | IESM 2008 | Abbreviated Journal | |
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| Keywords | Foal, Handling, Enriched environment, Reactivity. | ||||
| Abstract | In a preliminary study, we evaluated the effect of precocious handling (at birth, 10, 30 and 60 days) and enriched environment on foal. Two experimental groups were created: - 3 foals not handled and stabled in semi-enriched environment (Group A). - 6 foals handled and stabled in an enriched environment (Group B). All nine foals were tested with a novel object test (umbrella) at three months of age, to assess the Heart Rate (HR) values measured by a telemetric heart rate monitor (Polar Horse Trainer), during opening, touching and closing of the umbrella. The statistical analysis carried out by means of the Mann-Whitney test showed lower HR values of the foals of group B (P<0.05). Furthermore we have investigated 10 foals born between 2006 and 2008 to study the influence of enriched environment and precocious handling on behavioural responsiveness. The foals were housed on a farm which ensured an enriched environment and made social intra and interspecific interactions easier, alias autoshaping. They were submitted to: - Handling within 24 hours from birth. - Handling and reactivity test (arena test) executed at 10, 30 and 60 days. The temporal correlation was studied among ages and baseline HR values, using the Spearman"s test, to assess the beginning of neurovegetative HR control. In fact statistically significant differences were obtained (r = -0.431; P<0,02). Temporal values of obtained HR baseline, using the Wilcoxon test, showed lower values at 60 days. The comparison was significant among mean and max baseline HR values of 30 vs 60 and 10 vs 60 (P<0.05), while no differences were observed during the reactivity test. This shows that adequate conditions of management associated to a precocious and continuous handling allow the foals to maintain their natural investigative behaviour disappearing fear and flight reactions. |
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| Address | Dept. of Experimental Sciences and Applied Biotechnologies, Unit of Applied Physiology and Comparative Ethology , Faculty of Veterinary Medicine – University of Messina, Italy. | ||||
| Corporate Author | De Pasquale, A | Thesis | |||
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| Area | Expedition | Conference | IESM 2008 | ||
| Notes | Talk 15 min IESM 2008 | Approved | yes | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 4486 | ||
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| Author | Komárková, M.; Bartošová, J. | ||||
| Title | Lateralized suckling in domestic horse foals (Equus caballus) | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2012 | Publication | Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 2. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
| Volume | in press | Issue | Pages |
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| Keywords | laterality; suckling; horse; foal | ||||
| Abstract | Animals with eyes placed laterally on their head would respond differently to stimuli detected on their different sides. Visual cues from the left eye are processed in the right hemisphere which controls the intensive emotion expression and fast response to the stimuli, while the left hemisphere receiving the information from the contralateral eye is responsible for the routine behaviour and concentration. Different use of left/right eye for exploring environment and evaluation of different stimuli was recently described in domestic horses. They use left eye predominantly for watching novel object or frightening stimulus which indicates specialization of right hemisphere (RH) for appraisal of these types of stimuli. We presumed such lateralisation also in foals during suckling when only monocular vision can be employed for observing surroundings (foals suck mostly in antiparallel body position). Two mutually exclusive hypotheses about the origin of probable foal’s preference for particular suckling side were postulated: 1) visual lateralization, then the foals should suck more often from the mother’s right side (‘from right’), so as potential danger would be detected by the better adapted right hemisphere (i.e. left eye); 2) motor lateralization (the analogous concept as human “handness”), then a foal should suck predominantly from one side, either left or right, more often. Within two seasons, suckling behaviour of 59 Kladruby mares giving birth to 79 foals was observed from deliveries to abrupt weaning (4-7 months of age). From 10 607 recorded suckling solicitations, 50.2% were performed from right, thus there was no preference of the suckling side on a population level. However, we found large variability in the probability of suckling from right among individual foals (p<0.0001); the probability ranged from 0.22-0.98. One third of the foals (35.4%) showed strong, either right (N=13) or left (N=15) side preference which further strengthened with age (interaction suckling side preference*foal’s age: p<0.0001). Other tested variables, i.e. sex of the foal, age of the mother and identity of the herd were not significant. The probability that the mother rejected foal’s suckling solicitation (N=108) did not differ according to the suckling side (right/left) or suckling side preference (right/left/no preference). Suckling bout duration was not significantly influenced neither by the suckling side nor suckling side preference regardless the mother or the foal terminated the suckling bout. In conclusion, only 16 % of the foals revealed significant right side preference for suckling while 19 % left side and 65 % no preference. Thus, we can reject the visual hypothesis because a general trait to suck with left eye open for better danger detection and recognition is unlikely to occur, at least in up to 7 months old foals. Such a young foal is probably fully focused on suckling and relies on mother’s vigilance. Observed individual side preferences indicated more likely a kind of motor lateralization in part of the foals. Further research is needed to clear up the effects of age and individual experience of the foal. Supported by AWIN, EU FP7 project No. 266213. | ||||
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| Corporate Author | Komárková, M. | Thesis | |||
| Publisher | Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krueger, K. |
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| ISSN | 978-3-9808134-26 | ISBN | Medium | ||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5505 | ||
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