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Author Henry, S.; Fureix, C.; Rowberry, R.; Bateson, M.; Hausberger, M.
Title Do horses with poor welfare show 'pessimistic' cognitive biases? Type Journal Article
Year 2017 Publication The Science of Nature Abbreviated Journal Sci. Nat.
Volume 104 Issue 1 Pages 8
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Abstract This field study tested the hypothesis that domestic horses living under putatively challenging-to-welfare conditions (for example involving social, spatial, feeding constraints) would present signs of poor welfare and co-occurring pessimistic judgement biases. Our subjects were 34 horses who had been housed for over 3 years in either restricted riding school situations (e.g. kept in single boxes, with limited roughage, ridden by inexperienced riders; N = 25) or under more naturalistic conditions (e.g. access to free-range, kept in stable social groups, leisure riding; N = 9). The horses' welfare was assessed by recording health-related, behavioural and postural indicators. Additionally, after learning a location task to discriminate a bucket containing either edible food ('positive' location) or unpalatable food ('negative' location), the horses were presented with a bucket located near the positive position, near the negative position and halfway between the positive and negative positions to assess their judgement biases. The riding school horses displayed the highest levels of behavioural and health-related problems and a pessimistic judgment bias, whereas the horses living under more naturalistic conditions displayed indications of good welfare and an optimistic bias. Moreover, pessimistic bias data strongly correlated with poor welfare data. This suggests that a lowered mood impacts a non-human species' perception of its environment and highlights cognitive biases as an appropriate tool to assess the impact of chronic living conditions on horse welfare.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1432-1904 ISBN (up) Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Henry2017 Serial 6665
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Author Hausberger, M.; Richard-Yris, M.-A.
Title Individual differences in the domestic horse, origins, development and stability Type Book Chapter
Year 2005 Publication The domestic horse : the origins, development, and management of its behaviour Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 33-52
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Cambridge University Press 2005 Place of Publication Cambridge Editor Mills, D.S.; McDonnell,
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN (up) 13 978-0-521-81414-6 Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Feh2005 Serial 4819
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