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| Author |
Fureix, C.; Bourjade, M.; Henry, S.; Sankey, C.; Hausberger, M. |
| Title |
Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2012 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume |
138 |
Issue |
3–4 |
Pages |
216-228 |
| Keywords |
Horses; Social behaviour; Aggression regulation; Coping in group; Management; Social development |
| Abstract |
Horses are highly social animals that have evolved to live in social groups. However, in modern husbandry systems, single housing prevails where horses experience social isolation, a challenge-to-welfare factor. One major reason for this single housing is the owners’ concerns that horses may injure each other during aggressive encounters. However, in natural conditions, serious injuries due to aggressive encounters are rare. What could therefore explain the claimed risks of group living for domestic horses? Basing our questioning on the current knowledge of the social life of horses in natural conditions, we review different practices that may lead to higher levels of aggression in horses and propose practical solutions. Observations of natural and feral horses mostly indicate a predominance of low frequencies and mild forms of aggression, based on subtle communication signals and ritualized displays and made possible by group stability (i.e. stable composition), dominance hierarchy and learning of appropriate social skills by young horses. Obviously, adults play a major role here in canalizing undesirable behaviours, and social experience during development, associated with a diversity of social partners, seems to be a prerequisite for the young horse to become socially skilled. Given the natural propensity of horses to have a regulation of aggression in groups, the tendency to display more aggression in groups of domestic horses under some management practices seems clearly related to the conditions offered. We therefore review the managing practices that could trigger aggressiveness in horses. Non social practices (space, resource availability) and social practices (group size, stability of membership, composition and opportunities for social experiences during development) in groups of domestic horses are discussed here. Finally, we propose simple practical solutions leading to more peaceful interactions in groups of domestic horses, based on the knowledge of horses’ natural social life which therefore should be enhanced (e.g. ensuring roughage availability, favouring group stability, introducing socially experienced adults in groups of young horses, etc.). The state of the art indicates that many questions still need to be answered. Given the importance of the associated welfare issues and the consequences on the use of horses, further research is required, which could benefit horses… and humans. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5648 |
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| Author |
Sankey, C.; Henry, S.; Clouard, C.; Richard-Yris, M.-A.; Hausberger, M. |
| Title |
Asymmetry of behavioral responses to a human approach in young naive vs. trained horses |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Physiology & Behavior |
Abbreviated Journal |
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| Volume |
104 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
464-468 |
| Keywords |
Laterality; Emotionality; Human approach; Horse |
| Abstract |
The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of training experience on young horses (Equus caballus)’ lateralized responses to an approaching human. The results show that the one year old untrained horses display asymmetrical responses to an approaching human, with more negative reactions (escapes, threats) when approached from the left side, while approaches towards the right shoulder elicited more positive behaviors. On the contrary, two years old trained horses reacted equally positively to approaches and contact on both sides. Our findings support those of previous studies investigating a link between emotionality and laterality and confirm the role of the left hemisphere in the processing of novel or negative stimuli. Moreover, the data underline the impact work and training can have on this laterality in horses. |
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0031-9384 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5688 |
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| Author |
Henry, S.; Zanella, A.J.; Sankey, C.; Richard-Yris, M.-A.; Marko, A.; Hausberger, M. |
| Title |
Adults may be used to alleviate weaning stress in domestic foals (Equus caballus) |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2012 |
Publication |
Physiology & Behavior |
Abbreviated Journal |
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| Volume |
106 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
428-438 |
| Keywords |
Weaning; Social influence; Abnormal behaviours; Young-adult interactions; Welfare; Horse |
| Abstract |
The present study aims to investigate whether the presence of unrelated adult horses at weaning would reduce the social stress of weaning and the emergence of undesirable behaviours. We tested this hypothesis in 32 domestic foals by comparing short and medium term behavioural and physiological responses to weaning in foals maintained in homogeneous groups of peers (PW) to those of foals grouped with both peers and unrelated adults (AW). In total, three trials were conducted, which each trial consisting of one AW group and one PW group. In all foals, weaning was followed by increased vocalization, increased locomotion and increased salivary cortisol concentration. However, signs of stress were less pronounced and shorter in duration in weanlings housed with unrelated adults (e.g. whinnies: p < 0.05; salivary cortisol: p < 0.05). Only foals without adults exhibited increased aggressiveness towards peers (p < 0.05) and abnormal behaviours (p < 0.05) such as excessive wood-chewing and redirected sucking towards peers. In conclusion, introducing adults to minimize weaning stress in foals and later on aggressiveness and abnormal behaviours appears as the most promising approach to date. |
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0031-9384 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5689 |
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Hausberger, M.; Gautier, E.; Biquand, V.; Lunel, C.; Jégo, P. |
| Title |
Could Work Be a Source of Behavioural Disorders? A Study in Horses |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2009 |
Publication |
PLoS ONE |
Abbreviated Journal |
PLoS ONE |
| Volume |
4 |
Issue |
10 |
Pages |
e7625 EP - |
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<p>Stress at work, as shown by a number of human studies, may lead to a variety of negative and durable effects, such as impaired psychological functioning (anxiety, depression…). Horses share with humans this characteristic of working on a daily basis and are submitted then to work stressors related to physical constraints and/or more “psychological” conflicts, such as potential controversial orders from the riders or the requirement to suppress emotions. On another hand, horses may perform abnormal repetitive behaviour (“stereotypies”) in response to adverse life conditions. In the present study, we investigated whether the type of work the horses are used for may have an impact on their tendency to show stereotypic behaviour (and its type) outside work. Observations in their box of 76 horses all living in the same conditions, belonging to one breed and one sex, revealed that the prevalence and types of stereotypies performed strongly depended upon the type of work they were used for. The stereotypies observed involved mostly mouth movements and head tossing/nodding. Work constraints probably added to unfavourable living conditions, favouring the emergence of chronic abnormal behaviours. This is especially remarkable as the 23 hours spent in the box were influenced by the one hour work performed every day. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of potential effects of work stressors on the emergence of abnormal behaviours in an animal species. It raises an important line of thought on the chronic impact of the work situation on the daily life of individuals.</p> |
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Public Library of Science |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5707 |
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Sankey, C.; Henry, S.; André, N.; Richard-Yris, M.-A.; Hausberger, M. |
| Title |
Do Horses Have a Concept of Person? |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2011 |
Publication |
PLoS ONE |
Abbreviated Journal |
PLoS ONE |
| Volume |
6 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
e18331 EP - |
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<sec> <title>Background</title> <p>Animals' ability for cross-modal recognition has recently received much interest. Captive or domestic animals seem able to perceive cues of human attention and appear to have a multisensory perception of humans.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>Methodology/Principal Findings</title> <p>Here, we used a task where horses have to remain immobile under a vocal order to test whether they are sensitive to the attentional state of the experimenter, but also whether they behave and respond differently to the familiar order when tested by a familiar or an unknown person. Horses' response varied according to the person's attentional state when the order was given by an unknown person: obedience levels were higher when the person giving the order was looking at the horse than when he was not attentive. More interesting is the finding that whatever the condition, horses monitored much more and for longer times the unknown person, as if they were surprised to hear the familiar order given by an unknown voice.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>Conclusion/Significance</title> <p>These results suggest that recognition of humans may lie in a global, integrated, multisensory representation of specific individuals, that includes visual and vocal identity, but also expectations on the individual's behaviour in a familiar situation.</p> </sec> |
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Public Library of Science |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5708 |
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Fureix, C.; Jego, P.; Henry, S.; Lansade, L.; Hausberger, M. |
| Title |
Towards an Ethological Animal Model of Depression? A Study on Horses |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2012 |
Publication |
PLoS ONE |
Abbreviated Journal |
PLoS ONE |
| Volume |
7 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
e39280 EP - |
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<sec><title>Background</title><p>Recent reviews question current animal models of depression and emphasise the need for ethological models of mood disorders based on animals living under natural conditions. Domestic horses encounter chronic stress, including potential stress at work, which can induce behavioural disorders (<italic>e.g.</italic> “apathy”). Our pioneering study evaluated the potential of domestic horses in their usual environment to become an ethological model of depression by testing this models’ face validity (<italic>i.e.</italic> behavioural similarity with descriptions of human depressive states).</p></sec><sec><title>Methodology/Principal Findings</title><p>We observed the spontaneous behaviour of 59 working horses in their home environment, focusing on immobility bouts of apparent unresponsiveness when horses displayed an atypical posture (termed <italic>withdrawn</italic> hereafter), evaluated their responsiveness to their environment and their anxiety levels, and analysed cortisol levels. Twenty-four percent of the horses presented the withdrawn posture, also characterized by gaze, head and ears fixity, a profile that suggests a spontaneous expression of “behavioural despair”. When compared with control “non-withdrawn” horses from the same stable, withdrawn horses appeared more indifferent to environmental stimuli in their home environment but reacted more emotionally in more challenging situations. They exhibited lower plasma cortisol levels. Withdrawn horses all belonged to the same breed and females were over-represented.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions/Significance</title><p>Horse might be a useful potential candidate for an animal model of depression. Face validity of this model appeared good, and potential genetic input and high prevalence of these disorders in females add to the convergence. At a time when current animal models of depression are questioned and the need for novel models is expressed, this study suggests that novel models and biomarkers could emerge from ethological approaches in home environments.</p></sec> |
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Public Library of Science |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5709 |
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Rochais, C.; HENRY, S.; Sankey, C.; Nassur, F.; Gorecka-Bruzda, A.; HAUSBERGER, M. |
| Title |
Visual attention, an indicator of human-animal relationships? A study of domestic horses (Equus caballus) |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2014 |
Publication |
Frontiers in Psychology |
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5 |
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BACKGROUND: As visual attention is an intrinsic part of social relationships, and because relationships are built on a succession of interactions, their establishment involves learning and attention. The emotional, rewarding or punishing, content can modulate selective attention. In horses, the use of positive/negative reinforcement during training determines short and long-term human-horse relationships. In a recent study in horses, where either food or withers' grooming were used as a reward, it appeared that only the food-rewarded horses learned the task and show better relationship with humans. In the present study, we hypothesized that this differential effect of grooming/food rewards on learning performances could be due to attentional processes. Monitoring, gazes and behaviors directed towards the trainer revealed that the use of a food reward (FR) as positive reinforcement increased horses' selective attention towards their trainer. Conversely, horses trained with grooming reward (GR) expressed more inattentive responses and did not show a decrease of “agitated” behavior. However, individual plotting of attention vs. rate of learning performances revealed a complex pattern. Thus, while all FR horses showed a “window” of attention related to faster learning performances, GR horses' pattern followed an almost normal curve where the extreme animals (i.e., highest and lowest attention) had the slowest learning performances. On the other hand, learning was influenced by attention: at the end of training, the more attentive horses had also better learning performances. This study, based on horses, contributes to the general debate on the place of attentional processes at the interface of emotion and cognition and opens new lines of thought about individual sensitivities (only individuals can tell what an appropriate reward is), attentional processes and learning. |
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1664-1078 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5909 |
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Bourjade, M.; Thierry, B.; Hausberger, M.; Petit, O. |
| Title |
Is <italic>Leadership</italic> a Reliable Concept in Animals? An Empirical Study in the Horse |
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Journal Article |
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2015 |
Publication |
PLoS ONE |
Abbreviated Journal |
PLoS ONE |
| Volume |
10 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
e0126344 |
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<p>Leadership is commonly invoked when accounting for the coordination of group movements in animals, yet it remains loosely defined. In parallel, there is increased evidence of the sharing of group decisions by animals on the move. How leadership integrates within this recent framework on collective decision-making is unclear. Here, we question the occurrence of leadership in horses, a species in which this concept is of prevalent use. The relevance of the three main definitions of leadership – departing first, walking in front travel position, and eliciting the joining of mates – was tested on the collective movements of two semi-free ranging groups of Przewalski horses (<italic>Equus ferus przewalskii</italic>). We did not find any leader capable of driving most group movements or recruiting mates more quickly than others. Several group members often displayed pre-departure behaviours at the same time, and the simultaneous departure of several individuals was common. We conclude that the decision-making process was shared by several group members a group movement (i.e., partially shared consensus) and that the leadership concept did not help to depict individual departure and leading behaviour across movements in both study groups. Rather, the different proxies of leadership produced conflicting information about individual contributions to group coordination. This study discusses the implications of these findings for the field of coordination and decision-making research.</p> |
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Public Library of Science |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5992 |
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Rochais, C.; Henry, S.; Fureix, C.; Hausberger, M. |
| Title |
Investigating attentional processes in depressive-like domestic horses (Equus caballus) |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2016 |
Publication |
Behavioural Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
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| Volume |
124 |
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93-96 |
| Keywords |
Horses; Attention; Cognition; Welfare; Depression |
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Abstract Some captive/domestic animals respond to confinement by becoming inactive and unresponsive to external stimuli. Human inactivity is one of the behavioural markers of clinical depression, a mental disorder diagnosed by the co-occurrence of symptoms including deficit in selective attention. Some riding horses display ‘withdrawn’ states of inactivity and low responsiveness to stimuli that resemble the reduced engagement with their environment of some depressed patients. We hypothesized that ‘withdrawn’ horses experience a depressive-like state and evaluated their level of attention by confronting them with auditory stimuli. Five novel auditory stimuli were broadcasted to 27 horses, including 12 ‘withdrawn’ horses, for 5 days. The horses’ reactions and durations of attention were recorded. Non-withdrawn horses reacted more and their attention lasted longer than that of withdrawn horses on the first day, but their durations of attention decreased over days, but those of withdrawn horses remained stable. These results suggest that the withdrawn horses’ selective attention is altered, adding to already evidenced common features between this horses’ state and human depression. |
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0376-6357 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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6023 |
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Pawluski, J.; Jego, P.; Henry, S.; Bruchet, A.; Palme, R.; Coste, C.; Hausberger, M. |
| Title |
Low plasma cortisol and fecal cortisol metabolite measures as indicators of compromised welfare in domestic horses (Equus caballus) |
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Journal Article |
| Year |
2017 |
Publication |
Plos One |
Abbreviated Journal |
Plos One |
| Volume |
12 |
Issue |
9 |
Pages |
e0182257 |
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The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response to chronic stress is far from straight forward, particularly with regards to animal welfare. There are reports of no effect as well as both decreases and increases in cortisol after chronic stressors. Therefore, the first aim of the present study was to determine how measures of compromised welfare, such as chronic pain and haematological anomalies, related to cortisol levels in domestic horses (Equus caballus). Domestic horses are an informative model to investigate the impact of chronic stress (due to environment, pain, work, housing conditions...) on the HPA axis. The second aim was to determine whether levels of fecal cortisol metabolites (FCM) may be used as an indicator of welfare measures. The present study used fifty-nine horses (44 geldings and 15 mares), from three riding centres in Brittany, France. The primary findings show that horses whose welfare was clearly compromised (as indicated by an unusual ears backward position, presence of vertebral problems or haematological anomalies, e.g. anaemia) also had lower levels of both FCM and plasma cortisol. This work extends our previous findings showing that withdrawn postures, indicators of depressive-like behavior in horses, are associated with lower plasma cortisol levels. We also found that evening plasma cortisol levels positively correlated with FCM levels in horses. Future research aims to determine the extent to which factors of influence on welfare, such as living conditions (e.g. single stalls versus group housing in pasture or paddocks), early life factors, and human interaction, act as mediators of cortisol levels in horses. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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6516 |
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