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Houpt, K. A., & Keiper, R. (1982). The position of the stallion in the equine dominance hierarchy of feral and domestic ponies. J. Anim Sci, 54(5), 945–950.
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Mader, D. R., & Price, E. O. (1980). Discrimination learning in horses: effects of breed, age and social dominance. J. Anim Sci., 50(5), 962–965.
Abstract: The discrimination learning ability of Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds was compared by means of visual cues in a three-choice test with food as a reward. Quarter Horses learned significantly faster than Thoroughbreds, and learning progressed more rapidly for both breeds in a second discrimination task. Significant negative correlations were observed between age and rate of learning. Quarter Horses tended to be less reactive than Thoroughbreds, but individual emotional reactivity ratings and learning scores were not correlated. No correlation was found between social dominance and learning scores. Learning studies with horses may provide a better understanding of the behavioral traits that influence trainability in this species.
Keywords: Aging; Animals; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Horses/*physiology; *Social Dominance
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Hall, C. A., Cassaday, H. J., & Derrington, A. M. (2003). The effect of stimulus height on visual discrimination in horses. J. Anim Sci., 81(7), 1715–1720.
Abstract: This study investigated the effect of stimulus height on the ability of horses to learn a simple visual discrimination task. Eight horses were trained to perform a two-choice, black/white discrimination with stimuli presented at one of two heights: ground level or at a height of 70 cm from the ground. The height at which the stimuli were presented was alternated from one session to the next. All trials within a single session were presented at the same height. The criterion for learning was four consecutive sessions of 70% correct responses. Performance was found to be better when stimuli were presented at ground level with respect to the number of trials taken to reach the criterion (P < 0.05), percentage of correct first choices (P < 0.01), and repeated errors made (P < 0.01). Thus, training horses to carry out tasks of visual discrimination could be enhanced by placing the stimuli on the ground. In addition, the results of the present study suggest that the visual appearance of ground surfaces is an important factor in both horse management and training.
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Hunter, L., & Houpt, K. A. (1989). Bedding material preferences of ponies. J Anim Sci, 67(8), 1986–1991.
Abstract: The bedding preferences of ponies were determined using video recordings of nighttime (1900 to 0700) behavior of individually housed ponies. The ponies' behavior each minute was recorded to determine time budgets. In Exp. I, preference for bedding was determined using three mares, three stallions and two geldings given access to bedded and unbedded areas in a box stall. The ponies spent more time (66%) on the bedded area and were never observed lying on the unbedded areas. In Exp. II, three mares and six stallions were given access to a box stall, one side of which was bedded with wood shavings and the other with straw. Although some individual animals preferred one bedding over the other, neither form of bedding was preferred consistently. Time budgets in Exp. II were similar on both bedding materials. The ponies spent 12% of their nighttime lying, 2% walking, 35% eating and 50% standing inactively. Some ponies had a relatively strong preference for bedding, but the type of bedding preferred varied with the individual animal. Some individual ponies had no clear preference, but instead had a side or position preference
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Kaseda Y,. (1991). Some factors affecting on the population dynamics of two herds in Misaki feral horses. Anim Sci Tech, 62, 1171–1178.
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McCall, C. A. (1990). A Review of Learning Behavior in Horses and its Application in Horse Training. J. Anim Sci., 68(1), 75–81.
Abstract: A literature review of the equine learning research conducted in the past 20 yr revealed that the purpose of most of the studies was to determine whether horses respond to learning situations in the same way that other animals do. The results indicated that horses can discriminate many different types of stimuli, and they learn through stimulus-response- reinforcement chains. Most equine learning studies have utilized learning tasks depending on primary positive reinforcement to get the horses to work the tests. Yet, the majority of horse trainers use negative reinforcement more often than primary positive reinforcement in their training procedures. Therefore, past research often did not have a direct application to training methods commonly utilized in the horse industry. Research also demonstrated that 1) early experiences of horses can affect learning ability later, 2) equine memory is efficient and 3) concentrating learning mals in long training sessions decreases equine learning efficiency. Many factors that might affect equine learning ability and be applicable to training practices in the horse industry have not been thoroughly investigated; for example, interactions between nutrition and learning and between exercise and learning, the use of negative and secondary reinforcements in horse training, and the horse's ability to make few initial errors compared to its ability to eliminate errors as training progresses all require investigation in future equine learning studies. N1 -
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Kaseda, Y., & K. Nozawa, K. (1996). Father-daughter matings and its avoidance in Misaki feral horses. Anim Sci Tech, 67(11), 996–1002.
Abstract: Father-daughter matings and its avoidance mechanism were analysed on the basis of data which gained from behavioural observations and paternity tests in Misaki feral horses from 1979 to 1994. Twelve stallions and their 51 daughters had 176 breeding seasons, but they lived in the different home range in 82 breeding seasons. About half of 1- to 3-year-old mares emigrated from natal area to the other and grew up there. Therefore, emigrations of young mares may result reduction of contacts and avoidance of inbreeding with their fathers. The stallions and their daughters lived in the same area in 94 breeding seasons, but there were no cases that daughters which left their natal harem groups before sexual maturity formed again stable consort relations with their natal harem stallions. It is possible that separation of young mares from their natal groups before sexual maturity may result avoidance of formation of consort relation with their fathers. Two father-daughter matings were observed in 124 paternity tests. These two daughters were born in the other harem groups than their father's and left their natal groups before maturity. After maturity, one of them formed a stable consort relation with her father and the other remained together with her father for 2 months in the breeding season. Both of them had not experience to have lived with their fathers before maturity. The persent result supports the hypothesis in wild and semi-wild horses that inbreedings between fathers and daughters may be avioded by the experience to have lived together before sexual maturity.
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Kimura, R. (2001). Volatile substances in feces, urine and urine-marked feces of feral horses. Can. J. Anim. Sci., 81(3), 411–420.
Abstract: The identity and amount of volatile substances in the feces, urine and feces scent-marked with urine (i.e., feces mixed with urine) of feral horses was determined by acid/steam distillation and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The frequency of excretion and scent marking, as evaluated in the breeding and non-breeding seasons, showed clear evidence of seasonal behavioral differences. The concentration of each substance (fatty acids, alcohols, aldehydes, phenols, amines and alkanes) in the feces differed according to maturity, sex and stage in the reproductive process. They had a characteristic chemical fingerprint. Although the levels of tetradecanoic and hexadecanoic acids in the feces of estrous mares were significantly higher than the respective levels in the feces of non-estrous mares, in the case of scent-marked feces by stallions, the levels of them in the feces from estrous mares had decreased to levels similar to those in non-estrous mares. The concentration of these substances in mares were not significantly different. The presence of a high concentration of cresols in the urine of stallions in the breeding season suggests that one role of scent marking by stallions is masking the odor of the feces produced by mares.
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Rubin, L., Oppegard, C., & Hindz, H. F. (1980). The effect of varying the temporal distribution of conditioning trials on equine learning behavior. J. Anim Sci., 50(6), 1184–1187.
Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of varying the temporal distrbution of conditioning sessions on equine learning behavior. In the first experiment, 15 ponies were trained to clear a small hurdle in response to a buzzer in order to avoid a mild electric shock. Three treatments were used. One group received 10 learning trials daily, seven times a week; one group was trained in the same fashion two times a week and one group was trained once a week. The animals conditioned only once a week achieved a high level of performance in significantly fewer sessions than the ones conditioned seven times a week, although elapsed time from start of training to completion was two to three times greater for the former group. The twice-a-week group learned at an intermediate rate. In the second experiment, the ponies were rearranged into three new groups. They were taught to move backward a specific distance in response to a visual cue in order to avoid an electric shock. Again, one group was trained seven times a week, one group was trained two times and one group was trained once a week. As in the first experiment, the animals trained once a week achieved the learning criteria in significantly fewer sessions than those trained seven times a week, but, as in trial 1, elapsed time from start to finish was greater for them. The two times-a-week group learned at a rate in-between the rates of the other two groups.
Keywords: Animals; Conditioning (Psychology); *Horses; *Learning
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Steelman, S. M., Michael-Eller, E. M., Gibbs, P. G., & Potter, G. D. (2006). Meal size and feeding frequency influence serum leptin concentration in yearling horses. J. Anim Sci., 84(9), 2391–2398.
Abstract: Energy is an essential nutrient for all horses, and it is especially important in performance horses, pregnant and lactating mares, and young growing horses. A negative energy balance in horses such as these may result in unsatisfactory performance, decreased fertility, or slow growth. Therefore, ensuring adequate energy intake is an important aspect of the nutritional management of the equine. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of feeding large, carbohydrate-rich, concentrate meals on the satiety-inducing hormone, leptin. Three groups of yearling horses were rotated through 3 feeding schedules in a replicated 3x3 Latin square design. Horses were fed 2, 3, or 4 times per day (2x, 3x, and 4xfeeding schedules, respectively), each for a period of 11 d, with the total amount of daily feed held constant. Horses were weighed and BCS was determined on the first day of each period. Blood samples were collected before the morning meal on d 1, 4, and 7 of each period. Additionally, blood was sampled for the last 24 h of the 2xand 4xdietary periods. Neither weight nor BCS changed during the study (P = 0.99 and P = 0.28, respectively). Both mean and peak plasma glucose were greatest in 2xhorses (P < 0.05), as were mean areas under the curve. Serum leptin concentration increased in 2xhorses (P < 0.05), but not in horses fed 3 or 4 times daily. Leptin was elevated in horses with greater BCS (P < 0.05) and increased steadily throughout the study (P < 0.05). Data from the 24-h collection indicated that 2xhorses had fluctuations in leptin production throughout the day (P < 0.05), whereas horses fed 4 times daily did not. Overall, this study indicates that feeding horses 2 large concentrate meals daily can increase mean serum leptin concentrations and may cause fluctuations in leptin production over a 24-h period. This departure from baseline leptin concentration has the potential to affect appetite, along with numerous other physiological processes.
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