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Bartosova, J., Dvorakova, R., Vancatova, M., & Svobodova, I. (2008). Comprehension of human pointing gesture in domestic horses: Effect of training method. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: Horses have been considered to rely on human gesticular cues (McKinley and Sambrook 2000, Anim Cogn 3:13-22; and recently Maros et al. 2008, Anim Cogn 11:457-466), however large variability among individuals tested in two-ways object choice tasks was found. Part of the horses in those studies (40 and 26 %, respectively) even failed to pass adequately through the training session which preceded the testing phase and served to learn a horse to carry out a task. Therefore, we alternated the experimental design designed by McKinley and Sambrook (reduced number of testing trials to 10 per horse to keep its attention, applied just one, a dynamic-sustained pointing cue with touching the bucket, etc.), and tested an effect of training method, sex, age, and learning on proportion of correct choices. We hypothesised, that horses trained by “traditional” method (TTM) will get lower score than those experienced with “horsemanship-based” methods (HTM), being characterized by closer and more frequent human-horse contact and also extended exercising “from the ground” with frequent using of arms cues. Despite simplification of the methods, only about 60 % of tested horses passed through the training phase (i.e., learned to come to and upturn the bucket with hidden treat). Successful completion of training phase was reached regardless of age or sex of a horse, but by the training method; HTM horses ran better compared to TTM ones. No significant effect of age, sex, or learning (i.e., trial order within all 10), and training method as well was found on proportion of correct trials in the testing phase. Horses made a correct choice in more than 70% of trials. Individual scores ranged from 50 to 100 %. In conclusion, horses showed high level of comprehension of human pointing gesture, regardless of their sex or age. No effects of training method or learning process within a test suggest low impact of handling and learning on the level of comprehension at least of the most vivid human pointing gesture. Horses trained by methods based on “natural human-horse communication” did enhance cooperation with people.
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Baragli, P., & Regolin, L. (2008). Cognitive Tests in Equids (Equus caballus and Equus Asinus). In IESM 2008.
Abstract: For ages horses and donkeys constituted the most important domesticated animals. Even though equids were often bred and kept in close proximity to humans, surprisingly little is known about their cognitive abilities. Traditionally, horses are not regarded as clever animals; common beliefs maintain that the horses“ behaviour is merely driven by conditioned-responses. Additionally, from an anthropomorphic point of view donkeys are believed to be ”stupid" animals.
Our study investigates the equids“ ability to recover a hidden object. For this purpose the animal has to create and maintain a representation of the object and its location in space, from the moment in which it disappears from direct perception, till the moment in which it reappears. The knowledge about objects being entities that continue to exist even when they are no longer available for direct perception is refered to as the well known concept of ”object permanence". We primarly assessed the ability of Esperia's pony and donkeys to solve a Detour problem while employing an opaque “U-shaped” barrier. Each animal observed a food bucket moving and disappearing behind the barrier. Immediately after the object"s disappearance, the animal was released to search for the object. If it solved the task by detouring the barrier it was positively reinforced. The ability to retain in memory the hidden object as well as its spatial location was subsequently tested in the presence of two, rather than one, screens (Working Memory testing phase). The food bucket was made to move and hidden behind one of the two identical screens, while the animal was watching it. Following a pre-established delayed period of 10 sec, the animal was set free to look for the food. In such a test the detour problem is combined with the classical delayed-response task, which is in use for the comparison of memory duration in different species. In order to recover the hidden objects, animals must encode, maintain and correctly regain from their working memory the existence of the no longer visible object and its location from their working memory. Both donkeys and ponies performed the Detour task showing to grasp the fact that an object which is no longer perceivable still continues to exist and can be regained. They also were able to correctly retrieve the goal object after a delay of 10 s in the Working Memory tasks, showing that they had encoded, maintained and correclty retrieved from their working memory the spatial location of the hidden object as well as its existence. Nevertheless, when Standardbreds, raised in traditional stables, were tested in identical conditions to those describe for the ponies and donkeys, they could not succeed in the Detour tasks. The reason for such differences needs to be studied Even though it would be interesting to focus on handling differences, i.e., the ponies had been living in an environment rich in natural stimuli, while the Standardbreds had lived in a man-controlled environment since birth. It is also noteworthy that, like donkeys, the Esperia's pony have a reputation for being hard to handle. Several considerations could arise from our preliminary investigations, and we will have the pleasure to leave them open for discussion. |
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Krueger, K. (2008). Social cognition and social learning in horses. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: In comparison to other social animals it appears to be far more difficult to show social learning in horses, although the social background of the animals prompts the prediction that social learning should be verifiable. This demands for a thorough analysis of conditions, context and effects of social learning which might not be as obvious in horses than in other social animals. Moreover, the horse“s social cognition in general, i.e. the processing, encoding, storage, retrieval, and application of social information, needs to be examined. In previous studies we addressed the horse”s perception of it“s social environment. Our results indicate that domestic horses are not only capable of distinguishing between familiar and unfamiliar horses but also of recognizing the social status of familiar horses relative to their own. Furthermore, they extract information from observing interactions between a familiar horse and a human experimenter, and adjust their behaviour according to the observed horse”s reaction and relative dominance status when they are themselves later confronted with the experimenter in a similar situation. Additionally, we showed in pilot experiments that horses paid more attention to the gaze of dominant horses from their own social group than to that of unknown or subordinate horses. In another study we suggested that horses of both sexes are capable of determining the social affiliation, the sex and, for their own group members, the identity of individuals, by sniffing their faeces. Hence, social affiliation and dominance relationships seemed to have a major influence on the horses` motivation to pay attention to their conspecifics. In the future we will take another step towards linking the horse“s social cognitive capacities with its social ecology, social structure, and individuality. In the context of comparative cognition research on the socially complex primates, or on a range of carnivores such as corvids, canids or dolphins, horses are particularly interesting, because they are highly social, but do not rely on social hunting or cooperative raising of offspring. Also foraging is simple for horses, predator avoidance is demanding and this may be the main reason for the horse”s complex social lives and their choice of learning tactics. Hence, we will investigate the horse"s investigative behaviour towards neutral, fear-eliciting and food related novel objects. We propose that, as in other species, sociality and distinct personalities are key features for the understanding of cognitive capacities and the choice of learning strategies.
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Timney, B. (2008). Photopic Spectral Sensitivity and Wavelength Discrimination in the Horse (Equus caballus). In IESM 2008.
Abstract: A number of studies have demonstrated that horses have chromatic vision and are able to distinguish colours from grey, independent of brightness. Anatomical and physiological data support the view that they are dichromats. In two experiments we provide behavioural evidence for their dichromacy. In the first we measured photopic spectral sensitivity. Using a spatial two alternative forced choice task, two horses were required to discriminate a coloured circular patch on an achromatic background from a blank field over a range of wavelengths . The obtained spectral sensitivity function was consistent with the presence of two cone classes with predicted spectral peaks at 429 nm and 545 nm, respectively. In the second experiment we obtained wavelength discrimination functions. The same animals were required to make discriminations between a series of standard wavelengths and a series of comparison wavelengths across the spectrum. The resultant wavelength discrimination function showed a single minimum at approximately 480 nm, which is also consistent with the view that horses are dichromats. Key Words: Horse, colour vision, spectral sensitivity, wavelength discrimination
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Kuhne, F., Struwe, R., & Balzer, H. U. (2008). A new, non-invasive method to assess specific strain in horses. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: Horses" reactions to normal environmental and training situations play an important
role the human-horse relationship. These demands on horses can either lead some individuals to withdrawal, immobility or aggressive defence. However, the reaction to such situations varies greatly among horses, which is reflected in individual differences in sympathetic, parasympathetic and muscular reactivity. The observable behavioural responses of the horses seem to be qualitatively related to the internal state of physiological arousal. In future it should be possible to identify behavioural signs which really do reflect internal states of the autonomic nervous system to provide general advice concerning human handling and training in view of reducing stress in horses. For these purposes, we have determined responses of the vegetative nervous system based on variation in skin potential, skin resistance and electromyogram using non-invasive real-time measurements. All these parameters can be measured by a SMARD-Watch-System (System of non-invasive Measurement and Analysis for Regulatory Diagnostics), which can be externally attached to the horses using a harness. The physiological data will assess using a time series analysis. Thereby the changes in the regulatory processes in each of the three physiological systems can be determined in detail. Based on this analysis characteristic behaviour patterns will be analysed by the variability of the regulatory processes. According to temporary shifts in regulatory processes, stable and unstable regulation states will be determined. Depending on the proportions of unstable regulation processes during and after external threat, four types of regulation can be defined: the Control, Cope, Compensate and Non-cope- type. Defined time-windows, for example a ten minutes lasting pre- and post-test phase and a ten or twenty minutes lasting time-window for the execution of the specific stimulus have to be chosen to decide these regulation types. These four regulation types and the preferred individual behaviour strategies have to be compared to evaluate the relative frequency of occurrence of a behaviour strategy depending on responses of the vegetative nervous system. In view of validating behavioural indicators of emotional reactivity, the aim of this new method is to characterize individual differences in the behavioural and physiological responses of horses to normal environmental and training stimuli. Evidence is provided by human and animal data that the non-invasive real-time measurement of the vegetative nervous system based on variation in skin potential, skin resistance etc. is a promising approach for evaluating stress and emotional states in vertebrates. It will be explained that the chronobiological evaluation of physiological parameters has the potential to contribute much to our understanding and assessment of the underlying physiological processes of stress responses in horses. |
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van Dierendonck, M. (2008). International Society of Equitation Science – an outline. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: The International Society for Equitation Science is a not-for-profit International scientific organisation with the primary function of facilitating research into the training and welfare of horses. The mission of the ISES is to promote and encourage the application of objective research and advanced practice which will ultimately improve the welfare of horses in their associations with humans. ISES provides an international forum in which scientists can communicate their most recent findings by organising annual scientific meetings and by encouraging scientific publications. Furthermore, the Society offers a pool of expertise to national governments, international bodies, industry and equine welfare organisations. The idea of founding a Society devoted to equitation science had first been raised during discussions following the Havemeyer Foundation Workshop on Horse Behaviour and Welfare in Iceland in 2002. Since then, equitation science has developed rapidly. The discipline combines learning theory, psychology, ecology, biology and ethology in order to objectively examine the efficiency of different equine training methods. The society is open for people with scientific, scholarly or professional qualifications: equine scientists, ethologists, veterinarians, behaviour therapists or qualified trainers and riders. ISES membership gives the opportunity of joining a network of internationally renowned equine scientists and advanced practitioners. Members save on registration fees for international conferences and stay informed about research and its application in practice through two newsletters per year. For further information and membership issues please visit www.equitationscience.com. During the presentation an overview will be given about the history and goals of ISES, the meetings since 2001, the current organisation- and membership structure and the future plans. Also a summary of the presentations given at the 4th International Equitation Science Conference August 2-4, 2008 in Dublin will be presented.
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Proops, L., McComb, K., & Reby, D. (2008). Cross-modal individual vocal recognition in the domestic horse. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: Horses fulfill many of the criteria for a species in which it would be adaptive to be capable of individual recognition: they are highly social, form strong and long lasting bonds, their affiliations are rarely kin based, they have a fission-fusion social structure and they possess inter and intra-group dominance hierarchies.
We used a novel cross-modal, expectancy violation paradigm to provide the first systematic evidence that a non-human animal – the domestic horse- is capable of cross modal recognition. We believe this paradigm could provide an ideal way to study individual recognition across a wide range of species. For full published details see: Proops L, McComb K, Reby D (2009) Cross-modal individual recognition in domestic horses (Equus caballus). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106: 947-951. |
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Stupperich, A., & Strack, M. (2008). Interaction with horses (equus): Assessment with a circumplex based questionnaire. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: According to Interpersonal Theory every interaction is motivated by efforts to achieve and maintain self-esteem and to avoid anxiety. People"s characteristic ways of accomplishing these ends are called interpersonal reflexes. Those interpersonal reflexes are evident in interaction with animals, since they are determined by the interpersonal traits of personality. We wanted to catch the typical interpersonal reflexes in between humans and horses compared to pet animals.
We used the self rating assessment instrument “Inventory of Problematic Interactions with Animals” (IPI – Animals), which bases on a Interpersonal Circumplex Model (Human Animal Circumplex; HAC) and was constructed to catch specific dispositions of distress caused by animals using two dimensions (too dominant vrs too submissive and too warm versus too cold). Data of 233 male adolescents (93 of them actual pet owners, from that 12 horse owners) were collected. We found that different pet preferences holds distinct locations in the HAC. Horse persons differ from dog and cat persons within the dimension dominance (dog: chi2(df126) =161.54 p= .018; cat: chi2(df126) =199.95 p= .045). Persons, who own a horse or would wish to own one, describe themselves as dominant, but warm interactors. They report that they want horses to notice them. They tend do too much for them and behave very effusively with them. On the other hand they feel that the animal takes too much advantage of the relationship. |
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Ransom, J. I., & Cade, B. S. (2008). Influences of immunocontraception on intraband social behavior in free-ranging feral horses, Equus caballus. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: Contraception is often considered for population control of wildlife that is otherwise protected from more traditional management strategies, though little is known about the behavioral consequences of contraception in wild populations of socially complex animals. Feral horses, Equus caballus, in the western United States are ideal candidates for contraceptive management due to broad scale federal protection, reported herd growth rates of 15-25% per year, and finite public land allocated for them. We investigated influences of the immunocontraceptive porcine zona pellucida (PZP) on social behavior within bands of feral horses in three discrete populations for 4 years. Each band consisted of a single stallion and a harem of adult females (>1 years old) and their foals, as well as associated yearling males and females. Four mutually exclusive behaviors (herding, reproductive, harem tending, and agonism) were analyzed to investigate the difference between behaviors initiated by band stallions toward control mares and contracepted mares within the bands. Additionally, spatial relationships between each stallion and each harem female were analyzed to assess possible passive interactions. A candidate set of 22 hierarchical mixed effects models, using the discrete populations as a random effect on various fixed effects, was analyzed by restricted maximum likelihood estimation. The most supported models were selected by corrected Akaike"s Information Criteria (AICc). Analyses were done on 3 female age cohorts based on distinct fecundity rates: 2 to 5 year olds, 6 to 14 year olds, and > 14 year olds. Stallions herded control mares in the 6 to 14 year cohort more than contracepted mares (n=128, P=0.037) with treatment being the most supported effect, but foal presence (dependent foal) also contributed significantly to the model. Contracepted mares received more reproductive behaviors than control mares in the 6 to 14 year cohort (n = 151, P=0.020). No differences were detected in herding or reproductive behaviors in
the least fecund groups, the 2 to 5 year olds and ≥ 15 year olds. The only independent variable in the most supported model for reproductive behavior was treatment, and the covariates of foal presence, band residence (resident or transient female), band size, and body condition did not contribute. There were no differences in any age cohort for harem tending or agonism. Spatially, stallions maintained closer relationships with 2 to 5 year old contracepted females than with the same age control females (n=136, P < 0.001) while the group was feeding (at its most dispersed structure), but there were no differences while the band was resting or in locomotion. There were no spatial differences detected in the other age cohorts. Given the polyestrous nature and high fecundity of feral horses, the observed difference in reproductive behaviors between treatment groups was not surprising; however, the difference detected in herding rates was an unexpected behavioral modification. This change in herding behavior suggests that further investigation is needed to determine if PZP immunocontraception has an underlying influence on mare social rank, band structure, and band stability, as well as the scope and long-term importance of these behavioral dynamics. |
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von Borstel, U. (2008). An overview of educational offerings in equine science and -management in Canada. In IESM 2008.
Abstract: Canada has a variety of educational offerings in equine management at the diploma and certificate level offered by universities and colleges, as well as by industry supported centres. However, it was not until 2007 that the first degree-based program in equine science was launched. Offered by the University of Guelph, the Bachelor of Bio- Resource Management – Equine Management program is designed for students who do not intend to pursue post-graduate studies and are strongly focused on securing employment that makes use of the knowledge acquired in their bachelor's degree. The courses in the BSc-program include basic natural sciences as well as equine-specific courses with a focus on management of equine related businesses and events. Diploma and certificate programs usually include only specifically equine-related courses e.g. in anatomy and physiology, health, business, facility management and nutrition. All diploma and certificate programs, and to a slightly lesser extent the BSc program, have a strong focus on applied learning with the intent to provide highly trained workers for the industry. Unique in Canada are the entirely online-taught Diploma in Equine Studies, the Certificate in Equine Business Management and the Equine Science Certificate offered by Equine Guelph and the University of Guelph"s continuing education. Students of these programs have access to a virtual classroom via the internet, and therefore access to instructors and guest speakers from the industry throughout the course. The Canadian certificate programs typically take one year (two semesters), the diploma programs two years (four semesters), while the BSc program takes four years (eight semesters). The BSc program requires approximately 2000 hours of in-class time plus roughly twice the amount spent on assignments and studying, totalling to an overall workload of roughly 6000 hours. Most programs require the completion of Grade 12 or equivalent for admission, and in all programs a background and experience with horses is not required for admission, however it is usually deemed beneficial. Career options for BSc-graduates include barn management, riding instructor or coach, professional rider, judge, steward, course designer, equine-assisted therapy, veterinary assistant, event manager, nutrition consultant, retail sales in tack and equipment, equine sales and marketing, agriculture extension services, college lecturer, consultant and technical advisor, and media relations. Career options for the diploma and certificate program graduates generally include similar areas, with a focus on hands-on work and direct interaction with horses such as employment as grooms, trainers and barn managers.
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