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Author (up) Heird, J.C.; Lennon, A.M.; Bell, R.W. url  openurl
  Title Effects of early experience on the learning ability of yearling horses Type Journal Article
  Year 1981 Publication Journal of Animal Science Abbreviated Journal J. Anim Sci.  
  Volume 53 Issue 5 Pages 1204-1209  
  Keywords Animals; Conditioning (Psychology); Female; *Handling (Psychology); Horses/*physiology; *Learning  
  Abstract Twenty-four yearling Quarter Horse fillies were divided into three groups (I) very limited handling, (II) intermediate handling and (III) extensive handling. At about 14 months of age, each horse was preconditioned for 2 weeks and then run in a simple place-learning T-maze test in which it had to locate its feed. Thirty trials were run daily for 20 days, with the location of the feed changed each day. To retire from the maze, a horse had to meet the criterion: 11 correct responses in 12 tries, with the last eight being consecutive. Horses in Group II required the fewest trials to reach criterion. These horses also learned more and had the highest percentage of correct responses (P less than .05). Mean trainability tended to predict learning ability; however, trainability and trials to criterion were not significantly correlated. Mean emotionality scores indicated a tendency for horses in the intermediately handled group to be less emotional than those in Group I or III. Results indicated that horses with an intermediate amount of handling scored higher on an intermediate test of learning. All handled horses scored higher on learning tests than those not handled.  
  Address  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0021-8812 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:7319966 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3577  
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Author (up) Heird, J.C.; Whitaker, D.D.; Bell, R.W.; Ramsey, C.B.; Lokey, C.E. url  openurl
  Title The effects of handling at different ages on the subsequent learning ability of 2-year-old horses Type Journal Article
  Year 1986 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 15 Issue 1 Pages 15-25  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Forty weanling Quarter Horses, from the Pitchfork Ranch, Dickens, Texas, were randomly assigned to one of five groups based on the amount of handling they would receive. The five groups were: (1) limited handling; (2) 1 week of handling; (3) 2 weeks of handling; (4) 3 weeks of handling; (5) continuous handling for 18 months. As 2-year-olds, the horses were tested in a simple place-learning T-maze after being preconditioned. A maximum of 30 daily trials were conducted for 20 consecutive days, with feed location alternating between sides on successive days. If a horse met the criterion of 11 out of 12 correct responses with 8 correct responses being consecutive, it was retired without completing the 30 trials. Group 1 made fewer correct responses during the 20 days than any other group except Group 3. All groups achieved learning by Day 10, but the most-handled group reached a consistently higher percentage of correct responses earlier than the less-handled groups. Group 5, the group receiving the most handling, was the least emotional, as determined by the animals' reactivity to a novel stimulus, and received the highest scores for trainability after being ridden. Preconditioning trainability scores, or estimates of the horses' ability to learn prior to conditioning and testing, tended to predict maze-learning ability. These scores were also significantly correlated with post-maze training scores.  
  Address  
  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 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3590  
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Author (up) McCann, J.S.; Heird, J.C.; Bell, R.W.; Lutherer, L.O. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Normal and more highly reactive horses. II. The effect of handling and reserpine on the cardiac response to stimuli Type Journal Article
  Year 1988 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 19 Issue 3-4 Pages 215-226  
  Keywords  
  Abstract A split-plot experiment evaluated the effect of handling and reserpine on the autonomic heart-rate response of yearling horses to various stimuli. The emotionality levels of 32 Quarter-Horse yearlings were rated by 4 experienced horsemen on a scale from 1 to 4 (1 = most nervous and erratic disposition; 4=quiet disposition). The yearlings were subsequently classified and penned based on their emotionality level; normal or nervous. Within each emotionality group, one-half the yearlings were handled daily for 14 days and the other one-half remained free in the pens. Following the handling treatment, every yearling was individually exposed to a series of stimuli, while the heart rate was monitored via a radio-telemetry system. A second treatment, reserpine, was subsequently given intramuscularly (0.005 mg/kg body weight) to one-half the yearlings of each treatment combination of emotionality and handling. The heart rate of the yearlings to the same series of stimuli previously employed was determined at 24 and 120 h and 16 days following the reserpine injection. Summarizing the results, the handled yearlings tended to exhibit lower heart rates with the handling stimulus, but the heart rate with a more novel stimulus was not affected by the previous handling treatment. Reserpine tended to suppress the heart rate of the unhandled group during the presence of a handler, but the permanency of this effect was not evident 16 days after the drug was administered. The reserpine-treated groups tended to exhibit the lowest heart-rate response to stimuli during the 120-h test-day following the administration of the drug. Heart-rate responses to the stimuli were not different between the normal and nervous yearlings.  
  Address  
  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 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4817  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author (up) McCann, J.S.; Heird, J.C.; Bell, R.W.; Lutherer, L.O. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Normal and more highly reactive horses. I. Heart rate, respiration rate and behavioral observations Type Journal Article
  Year 1988 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 19 Issue 3-4 Pages 201-214  
  Keywords  
  Abstract Thirty-two Quarter horse yearlings were utilized in a split-plot experiment to establish behavioral tendencies for two levels of emotionality; normal and a more highly reactive level of emotionality termed nervous. Four observers who were experienced with horses scored the yearlings on an emotionality scale from 1 to 4, with 1 representing the highly nervous yearlings and 4 representing the quiet yearlings. Emotionality evaluations were based upon the response of the yearlings to a standard regimen of standing in a chute, being identified and being released from the chute. The inter-rater reliability coefficients were 0.90 for the normal yearlings and 0.65 for the nervous yearlings, indicating that the raters agreed less when evaluating the nervous yearlings. Yearling heart rates in the chute were correlated (r = -0.54, P<0.002) with the average emotionality score. Observational data on behavior collected 2 days following the emotionality scoring procedure indicated that the normal yearlings maintained a greater (P<0.001) individual distance than the nervous yearlings. From an activity summary, the normal yearlings spent 10.9% of the time lying down (LD), 79.1% standing (S), 9.6% walking or trotting (WT) and 0.4% of the time cantering or galloping (CG). The nervous yearlings spent 5.7% of the observational periods LD, 79.2% S, 11.7% WT and 3.4% CG. The nervous yearlings tended to have a higher overall activity index level than did the normal yearlings. Results indicate horses of different emotionality levels exhibited different behavioral patterns.  
  Address  
  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 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4818  
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