Records |
Author |
Bernauer, K.; Kollross, H.; Schuetz, A.; Farmer, K.; Krueger, K. |
Title |
How do horses (Equus caballus) learn from observing human action? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2020 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
23 |
Issue |
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Pages |
1-9 |
Keywords |
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Abstract |
A previous study demonstrated that horses can learn socially from observing humans, but could not draw any conclusions about the social learning mechanisms. Here we develop this by showing horses four different human action sequences as demonstrations of how to press a button to open a feed box. We tested 68 horses aged between 3 and 12 years. 63 horses passed the habituation phase and were assigned either to the group Hand Demo (N = 13) for which a kneeling person used a hand to press the button, Head Demo (N = 13) for which a kneeling person used the head, Mixed Demo (N = 12) for which a squatting person used both head and hand, Foot Demo (N = 12) in which a standing person used a foot, or No Demo (N = 13) in which horses did not receive a demonstration. 44 horses reached the learning criterion of opening the feeder twenty times consecutively, 40 of these were 75% of the Demo group horses and four horses were 31% of the No Demo group horses. Horses not reaching the learning criterion approached the human experimenters more often than those who did. Significantly more horses used their head to press the button no matter which demonstration they received. However, in the Foot Demo group four horses consistently preferred to use a hoof and two switched between hoof and head use. After the Mixed Demo the horses' actions were more diverse. The results indicate that only a few horses copy behaviours when learning socially from humans. A few may learn through observational conditioning, as some appeared to adapt to demonstrated actions in the course of reaching the learning criterion. Most horses learn socially through enhancement, using humans to learn where, and which aspect of a mechanism has to be manipulated, and by applying individual trial and error learning to reach their goal. |
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1435-9456 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Bernauer2019 |
Serial |
6590 |
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Author |
Farmer, K.; Krueger, K.; Byrne, R. |
Title |
Visual laterality in the domestic horse (Equus caballus) interacting with humans |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2010 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
13 |
Issue |
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Pages |
229-238 |
Keywords |
Horse – Laterality – Eye preference – Emotion – Vision |
Abstract |
Most horses have a side on which they are easier to handle and a direction they favour when working on a circle, and recent studies have suggested a correlation between emotion and visual laterality when horses observe inanimate objects. As such lateralisation could provide important clues regarding the horse’s cognitive processes, we investigated whether horses also show laterality in association with people. We gave horses the choice of entering a chute to left or right, with and without the passive, non-interactive presence of a person unknown to them. The left eye was preferred for scanning under both conditions, but significantly more so when a person was present. Traditionally, riders handle horses only from the left, so we repeated the experiment with horses specifically trained on both sides. Again, there was a consistent preference for left eye scanning in the presence of a person, whether known to the horses or not. We also examined horses interacting with a person, using both traditionally and bilaterally trained horses. Both groups showed left eye preference for viewing the person, regardless of training and test procedure. For those horses tested under both passive and interactive conditions, the left eye was preferred significantly more during interaction. We suggest that most horses prefer to use their left eye for assessment and evaluation, and that there is an emotional aspect to the choice which may be positive or negative, depending on the circumstances. We believe these results have important practical implications and that emotional laterality should be taken into account in training methods. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4953 |
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Author |
Farmer, K.; Krüger, K.; Byrne, R.W.; Marr, I. |
Title |
Sensory laterality in affiliative interactions in domestic horses and ponies (Equus caballus) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2018 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
21 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
631-637 |
Keywords |
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Abstract |
Many studies have been carried out into both motor and sensory laterality of horses in agonistic and stressful situations. Here we examine sensory laterality in affiliative interactions within four groups of domestic horses and ponies (N = 31), living in stable social groups, housed at a single complex close to Vienna, Austria, and demonstrate for the first time a significant population preference for the left side in affiliative approaches and interactions. No effects were observed for gender, rank, sociability, phenotype, group, or age. Our results suggest that right hemisphere specialization in horses is not limited to the processing of stressful or agonistic situations, but rather appears to be the norm for processing in all social interactions, as has been demonstrated in other species including chicks and a range of vertebrates. In domestic horses, hemispheric specialization for sensory input appears not to be based on a designation of positive versus negative, but more on the perceived need to respond quickly and appropriately in any given situation. |
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1435-9456 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Farmer2018 |
Serial |
6386 |
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Author |
Krueger, K.; Esch, L.; Farmer, K.; Marr, I. |
Title |
Basic Needs in Horses?--A Literature Review |
Type |
Magazine Article |
Year |
2021 |
Publication |
Animals |
Abbreviated Journal |
Animals |
Volume |
11 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
1798 |
Keywords |
abnormal behaviour; active responses; horse; movement; passive responses; roughage; stress; social contact |
Abstract |
Every animal species has particular environmental requirements that are essential for its welfare, and when these so-called “basic needs” are not fulfilled, the animals suffer. The basic needs of horses have been claimed to be social contact, social companionship, free movement and access to roughage. To assess whether horses suffer when one or more of the four proposed basic needs are restricted, we examined several studies (n = 38) that reported behavioural and physiological reactions to these restrictions. We assigned the studies according to the four types of responses investigated: (a) Stress, (b) Active, (c) Passive, and (d) Abnormal Behaviour. Furthermore, the number of studies indicating that horses reacted to the restrictions were compared with the number of studies reporting no reaction. The limited number of studies available on single management restrictions did not allow conclusions to be drawn on the effect of each restriction separately, especially in the case of social companionship. However, when combinations of social contact, free movement and access to roughage were restricted, many of the horses had developed responses consistent with suffering. Passive Responses, indicating acute suffering, and Abnormal Behaviour, indicating suffering currently or at some time in the past, were especially clearly demonstrated. This provides further evidence of the usefulness of assessing behavioural parameters in combination with physiological measurements when evaluating horse welfare. This meta-analysis of the literature confirms that it is justified to claim that social contact, free movement and access to roughage are basic needs in horses. |
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Animals |
Series Volume |
11 |
Series Issue |
6 |
Edition |
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2076-2615 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
6645 |
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Author |
Krueger, K.; Farmer, K.; Heinze, J. |
Title |
The effects of age, rank and neophobia on social learning in horses |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2014 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
17 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
645-655 |
Keywords |
Horse; Social learning; Sociality; Ecology; Social relationships |
Abstract |
Social learning is said to meet the demands of complex environments in which individuals compete over resources and co-operate to share resources. Horses (Equus caballus) were thought to lack social learning skills because they feed on homogenously distributed resources with few reasons for conflict. However, the horse’s social environment is complex, which raises the possibility that its capacity for social transfer of feeding behaviour has been underestimated. We conducted a social learning experiment using 30 socially kept horses of different ages. Five horses, one from each group, were chosen as demonstrators, and the remaining 25 horses were designated observers. Observers from each group were allowed to watch their group demonstrator opening a feeding apparatus. We found that young, low ranking, and more exploratory horses learned by observing older members of their own group, and the older the horse, the more slowly it appeared to learn. Social learning may be an adaptive specialisation to the social environment. Older animals may avoid the potential costs of acquiring complex and potentially disadvantageous feeding behaviours from younger group members. We argue that horses show social learning in the context of their social ecology, and that research procedures must take such contexts into account. Misconceptions about the horse’s sociality may have hampered earlier studies. |
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Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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no |
Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5737 |
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Author |
Krueger, K.; Flauger, B.; Farmer, K.; Hemelrijk, C. |
Title |
Movement initiation in groups of feral horses |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2014 |
Publication |
Behavioural Processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
Volume |
103 |
Issue |
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Pages |
91-101 |
Keywords |
Horse; Equus ferus caballus; Distributed leadership; Herding; Departure; Rank |
Abstract |
Abstract Herds of ungulates, flocks of birds, swarms of insects and schools of fish move in coordinated groups. Computer models show that only one or very few animals are needed to initiate and direct movement. To investigate initiation mechanisms further, we studied two ways in which movement can be initiated in feral horses: herding, and departure from the group. We examined traits affecting the likelihood of a horse initiating movement i.e. social rank, affiliative relationships, spatial position, and social network. We also investigated whether group members join a movement in dominance rank order. Our results show that whereas herding is exclusive to alpha males, any group member may initiate movement by departure. Social bonds, the number of animals interacted with, and the spatial position were not significantly associated with movement initiation. We did not find movement initiation by departure to be exclusive to any type of individual. Instead we find evidence for a limited form of distributed leadership, with higher ranking animals being followed more often. |
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0376-6357 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5738 |
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Author |
Krueger, K.; Flauger, B.; Farmer, K.; Maros, K. |
Title |
Horses (Equus caballus) use human local enhancement cues and adjust to human attention |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2011 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
14 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
187-201 |
Keywords |
Human–horse interaction – Horse – Attention-reading – Position – Familiarity |
Abstract |
This study evaluates the horse (Equus caballus) use of human local enhancement cues and reaction to human attention when making feeding decisions. The superior performance of dogs in observing human states of attention suggests this ability evolved with domestication. However, some species show an improved ability to read human cues through socialization and training. We observed 60 horses approach a bucket with feed in a three-way object-choice task when confronted with (a) an unfamiliar or (b) a familiar person in 4 different situations: (1) squatting behind the bucket, facing the horse (2) standing behind the bucket, facing the horse (3) standing behind the bucket in a back-turned position, gazing away from the horse and (4) standing a few meters from the bucket in a distant, back-turned position, again gazing away from the horse. Additionally, postures 1 and 2 were tested both with the person looking permanently at the horse and with the person alternating their gaze between the horse and the bucket. When the person remained behind the correct bucket, it was chosen significantly above chance. However, when the test person was turned and distant from the buckets, the horses’ performance deteriorated. In the turned person situations, the horses approached a familiar person and walked towards their focus of attention significantly more often than with an unfamiliar person. Additionally, in the squatting and standing person situations, some horses approached the person before approaching the correct bucket. This happened more with a familiar person. We therefore conclude that horses can use humans as a local enhancement cue independently of their body posture or gaze consistency when the persons remain close to the food source and that horses seem to orientate on the attention of familiar more than of unfamiliar persons. We suggest that socialization and training improve the ability of horses to read human cues. |
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Springer Berlin / Heidelberg |
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1435-9448 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5178 |
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Author |
Krueger, K.; Marr, I.; Farmer, K. |
Title |
Equine Cognition |
Type |
Book Chapter |
Year |
2017 |
Publication |
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior |
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Pages |
1-11 |
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Springer International Publishing |
Place of Publication |
Cham |
Editor |
Vonk, J.; Shackelford, T. |
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978-3-319-47829-6 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ Krueger2017 |
Serial |
6181 |
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Author |
Krueger, K.; Schwarz, S.; Marr, I.; Farmer, K. |
Title |
Laterality in Horse Training: Psychological and Physical Balance and Coordination and Strength Rather Than Straightness |
Type |
Magazine Article |
Year |
2022 |
Publication |
Animals |
Abbreviated Journal |
Animals |
Volume |
12 |
Issue |
8 |
Pages |
1042 |
Keywords |
balance; body asymmetry; equitation; horse; motor laterality; sensory laterality; stress; welfare |
Abstract |
For centuries, a goal of training in many equestrian disciplines has been to straighten the horse, which is considered a key element in achieving its responsiveness and suppleness. However, laterality is a naturally occurring phenomenon in horses and encompasses body asymmetry, motor laterality and sensory laterality. Furthermore, forcibly counterbalancing motor laterality has been considered a cause of psychological imbalance in humans. Perhaps asymmetry and laterality should rather be accepted, with a focus on training psychological and physical balance, coordination and equal strength on both sides instead of enforcing “straightness”. To explore this, we conducted a review of the literature on the function and causes of motor and sensory laterality in horses, especially in horses when trained on the ground or under a rider. The literature reveals that body asymmetry is innate but does not prevent the horse from performing at a high level under a rider. Motor laterality is equally distributed in feral horses, while in domestic horses, age, breed, training and carrying a rider may cause left leg preferences. Most horses initially observe novel persons and potentially threatening objects or situations with their left sensory organs. Pronounced preferences for the use of left sensory organs or limbs indicate that the horse is experiencing increased emotionality or stress, and long-term insufficiencies in welfare, housing or training may result in left shifts in motor and sensory laterality and pessimistic mentalities. Therefore, increasing laterality can be regarded as an indicator for insufficiencies in housing, handling and training. We propose that laterality be recognized as a welfare indicator and that straightening the horse should be achieved by conducting training focused on balance, coordination and equal strength on both sides. |
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Animals |
Series Volume |
12 |
Series Issue |
8 |
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2076-2615 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
6670 |
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Author |
Krueger, K.; Trager, L.; Farmer, K.; Byrne, R. |
Title |
Tool Use in Horses |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2022 |
Publication |
Animals |
Abbreviated Journal |
Animals |
Volume |
12 |
Issue |
15 |
Pages |
1876 |
Keywords |
crowdsourcing; horse; innovation; mule; management; tool use |
Abstract |
Tool use has not yet been confirmed in horses, mules or donkeys. As this subject is difficult to research with conventional methods, we used a crowdsourcing approach to gather data. We contacted equid owners and carers and asked them to report and video examples of �unusual� behaviour via a dedicated website. We also searched YouTube and Facebook for videos of equids showing tool use. From 635 reports, including 1014 behaviours, we found 20 cases of tool use, 13 of which were unambiguous in that it was clear that the behaviour was not trained, caused by reduced welfare, incidental or accidental. We then assessed (a) the effect of management conditions on tool use and (b) whether the animals used tools alone, or socially, involving other equids or humans. We found that management restrictions were associated with corresponding tool use in 12 of the 13 cases (p = 0.01), e.g., equids using sticks to scrape hay within reach when feed was restricted. Furthermore, 8 of the 13 cases involved other equids or humans, such as horses using brushes to groom others. The most frequent tool use was for foraging, with seven examples, tool use for social purposes was seen in four cases, and there was just one case of tool use for escape. There was just one case of tool use for comfort, and in this instance, there were no management restrictions. Equids therefore can develop tool use, especially when management conditions are restricted, but it is a rare occurrence. |
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Animals |
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12 |
Series Issue |
15 |
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2076-2615 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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6695 |
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