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Hall, C.A.; Cassaday, H.J. |
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Title |
An investigation into the effect of floor colour on the behaviour of the horse |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
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Volume |
99 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
301-314 |
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Keywords |
Horse; Colour aversion; Flooring; Vision |
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Abstract |
Adverse reactions of the domestic horse to environmental stimuli can be problematic in training and management. Hesitation and alarm reactions to visual features of the ground can occur in both ridden work and when handling horses. To assess the effect of one visual feature (colour) on the behaviour of the domestic horse, the reactions of 16 riding horses to 8 different coloured mats were recorded. The effect of stimulus position on these reactions was assessed by presenting them in two different positions, either on the ground (where the horses had to walk over them) or against a wall (where the horses walked past them). Each colour/position combination was presented twice in order to assess the effect of previous experience. An alleyway was constructed to allow the horses to be tested unconstrained and freely walking throughout. The time taken to traverse the alleyway and the observed reaction to the colour was recorded. Significant differences in both measures were found in relation to the position of the colour and whether the subject had previous experience of that colour/position combination. The initial presentation of the colours on the ground produced the highest percentage of adverse reactions. Certain colours encountered for the first time on the ground (yellow, white, black and blue) were found to cause a greater number of adverse reactions than others (green, red, brown and grey) and an increase in time taken to traverse the alleyway. Although a significant difference in relation to colour was found in the behaviour observed during the second presentation on the ground, no difference was found in relation to the time taken to traverse the alleyway. No significant effect of colour was found when the coloured stimuli were presented against the wall. These findings have important implications for situations where the colour of flooring could be controlled in order to minimise adverse behavioural reactions, in particular during initial training. |
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834 |
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Author |
Hall, C.A.; Cassaday, H.J.; Derrington, A.M. |
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Title |
The effect of stimulus height on visual discrimination in horses |
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Journal Article |
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Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Journal of Animal Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
J. Anim Sci. |
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Volume |
81 |
Issue |
7 |
Pages |
1715-1720 |
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Keywords |
Animals; *Discrimination Learning/physiology; Female; Horses/physiology/*psychology; Male; Orientation; *Photic Stimulation; Vision/*physiology |
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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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School of Land-based Studies, Nottingham Trent University, Brackenhurst College Campus, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England NG25 0QF. carol.hall@ntu.ac.uk |
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0021-8812 |
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PMID:12854807 |
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refbase @ user @ |
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835 |
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Hall, C.A.; Cassaday, H.J.; Vincent, C.J.; Derrington, A.M. |
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Title |
Cone excitation ratios correlate with color discrimination performance in the horse (Equus caballus) |
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Year |
2006 |
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Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
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J Comp Psychol |
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120 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
438-448 |
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Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Color Perception; *Discrimination (Psychology); Discrimination Learning; Horses; Photoreceptors, Vertebrate/*physiology |
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Six horses (Equus caballus) were trained to discriminate color from grays in a counterbalanced sequence in which lightness cues were irrelevant. Subsequently, the pretrained colors were presented in a different sequence. Two sets of novel colors paired with novel grays were also tested. Performance was just as good in these transfer tests. Once the horse had learned to select the chromatic from the achromatic stimulus, regardless of the specific color, they were immediately able to apply this rule to novel stimuli. In terms of the underlying visual mechanisms, the present study showed for the first time that the spectral sensitivity of horse cone photopigments, measured as cone excitation ratios, was correlated with color discrimination performance, measured as accuracy, repeated errors, and latency of approach. |
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School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Southwell, United Kingdom. carol.hall@ntu.ac.uk |
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0735-7036 |
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PMID:17115866 |
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1780 |
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