Abstract: We investigated 71 horses at five stud farms. Their breeds were Thoroughbred (n = 48), Anglo-Arab (n = 7), Thoroughbred mixed breed (n = 5), Appaloosa (n = 3), Selle Francais (n = 2), Dutch Warmblood, Haflinger, Pinto, Quarter Horse and Westfalen (n = 1, respectively), and one horse's breed was not known, but was a heavy horse. Their genders were stallion (n = 5), gelding (n = 41) and female (n = 25). Their ages ranged from 4 to 24 and the average was 11.1 +/- 5.3 (S.D.). The horses' behaviour was twice observed for 2 h both before and after feeding, using a scan sampling technique at 2 min intervals. We investigated the relationship between management factors, age, sex, breed and behavioural patterns of stabled horses, and the occurrence of weaving by a least-squares analysis of variance, a correlation analysis, Chi-square test and an analysis of behavioural sequences. Thoroughbred horses displayed weaving more than other breeds (P < 0.01) and horses in box stalls which were face to face with each other displayed weaving more than those in box stalls which were formed in a line (P < 0.01). The time budget of weaving correlated negatively with the amount of hay-cube fed (kg/day) (P < 0.05) and time budgets of drinking, bedding investigation, looking and coprophagia (P < 0.01, respectively). From the analysis of behavioural sequences, weaving followed resting (P < 0.01), looking (P < 0.01) and pawing (P < 0.05), and was followed by them (P < 0.01, P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). The least-squares analysis of variance revealed that Thoroughbred horses investigated the bedding more than other breeds (P < 0.05), horses that are usually in contact with `mainly familiar people' investigated the bedding significantly less than those usually in contact with `people including strangers' (P < 0.05), and horses in box stalls which were face to face with each other tended to investigate the bedding more than those in box stalls which were formed in a line. The time spent feeding was related to food type (min/kg), and tended to be negatively correlated with the time budget of bedding investigation behaviour. These results indicate that weaving in horses is affected by breed, stable design, feed type, and other behavioural traits.

Abstract: An understanding of patterns of leadership during grazing movements is important where the management of grazing cattle is concerned. This paper describes the leadership displayed by grazing cattle by recording the spatial relationship (grazing style) among herd members as the group progressed slowly through a field. Grazing style was divided into “A”, “B” and “C”, meaning following, independence and leading, respectively. The results revealed the following features: (1) the frequency distributions of grazing style and grazing formation used by the herd varied with the seasons; (2) the individual animal variation in grazing style did not fundamentally change with the seasons; (3) there was negative linear correlation between Styles A and C and between Styles A and B. The more any cow followed the grazing movement, the less likely it was to lead the grazing movement or to be independent. Styles C and B tended to be positively related; (4) high, medium and low ranking animals in social dominance showed tendencies to behave in Styles C, A and B, respectively; (5) grazing style and weight gain were not clearly related; (6) the cows that tended to lead, be independent or follow less, tended to get out of their paddocks. The observations suggested (1) that the leader-follower-independent relationship, although modified in each season, did not vary fundamentally, (2) that the active movement of high ranking animals and the independent movement of low ranking animals governed the voluntary formation in grazing, and (3) that as grazing cattle that behaved in a single group and did not escape from their paddock were much easier to manage, the grazing style that expressed these characteristics was one of the significant indices for management of grazing cattle.