Animal Behaviour - Applied Horse Ethology
The most important ethological factors to consider for horses are that they are prey animals, highly social, and naturally spend a large portion of their day—around 16 hours—grazing. These traits strongly influence their behaviour, stress responses, and welfare needs.
What are the most important ethological factors to consider for horses?
Prey
Social
Large proportion of time (16hr/day) sent grazing
Key Terms
What are the most important ethological factors to consider for horses?
Prey
Social
Large proportion of time (16hr/day) sent grazing
What type of vision do horses have?
Monocular
What are the areas of vision where movement can be seen but not individual objects?
Marginal zone - moving into this zone causes fear and positional changes by the horse
How does roses hearing differ to humans?
Wider range - low p-waves can be heard
How may horses use olfactory abilities?
Smell humans - may associate particular smell with a fearful/fearing human from the past (hence when people say they can “smell fear” - this is not...
Which other animal exhibits flehman?
Cats
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What are the most important ethological factors to consider for horses? | Prey Social Large proportion of time (16hr/day) sent grazing |
What type of vision do horses have? | Monocular |
What are the areas of vision where movement can be seen but not individual objects? | Marginal zone - moving into this zone causes fear and positional changes by the horse |
How does roses hearing differ to humans? | Wider range - low p-waves can be heard |
How may horses use olfactory abilities? | Smell humans - may associate particular smell with a fearful/fearing human from the past (hence when people say they can “smell fear” - this is not an inane ability but may be learned) Flehmen response - to smell ANY SCENT but particularly sex pheromones |
Which other animal exhibits flehman? | Cats |
Why may the twitch response come about? | Opiate response -> immobility, possibly as predator grabbing skin may be adaptive o keep still until they let go |
What are horse sleep cycles like? | Little research on sleep deprivation in horses - ~30 mins REM/night Stay and reciprocal apparatus allow them to doze standing up |
Why does social isolation commonly experienced by horses cause problems? | Parasite control due to normal mutual grooming Pair bonding Stable social groups (compared to dogs who are more flexible) Napping occurs because want to stay with social group |
How should a new horse be introduced to a group? | Pair bond with one other first, then integrate both into group |
What problems are associated with flight behaviour of this prey species? | Spooking - caused by new/unexpected situation even if the lack of an object rather than presence Learn avoidance v well (hence pushing horse away to get away from you -> learning not to ever stand still) |
How do neonatal horses differ from cats and dogs? | Cats and dogs altricial - sensory system still developing once born, modified by environment Horses precocial - ready to run! Less flexible neonatal development Shot sensitive period in horses for bonding with mother (Lorenz work) |
What does traditional horse training consist of? | Habituaion ie to people/tack etc Negative reinformcent and positive punishment > for this signals must be clear and timing must be perfect |
Outline some “new” training techniques, what kind of learning do these involve? | Monty Roberts - still negative reinforcement as small pen means escape not possible Clicker training - positive reinforcement |
What factor must be considered when looking at equine behavioural problems? | Pain - either current or historical + learning element |