Riding is considered to be an arousing activity for horses. It has been suggested that wither scratching may be a more useful tool for relaxation compared with the common practice of neck patting. In the current study, 18 horses were exposed to 3 treatments, including control or no interaction, neck patting, and wither scratching, for 1 min each following a short obstacle course. Heart rate, heart rate variability, and a variety of behaviors were measured in the horses. Wither scratching produced a significantly longer duration of relaxed-type behaviors. Wither scratching could be a useful tool to help a horse relax while under saddle. Additionally, the study identified 2 ear positions that may be useful for future research in horse behavior.
Action research continues to grow as a research tradition, yet misconceptions about what it is and is not remains, even among scholars. For example, some mistakenly believe action research is only about professional development and is not a scholarly research approach. Some assume action research must be accomplished through a collaborative process with representative stakeholders, and others believe it can be done alone as an independent process. Some believe action research is about problem solving while others avoid discourse about problems altogether and prefer to focus on the positive aspects of a setting. And, some begin the research process with defined assumptions about the core issues while others have no presuppositions and follow a discovery process. The goal of this article is to point to the various ways action research is defined and applied and position it as a growing research tradition.
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