The aim of this study was to investigate social behaviour in differently reared stallions in their respective environments; one group of stallions was reared under typical domestic conditions whereas the other group was reared and lives under natural conditions. The domestic group consisted of 19, 2-year-old stallions (Equus caballus), which were all weaned at 4 months of age and experienced either individual or group housing facilities before being pastured with the other similarly aged stallions. The natural living and mixed age group of Przewalski stallions (E. przewalskii) consisted of 13 stallions, most of which were juveniles (n 11, 4 years; n 2, >9 years). The domestic group was studied in a 4-ha enclosure at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences and the Przewalski group under free-ranging conditions in a 75-ha enclosure in the Askania Nova Biosphere Reserve, Ukraine. Behavioural data was collected during 168 h of direct observation. The occurrence of 14 types of social interactions was recorded and group spacing behaviour was studied using nearest neighbour recordings. In spite of very different environments, re¯ecting domestic and natural rearing conditions, many similarities in behaviour was found. Play and play ®ght behaviour was very similar in the two stallion groups. Quantitative differences were found in social grooming since Przewalski stallions groomed more frequently (P 0:004), and in investigative behaviours, since domestic stallions showed more nasal (P 0:005) and body snif®ng (P < 0:001), whereas Przewalski stallions directed more snif®ng towards the genital region (P < 0:001). These differences may, however, be attributed to environmental factors and in the period of time the stallions were together prior to the study Applied Animal Behaviour Science 76 (2002) 11±20

The horses applied the highest rein tension on the first day, and apparently learned to avoid the tension, rather than habituate to it. Rein tension correlated with expression of conflict behaviour, indicating that the horses found the tension aversive. Further studies should focus on the correlation between rein tension and conflict behaviour in ridden horses.

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