The effects of early training sessions on the reactions of foals at 1, 2, and 3 months of age

General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms 1 Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballusAbstract. Horses are highly social animals that have evolved to live in social groups.However, in modern husbandry systems, single housing prevails where horses experience social isolation, a challenge-to-welfare factor. One major reason for this single housing is the owners' concerns that horses may injure each other during aggressive encounters. However, in natural conditions, serious injuries due to aggressive encounters are rare. What could therefore explain the claimed risks of group living for domestic horses? Basing our questioning on the current knowledge of the social life of horses in natural conditions, we review different practices that may lead to higher levels of aggression in horses and propose practical solutions.Observations of natural and feral horses mostly indicate a predominance of low frequencies and mild forms of aggression, based on subtle communication signals and ritualized displays and made possible by group stability (i.e. stable composition), dominance hierarchy and learning of appropriate social skills by young horses. Obviously, adults play a major role here in canalizing undesirable behaviours, and social experience during development, associated with a diversity of social partners, seems to be a prerequisite for the young horse to become socially skilled.Given the natural propensity of horses to have a regulation of aggression in groups, the tendency to display more aggression in groups of domestic horses under some management practices seems clearly related to the conditions offered. We therefore review the managing practices that could trigger aggressiveness in horses. Non social practices (space, resource availability) and social practices (group size, stability of membership, composition and opportunities for social experiences during development) in groups of domestic horses are discussed here.2 Finally, we propose simple practical solutions leading to more peaceful interactions in groups of domestic horses, based on the knowledge of horses' natural social life which therefore should be enhanced (e.g. ensuring roughage availability, favouring group stability,, introducing socially experienced adults in groups of young horses;…). The state of the art indicates that many questions still need to be answered. Given the importance of the associated welfare issues and the consequences on the use of horses, further research is required, which could benefit horses… and humans.

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“…Simpson, 2002;Williams et al, 2002). A more recent study has revealed that this so-called "imprinting procedure"…”

Section: The Mother-young Bondmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

Fureix

Bourjade²,

Henry

et al. 2012

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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“…Furthermore, the behavior of the dam towards humans strongly influences the way their young respond to humans (horses: Henry et al, 2005;goats: Lyons et al, 1988) and consequently having a good relationship with the mother may simply improve the young' reactions to humans. Thus, Henry et al (2005) reported in horses that short periods of positive contacts with dams such as soft handling and hand-feeding during the first 5 days post-partum enhanced greatly foals' trainability at least until the age of 1 year, while direct handling of juveniles in the early postnatal period has either no effect or only short-term effects (Heird, Whitaker, Bell, Ramsey, & Lokey, 1986;Henry, Richard-Yris, & Hausberger, 2006;Lansade, Bertrand, & Bouissou, 2005;Simpson, 2002;Spier, Berger, Pusterla, Villarroel, & Pusterla, 2004;Williams et al, 2002Williams et al, , 2003.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are 6‐month‐old foals sensitive to dam's influence?

Henry

Briefer

Richard‐Yris

et al. 2007

Developmental Psychobiology

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A recent study has shown that gently handling dams in front of their few days old foals may strongly influence the development of human-foal relationships. In the present study, we test whether 6-month-old foals remain sensitive to their dams' influence. The study was performed on 16 foal-mare dyads, with half of the mares receiving positive contacts from the experimenter in presence of their 6-month-old foals (n = 8) whereas the other mares were not handled (n = 8). All foals were tested 15 and 30-35 days later under various conditions (reaction to a motionless human, approach test, saddle-pad tolerance test). We observe a positive effect of mare' handling on foals' reactions to humans but with a high interindividual variability, suggesting a higher effect of the foals' own behavioral characteristics at this age than at earlier stages.

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“…Nicol (1995) documented recall ability of the horse. Williams et al (2002) reported that there was no difference in learning ability at three months different age of horses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Excellent memory and recall ability have been documented in the horse (Nicol 1995). There was no difference in learning ability during three months of age among colts (Williams et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Learning Behavior of Horse Colts: a Case Study of Nepal Cavalry Barrack, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal

Kamal

Singh

2015

J. Inst. Sci. Tech.

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This paper tries to study learning ability behaviors of horse colts in Nepal Cavalry Barrack (NBC), Singha Durbar, Kathmandu. The learning ability of horse colts has been found different behaviors during learning stages. The horses showed different behaviors like fighting, flighting, kicking and biting during trainings. There was no difference of learning ability among three months age of colts. The Learning Ability Index (LAI) has been found as 56, 55, 54, 55, 51 and 64 for the colts A, B, C, D, E and F, respectively.

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The effects of early training sessions on the reactions of foals at 1, 2, and 3 months of age

Cited by 43 publications

References 14 publications

Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

Exploring aggression regulation in managed groups of horses Equus caballus

Are 6‐month‐old foals sensitive to dam's influence?

Learning Behavior of Horse Colts: a Case Study of Nepal Cavalry Barrack, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal

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