How the dominance hierarchy is determined: The body language of the horse

Miller, R.M.

doi:10.1016/s0737-0806(07)80415-1

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…aggression in dominant displays and fear in submissive displays (Drews 1993 ). Dominance-related communicative body postures are widespread and may be evolutionarily conserved due to similarities in form across species: dominant postures tend to involve an inflated body size whilst submissive postures involve making oneself appear smaller and less threatening (Darwin 1872 ; Miller 1995 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestic horses (Equus caballus) prefer to approach humans displaying a submissive body posture rather than a dominant body posture

et al. 2017

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Signals of dominance and submissiveness are central to conspecific communication in many species. For domestic animals, sensitivities to these signals in humans may also be beneficial. We presented domestic horses with a free choice between two unfamiliar humans, one adopting a submissive and the other a dominant body posture, with vocal and facial cues absent. Horses had previously been given food rewards by both human demonstrators, adopting neutral postures, to encourage approach behaviour. Across four counterbalanced test trials, horses showed a significant preference for approaching the submissive posture in both the first trial and across subsequent trials, and no individual subject showed an overall preference for dominant postures. There was no significant difference in latency to approach the two postures. This study provides novel evidence that domestic horses may spontaneously discriminate between, and attribute communicative significance to, human body postures of dominance; and further, that familiarity with the signaller is not a requirement for this response. These findings raise interesting questions about the plasticity of social signal perception across the species barrier.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10071-017-1140-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestic horses (Equus caballus) prefer to approach humans displaying a submissive body posture rather than a dominant body posture

et al. 2017

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“…Standardization of the body posture and the approach method of the human during the behavioral test is another crucial factor to be considered in generalization studies. There are reports that an aggressive human posture and direct visual contact may provoke more intense fear reactions in horses (Miller 1995). However, these reports were not confirmed by the results of Seaman (2002), who found no relation between direct eye contact and horse behavior.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 87%

Gently handled foals generalize responses to humans

Schmidek¹,

Oliveira²,

Trindade³

et al. 2018

JABB

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Equines perform tasks along humans, and there are evidences and controversies that they are able to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar humans. This study assessed whether foals can discriminate between humans in terms of familiarity and human experience in equine handling. Daily, in the first two weeks of life, 30 foals went through a short section of gentle handling. After about four months, a human forced approach test was carried out by 4 evaluators varying in the familiarity aspect and experience with equine handling. Data was submitted to the McNemar test (P<0.05). In 66.7% of the assessments, the foals accepted the human approach, and among the positive cases, 60.0% were characterized by seeking contact with the evaluators. Among the foals that accepted the human approach, 97.5% also accepted tactile stimulation. No differences were found regarding the familiarity of the evaluators (P>0.05) or their experience in equine handling (P>0.05). The individual variation was evident, which indicates that we must work with personalized training techniques, in which the behavior of each individual is the main factor to be considered. Our results show that the adoption of good handling practices with foals favored their relationship with humans, and it is possible to assume that such practices can improve animal welfare, as well as the safety of the humans that will have contact with them in the future.

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“…It has been suggested that head lowering and licking-and-chewing normally occur simultaneously, indicating a horse's state of submission or signaling appeasement (Miller, 1995c;Parelli, 1993;Roberts, 1996). However, a number of outcomes from this study serve to question this interpretation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary Investigations Into the Ethological Relevance of Round-Pen (Round-Yard) Training of Horses

Warren-Smith

McGreevy

2008

Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science

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Recently, training horses within round-pens has increased in popularity. Practitioners often maintain that the responses they elicit from horses are similar to signals used with senior conspecifics. To audit the responses of horses to conspecifics, 6 mare-young-horse dyads, this study introduced them to each other in a round-pen and videoed them for 8 min. These dyads spent significantly more time farther than 10 m apart than they did less than 1 m apart (p < .001). The time they spent less than 1 m apart decreased over the 8-min test period (p = .018). Mares occupied the center of the round-pen and chased youngsters for 0.73% of the test period (p < .001). Mares made all agonistic approaches (p < .001), and youngsters (p = .018) made all investigative approaches. Head lowering and licking-and-chewing were exhibited most when the youngsters were facing away from the mares (p < .001). The frequency of head lowering increased during the test period (p = .027), whereas the frequency of licking-and-chewing did not change. The results bring into question the popular interpretation and ethological relevance of equine responses commonly described in round-pen training and show that mares did not condition young horses to remain in close proximity to them.

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How the dominance hierarchy is determined: The body language of the horse

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Domestic horses (Equus caballus) prefer to approach humans displaying a submissive body posture rather than a dominant body posture

Domestic horses (Equus caballus) prefer to approach humans displaying a submissive body posture rather than a dominant body posture

Gently handled foals generalize responses to humans

Preliminary Investigations Into the Ethological Relevance of Round-Pen (Round-Yard) Training of Horses

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