Quantifying aspects of young horses’ temperament: consistency of behavioural variables

Visser, E.K.; Reenen, C.G. van; Hopster, H.; Schilder, Matthijs B.H.; Knaap, J.H.; Barneveld, A.; Blokhuis, H.J.

doi:10.1016/s0168-1591(01)00177-0

Cited by 198 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

139

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Even though the horse's breed did not significantly affect our results, the sample size of this study does not allow for clear conclusions concerning kin and breed specific temperament effects. We can, however, support the evidence from other studies that gender is not decisive in the horse's behaviour towards humans (Hausberger et al 2004;Henry et al 2005;Visser et al 2001Visser et al , 2002Visser et al , 2003. We would like to conclude, that horses generally use humans as local enhancement cues when searching for food, and the horse's propensity to adjust to the person's focus of attention is affected by the human's familiarity, and body orientation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“…As in other studies, we found large individual differences in approaching the test person, which could reflect the horses' different temperaments (Lansade et al 2005;Lansade and Bouissou 2008;Visser et al 2001Visser et al , 2002Visser et al , 2003. However, we refrained from testing the horses with other persons as a control, as the results would have been influenced by habituation effects (Mal et al 1993).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Horses (Equus caballus) use human local enhancement cues and adjust to human attention

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study evaluates the horse (Equus caballus) use of human local enhancement cues and reaction to human attention when making feeding decisions. The superior performance of dogs in observing human states of attention suggests this ability evolved with domestication. However, some species show an improved ability to read human cues through socialization and training. We observed 60 horses approach a bucket with feed in a three-way object choice task when confronted with a) an unfamiliar or b) a familiar person in 4 different situations: 1) squatting behind the bucket, facing the horse (2) standing behind the bucket, facing the horse (3) standing behind the bucket in a back-turned position, gazing away from the horse and (4) standing a few meters from the bucket in a distant, back-turned position, again gazing away from the horse. Additionally, postures 1 and 2 were tested both with the person looking permanently at the horse, and with the person alternating their gaze between the horse and the bucket. When the person remained behind the correct bucket it was chosen significantly above chance. However, when the test person was turned and distant from the buckets, the horses' performance deteriorated. In the turned person situations the horses approached a familiar person and walked towards their focus of attention significantly more often than with an unfamiliar person. Additionally, in the squatting and standing person situations, some horses approached the person before approaching the correct bucket. This happened more with a familiar person. We therefore conclude that horses can use humans as a local enhancement cue independently of their body posture or gaze consistency when the persons remain close to the food source, and that horses seem to orientate on the attention of familiar more than of unfamiliar persons. We suggest that socialization and training improve the ability of horses to read human cues.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Horses (Equus caballus) use human local enhancement cues and adjust to human attention

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This was done so that the subject would feel as if it was suddenly left alone in the treatment place. Results obtained from a single trial of the behavioral test were postulated to reflect the individual behavior characteristics of each horse according to the findings by Visser et al [23,25].…”

Section: Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To measure the reliability and validity of these tests, researchers have performed repetitive tests using the same horses [23,25], subjected the same horses to different behavioral tests [8,10,22,26], and in some cases measured differences when subjects were or were not tranquilized [10]. In this study, we examined the associations between results obtained from behavioral tests and anxiety scores assessed by caretakers to determine which parameters were most closely associated with equine anxiety trait.…”

Section: Importance Of Examining Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some researchers have assessed equine anxiety based on changes in behavior, as well as autonomic and endocrine functions, in response to various stimuli [e.g., 10,26]. Heart rate [25] as well as behavioral parameters such as exploring novel object and snorting [23] were shown to be significantly consistent within individual horses when the results were compared among repeatedly conducted novel environment tests. These results suggest that reliable assessment can be obtained even with a single test.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessing Equine Anxiety-Related Parameters Using an Isolation Test in Combination with a Questionnaire Survey

Momozawa

Terada

Sato

et al. 2007

The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT. The aim of the study was to determine parameters reflecting equine anxiety trait by comparing results obtained in a behavior test and an anxiety score assessed by familiar caretakers in response to a questionnaire. In the behavior test, horses were individually led into a novel room by their caretakers and loosely tethered to decrease excessive movement using the common cross-tying technique with two leads and breakable plastic cords. The horses initially remained with their caretaker for 2 min; the caretaker then left and the subject animal was left alone for 2 min. The latency to break the plastic cords, heart rate, the number of steps and pawings were recorded. When the horses were left alone, most parameters changed significantly and some showed sexual differences. A correlation analysis revealed that anxiety score assessed by caretakers showed a negative correlation with the latency to break the plastic cord and a positive correlation with heart rate only when horses were isolated. These two were suggested feasible parameters for assessing the anxiety trait of unfamiliar horses. Both the behavioral results and the anxiety scores also indicated that females were more anxious than males. Our results suggest that it would be a useful strategy for assessing other temperament traits as well to combine behavior tests with a questionnaire survey.

show abstract

Temperament in preweanling horses: Development of reactions to humans and novelty, and startle responses

Lansade

Bouissou

Boivin³

2007

Developmental Psychobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The purpose of this study was to investigate the development and the stability across situations and over time of three temperament traits in young foals: propensity to react to humans, propensity to react to novelty, and propensity to react to suddenness. In a comparative study, we examined the reactions of animals in three independent groups (N = 27) tested at 3, 12, and 24 weeks of age, respectively. We observed that human avoidance and novel object approach behaviors are quasi inexistent in the group tested at 3 weeks, but are more and more present in the groups tested at subsequent ages. In a longitudinal study, we tested 48 foals successively at 3, 6, 12, and 24 weeks of age. Since reactions appear progressively with time, no stability over time or across situations was found. However, once a foal manifests a behavioral reaction at a given age, it will always reproduce this reaction subsequently.

show abstract

Quantifying aspects of young horses’ temperament: consistency of behavioural variables

Cited by 198 publications

References 28 publications

Horses (Equus caballus) use human local enhancement cues and adjust to human attention

Horses (Equus caballus) use human local enhancement cues and adjust to human attention

Assessing Equine Anxiety-Related Parameters Using an Isolation Test in Combination with a Questionnaire Survey

Temperament in preweanling horses: Development of reactions to humans and novelty, and startle responses

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About