Equine Behaviour BAG216

Benefits of studying Equine Behaviour?

When dealing with certain aspects of equine behaviour that we consider to be difficult or problematic, we need to determine where this behaviour has come from.

We know that horses all have the same behavioural patterns, inbuilt from their wild ancestors. There may also be characteristics that horses can display that we perceive to be dysfunctional or expressions of the horses personality. We can try to identify these by asking questions such as:

• How does a horse learn or develop certain patterns of behaviour?
• How much of it is innate and how much is environmental?
• What are the causes for the development of vices?
• How do these horse-specific patterns of learning impact on my role as the owner/trainer?

Understanding the flexibility and limits of behaviour is essential to improving both the horse's welfare and its performance.

Course Structure: Equine Behaviour BAG216

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction: Influences and motivation
   • What is an equine?
   • Why study equine behaviouir?
   • Scope of equine behaviour
   • What motivates behaviour?
   • Categories of behaviour - reactive, active, cognitive
   • Species behavioural differences
   • Learned behaviour and learning ability
   • Other influences on behaviour
   • Behavioural differences between breeds
   • Related terminology
2. Genetics and behaviour
   • Inborn, innate or inherited?
   • Understanding the basics of genetics
   • Effects of the environment
   • Heritability, epigenesis, interaction between species, survival
   • The importance of inborn behaviours
3. Perception and behaviour
   • How do animals perceive things?
   • Imprinting
   • Types of stimuli
   • Stimulus filtering
   • Equine perception and behaviour
   • Sensory perception - horse verses human
   • Sight, taste, smell, touch, sound
   • The body language of horses
   • Fight or flight
   • Terminology
4. Communication and social behaviour
   • Animal societies
   • Social constraints and herd membership
   • Signals of communication - chemical, tactile, visual signals
   • Social organisation - home range
   • Maintenance behaviour
   • Play behaviour
   • Lack of equine company
5. Sexual and reproductive behaviour
   • Sexual strategies
   • Normal sexual behaviour - stallions, mares, mating, birthing
   • Foal imprinting
   • Normal maternal behaviour
   • Abnormal sexual behaviours - stallions, mares
6. Learning and training
   • Conditioning and learning
   • Shaping, extinction, habituation, instrumental learning
   • Thorndyke's Law of Effect
   • Operant and respondent behaviour
   • More aspects of conditioning - pseudo-conditioning, interoceptive conditioning, temperol conditioning
   • Biological aspects of conditioning
   • Cognition and learning
   • Associative learning
   • Obedience, reinforcement, punishment
   • Reinforcement schedules
   • Flooding, Systematic desensitisation, exhaustion, punishment, habituation, counter conditioning, join-up/follow-up
7. Behavioural Problems
   • Abnormal behaviour
   • Types of abnormal behaviour in horses
   • Diagnosing behavioural problems
   • Domestication
   • Stress
   • Stereotypes
   • Stable vices - crib biting, wind sucking, weaving etc
   • Prevention
   • Ridden vices - shying, tongue over bit, head tossing, rearing, bucking etc
   • Handling vices - leading, unwillingness to be caught, etc.
   • Transporting horses - problems during loading, horse trailer requirements

Aims: Equine Behaviour BAG216

• Identify factors affecting equine behaviour.
• Describe the influence of genes on equine behaviour.
• Explain how horses perceive and how they respond to various stimuli
• Explain how horses communicate and the nature of their social organisation.
• Explain the sexual and reproductive behaviour of the horse.
• Describe the different ways that horses learn and how this can be applied to the training environment.
• Explain how and why behavioural problems occur and how they can be prevented

What you will be doing during this Course

Three general categories of behaviour are reactive behaviours, active behaviours, and cognitive behaviours.

Reactive behaviour: includes stereotypic behaviour which is largely automatic. These are the most primitive types of behaviours which have been fully established in the animal well before it is born. Animal tropisms (automatic orientation responses) such as balancing and positioning are reactive behaviours. Other tropisms include things such as breathing, avoiding heat or opening the eyes

Active behaviours: are developed from inherited potentials. The animal is born with a tendency to act a certain way, but a degree of learning must occur for that behaviour to develop. The process is a little like a computer which delivers pre-programmed responses on demand; the way to act might be built into the animals genetic make-up, but it requires a certain stimulus before the action happens. These behaviours in part occur through parental training (eg. running, walking, grooming). This is a more elaborate type of behaviour than reactive behaviour. It is believed to occur only in more advanced animals (ie. arthropods and vertebrates), though there is some evidence that lower order animals can also learn behaviour.

Cognitive behaviours: are the most advanced forms of behaviour. Genetics provides only a very general influence, and the actual behaviour is more influenced by the environment and experience. Cognitive behaviour is more or less deliberate activity. The animal doesn't just respond to stimuli; it can also invent its own actions. Simple cognitive behaviours are encountered in many (but not all) arthropods, and all vertebrates.

Exploration: is a simple cognitive behaviour which allows an animal to familiarize itself with new conditions in the environment. Objects are approached, inspected and then moved away from. This action is generally repeated, but with reduced frequency. The most complex environmental factors tend to stimulate the greatest exploratory activity. If mammals are prevented from exploration for long periods, their behaviour can become abnormal.

Play: is a more advanced type of cognitive behaviour which occurs to some degree in most vertebrates; but more so in mammals. Play may involve more complex and diverse activity than exploration. Play and exploration together help animals adapt to both their physical and social environment. Lack of play in young animals can lead to social problems later in life (ie. they make poor parents or don't react well with other animals). Another more complex cognitive behaviour seen in mammals is manipulative behaviour.

Species Behavioural Differences

The behaviour of horses has been affected by their evolutionary development.

Examples:

Horses have lied in open grasslands for over 25 million years. Feed in these situations is high in fibre, and low in energy, thus slow to digest. This has caused horses to develop a behaviour of slow continuous feeding while slowly moving for most of the day. Conformation and behaviour of equine animals is adapted to this life of continuous grazing; and for this reason, even modern domesticated horses require several hours of slow movement each day.Horses evolved as herd animals, because they were vulnerable to attack by predators if they were alone in an open grassland environment. Being in a group increased the ability to detect and escape a threat. As a result, horses have evolved an inherent need to be near and interact with other horses. The need for social contact with other horses is essential.Horses have developed a flight behaviour (running away) as a natural reaction to threat. Their physiology has even adapted to support this behaviour. A horses first reaction to any threat or fear will naturally be to run away, and that behaviour is fixed in it's genetics.

Domesticated Horse Behaviour is Different

• Domestication of horses has affected it?
  
• Genetics and inherent behaviours; but to a limited degree.

Domestic horses may differ from wild ancestors and relatives in the following ways not just because they are around humans from birth, but also because these characteristics have been bred into them over time:

• Aggressive
• Tamer (less timid
• Some sensory parts of the brain (sensory perception) have become less heightened (eg. The horse may not sense visual and other stimuli as sharply, because the need to do so has decreased. As a result, domestic horses are likely to be less stressed
• Greater variation in performance, behaviour and physical attributes.

Why study Equine Behaviour?

The study of equine behaviour provides a foundation for more sensitive and informed care and trainingof horses.

• Studying equine behaviour can help you understand your horse's behaviour, and work more effectively with its inherent nature. 
• It is assumed that all equine behaviour is an adaptation designed to support survival, either directly or indirectly. However, this is not always the case. Horses can behave self-destructively, out of habit, or out of boredom, just as humans can.
• To better understand equine behaviour, we need to consider what motivates it.

Need help deciding?

Why not contact our Course Advisors on +44+(0)1227 789 649 Speaking with our experts one of our experts who can tell you more about the industry and help you determine the best course.