Behavior and training

Objective 1: Name the basic of horse behavior

1. prey animal

2. fight or flight: will choose to flee vs fight

3. social or herd animal

4. Use of dominance hierarchy

Prey animal

their instincts and behaviors are adaptions to avoiding predators

Fight or flight response

horses usually run away (flight) from danger but instead of fighting

social heard animal

horses live in groups (herds) for safety and companionship

dominancy hierarchy

in a herd, some horses are more dominant and control access to food, water or space.

Objective 2: describe common equine body language

• ears out to the side: dozing

• ears forward and up: alert or curious

• ears outward and forward: calm

• eyes showing white alarm/concern/fear

• ears lying back a bit: annoyed, anxious, or uncomfortable

• teeth being shown bare: displeased and confrontational

obejective 3: Describe the ways that horses communicate

• whinny

• nicker

• squeal

• snort

• blow

• sigh

• mutual grooming

• flehmen

whinny

is a strong,long almost staccato sound that used to contact other horses

nicker

is low, throaty sound , made with the mouth closed

squeal

cry for help, if there is a threat

snort

to communicate a range of feelings and situations, including signaling excitement, happiness, fear, or the presence of danger

blow

through the nostrils, mild warning or clearing the nose

sigh

expressing relief, or bored

mutual grooming

they nibble each other bodies particularly the back and withers

flehmen

It curls its upper lip back, showing its teeth, and also might stretch its neck and raise its head high, to investigate smells

Objective 4: Describe the types of behaviors exhibited by the
horse

REMINDER:

feral→ an animal that once was domesticated but now lives in the wild

domesticated→ an animal that has been bred and adapted by humans

• agonistic behavior

• allelomimetic

• epimeletic

• et-epimeletic

• ingestive behavior

• eliminative

agonistic behavior

dominance hierarchy

ex: kicking, rearing, charging

allelomimetic behavior

definition: when one horse copies the actions of another horse

• herd animal: they survive by sticking together

• early man (humans) will use this as an advantage to control one horse and the rest often followed because of this specific behavior

epimeletic behavior

• giving care and attention

  ex: mutual grooming

et- epimeletic behavior

• calling for attention upon separation

ingestive behavior

• related to eating and drinking

• ex:

  • coprophagy: eating feces

  • bolting feed: eating food fast

  • cribbling: biting wood and suck on it to get a natural high

  • wooding chewing

  • mane and tail

  • chewing

  • digging or pawing

  • pica: eating non food items

eliminative behavior

• territorial marking: urination and defecation

sexual behavior (three horses) Name the horses and what are there sexual behavior?

• stallions: biting, striking, rearing, charging, crowding and flemmne and mounting

• mares:

  • estrus: the period when a mare(female) is sexualy receptive)

  • Leads to→ kicking, winking (opening and closing of the vulva), squatting in estrus, and kick threat if out of estrus

• gleddings: a castrated male horse

  • Proud cut: when a horse is castrated, but some testicular tissue is accidentally left behind, leading to still showing male behaviors

Objective 5: Describe the senses of the horse

• Vison

• hearing

• touch

• smell

what type of vision does a horse have?

• monocular (side)

  • left 146

  • right 146

• bionuclear (front), which is their blind spot, and also behind

• Night vision: Horses see well in low light because they have many rods and a reflective layer (tapetum lucidum).

• Depth perception: Limited since eyes are on the side; best when they use both eyes in front. They move their heads to judge distance.

• Categorical perception (color): Horses are dichromatic — see blues and yellows but not reds (reds look grayish).

What type of hearing do horses have? What are the primary functions? what can the ear specifically do?

55Hz to 33.5 Hz
0-80 decibels

Functions:

• detect sound

• determine location of sound

• provide sensory information that allows horses to recognize the identity of these sounds

The ear can move 180 degrees using 10 different muscles

describe the different traits of touch of the horse

• skin very specialized sense organ

• most sensitive in mouth, feet, flanks, neck, shoulder

• hard mouth

What are the traits of a horse that have a good sense of smell?

define receptors

• more acute than humans

• less sensitive than dogs

Definition: the upper part of the nasal cavity within the mucous membrane