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A Danish study sought to decode behavior in foals that might indicate which ones may become fearful adults. Fearful horses can be dangerous if placed in uneducated hands; if bred, they can pass the trait on to their offspring.

Drs. Janne Winther Christensen, Carina Beblein and Jens Malmkvist note that horses will always face situations that can scare them, but through habituation and breeding for a calm demeanor, they can be trained to not flee.

Horses that are scared cause accidents; the researchers note that everyone involved with horses, from those who breed to those who play sports and teach others how to ride, have a responsibility to try to reduce accidents. They also report that it is unethical to breed fearful animals as it has a negative impact on animal welfare.

However, to study equine fearfulness, the same group of horses need to be kept in the identical management situations for the first three or four years of their lives, which is unusual. Winther Christensen and her team followed 25 Warmblood stallions from five months to 3.5 years of age; they were kept as a group with limited human handling.

The researchers reported that foals on their dams' side showed distinct differences in how they approached novel items. Some foals hurried back to their mothers when they saw a scary object while others approached and investigated it. Heart rate monitors showed that the foals that hurried back to their mothers had higher heart rates than the more-inquisitive foals.

Tested again as 3-year-olds, the same horses had similar reactions; overall, the horses that were more alert to the object had more pronounced fear reactions. The team determined that a foal's expression of alertness can help predict later behavior. Fearfulness is consistent across ages, which is helpful to know to ensure proper training and handling of the most-fearful horses. Additionally, if breeders were to breed only calm horses, after a few generations the population would generally become less fearful.

Read more at Horses and People.

The post Study: Fearful Foals Make Fearful Horses appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A new study has shown that horses get bolder with age, but they don't necessarily become more independent. These results indicate that boldness and independence are two separate traits, said Drs. Bibiana Burattini, Kate Fenner, Ashley Anzulewicz, Nicole Romness, Jessica McKenzie, Bethany Wilson and Paul McGreevy.

“Boldness” is an umbrella term to describe horses that are not shy, nervous or easily spooked, while “independence” is an individual's ability to function without social support from other horses.

The study team used 1,940 responses to the Equine Behavior Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ), a 97-question study being used to develop a global database of horse behavior. The tool allows responders to benchmark their horses against thousands of others with regards to training, behavior and welfare. Respondents to this study came from 33 different countries; they represented 78 different breeds. In total, 58 percent of responders owner geldings and 38 percent owned mares; the rest owned stallions

The research team used the study responses to compare boldness and independence in horses with a horse's age. They discovered that older horses that were started under-saddle at a young age were bolder and more independent than those horses started under tack at an older age. This was not surprising as the team noted that the shier horses may be started later in hopes that they would calm down as they matured. They also discovered that:

Australian Stock Horses were bolder and more independent than crossbreed horses
Brown and chestnut horses were less bold than bay horses
Dressage and therapy horses were less bold than those used for other disciplines
Stallions were bolder than geldings
Thoroughbreds and companion horses were less bold than crossbred horses
Heavy horses and ponies tended to be bolder
Working equitation horses were more independent that pleasure mount

The team concluded that boldness and independence are separate traits, and only boldness was associated with equine age. They suggested the increase in boldness may be related to the a horse's accumulated exposure to various events and stimuli as it ages.

The team notes that understanding how age affects behavior can assist in matching a rider with a horse, as well as with projecting how a young horse will mature behaviorally.

Read the full study here.