Preliminary Study: Impacts of Meal Frequency on Equus Caballus Night Time Behavior
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Date
2024-12
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Given the opportunity, horses would naturally forage for 16-18 hours a day, rarely fasting voluntarily for more than 2-4 hours at a time (Harris, 2005). Today, horses are heavily managed in conditions far removed from their natural environment, which may impact their behavior and welfare (Thorne et al., 2005). The stressful conditions imposed by management routines are the most likely causal factor in the development of equine stereotypies (Sarrafchi and Blokhuis, 2013). The aim of this study is to explore how common management practices, specifically feeding frequency, impacts night time budgets and stereotypic behavior performed by horses. A larger study with twelve horses were split into 2 groups of 6 horses. After a two-week adaptation period, the 2 groups were then randomly allocated their meal frequency order (1x, 2x, or 3x per day) in a cross over design with each treatment lasting 7 days. For this pilot study, a subset of 3 horses that received all three treatments were selected. This study focused on night time-budgets between the hours of 0000 to 0700 and 1900 until 0000. Continuous observation was used to determine duration and frequency of each behavior. The chi-square test revealed a significant difference between the overall total time budgets of horses when fed once, twice or three times a day (p < 0.05). Taking time budgets into consideration is a necessary step towards more humane management (Houpt et al., 1986).
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Keywords
horse, equine, behavior, meal frequency, night time budgets