Stereotypic behaviour in the stabled horse: causes, effects and prevention without compromising horse welfare.
By J. Cooper, P. McGreevy. 2007
91 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Apparently functionless, repetitive behaviour in horses, such as weaving or crib-biting has been difficult to explain for behavioural scientists, horse owners and veterinarians alike. Traditionally activities such as these have been classed amongst the broad descriptor of undesirable stable vices and treatment has centred on prevention of the behaviours per se rather than addressing their underlying causes. In contrast, welfare scientists have described such activities as apparently abnormal stereo- typies, claiming they are indicative of poor welfare, citing negative emotions such as boredom, frus- tration or aversion in the stable environment and even suggesting prevention of the activities alone can lead to increased distress. Our understanding of equine stereotypies has advanced significantly in recent years with epidemiological, developmental and experimental studies identifying those factors closely associated with the performance of stereotypies in stabled horses. These have allowed the development of new treatments based on removing the causal factors, improving the horses' social and nutritional environment, re-training of horses and their owners and redirection of the activities to less harmful forms. Repetitive activities conventionally seen as undesirable responses to the stable environment, their causal basis and the effectiveness of different approaches to treatment are discussed, both in terms of reducing the behaviour and improving the horse's quality of life.
Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Equine, Small Animals
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9bb7a4bd48cdb557c7e493b145fb78c7095f87a4
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In Equine
In Small Animals
Citations in the corpus
- Behavioural adaptation in the domestic horse: potential role of apparently abnormal responses including stereotypic behaviour (2005, background): “…several other activities have been described that fit the definition of stereotypy, including vertical head movement or nodding, as well as various oral activities, such as the licking or grasping of various stable fittings and even sham chewing or teeth grinding (Cooper and McGreevy, 2002).”