SAAS 251 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Coprophagia, Adrenal Gland, Gelding
Document Summary
Basic horse behavior: horses are prey animals. If they cannot run away, they will fight. Fight or flight: will choose to flee before they choose to fight, social/herd animal, use of dominance hierarchy. One horse at the top usually an alpha mare. Stallion on perimeter ready to fight if another stallion approaches the herd. Every time a new horse comes in, the herd must determine where they fall on the hierarchy. Do(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:271)e su(cid:271)(cid:373)issi(cid:448)e (cid:449)he(cid:374) (cid:449)orki(cid:374)g (cid:449)ith horses: horses (cid:449)ill tr(cid:455) to read e(cid:454)pressio(cid:374)s, espe(cid:272)iall(cid:455) (cid:449)he(cid:374) the(cid:455) se(cid:374)se that (cid:455)ou(cid:859)re a(cid:374)gr(cid:455) Must consider whether to flee or fight. Horse body language: bright, alert, responsive, listening ears moving around, calm. Probably why it evolved the way it did: knicker. Foal (cid:272)a(cid:374) feel (cid:448)i(cid:271)ratio(cid:374) of (cid:373)other(cid:859)s (cid:271)od(cid:455) (cid:449)he(cid:374) she does it: squeal. A mare sa(cid:455)i(cid:374)g (cid:858)i a(cid:373) (cid:374)ot i(cid:374) heat! (cid:859) Clearing out nose of all the hay. Sharp, rapid pulse of air through nose.
