Schwarz Sophie, Marr Isabell, Farmer Kate, Graf Katja, Stefanski Volker, Krueger Konstanze
Behavioural Physiology of Farm Animals, University of Hohenheim, Garbenstr. 17, 70599 Hohenheim, Germany.
Department of Equine Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Economics and Management, Nuertingen-Geislingen University, Neckarsteige 6-10, 72622 Nürtingen, Germany.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Apr 12;12(8):992. doi: 10.3390/ani12080992.
Laterality in horses has been studied in recent decades. Although most horses are kept for riding purposes, there has been almost no research on how laterality may be affected by carrying a rider. In this study, 23 horses were tested for lateral preferences, both with and without a rider, in three different experiments. The rider gave minimal aids and rode on a long rein to allow the horse free choice. Firstly, motor laterality was assessed by observing forelimb preference when stepping over a pole. Secondly, sensory laterality was assessed by observing perceptual side preferences when the horse was confronted with (a) an unfamiliar person or (b) a novel object. After applying a generalised linear model, this preliminary study found that a rider increased the strength of motor laterality ( = 0.01) but did not affect sensory laterality ( = 0.8). This suggests that carrying a rider who is as passive as possible does not have an adverse effect on a horse's stress levels and mental state.
近几十年来，人们对马的偏侧性进行了研究。尽管大多数马是为了骑行而饲养的，但几乎没有关于携带骑手可能如何影响偏侧性的研究。在这项研究中，23匹马在三个不同的实验中分别在有骑手和没有骑手的情况下接受了偏侧性偏好测试。骑手给予最小限度的辅助，并使用长缰绳骑行，让马自由选择。首先，通过观察马跨过杆子时前肢的偏好来评估运动偏侧性。其次，当马面对（a）一个不熟悉的人或（b）一个新物体时，通过观察其感知偏好来评估感觉偏侧性。应用广义线性模型后，这项初步研究发现，骑手增加了运动偏侧性的强度（ = 0.01），但没有影响感觉偏侧性（ = 0.8）。这表明携带尽可能被动的骑手对马的应激水平和精神状态没有不利影响。
