Fenner Kate, Wilson Bethany Jessica, Ermers Colette, McGreevy Paul Damien
School of Agriculture and Food Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia.
School of Life and Environmental Science, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Feb 16;14(4):629. doi: 10.3390/ani14040629.
Agonistic behaviours are often directed at other animals for self-defence or to increase distance from valued resources, such as food. Examples include aggression and counter-predator behaviours. Contemporary diets may boost the value of food as a resource and create unanticipated associations with the humans who deliver it. At the same time the domestic horse is asked to carry the weight of riders and perform manoeuvres that, ethologically, are out-of-context and may be associated with instances of pain, confusion, or fear. Agonistic responses can endanger personnel and conspecifics. They are traditionally grouped along with so-called vices as being undesirable and worthy of punishment; a response that can often make horses more dangerous. The current study used data from the validated online Equine Behavioural and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) to explore the agonistic behaviours (as reported by the owners) of 2734 horses. With a focus on ridden horses, the behaviours of interest in the current study ranged from biting and bite threats and kicking and kick threats to tail swishing as an accompaniment to signs of escalating irritation when horses are approached, prepared for ridden work, ridden, and hosed down (e.g., after work). Analysis of the responses according to the context in which they arise included a dendrographic analysis that identified five clusters of agonistic behaviours among certain groups of horses and a principal component analysis that revealed six components, strongly related to the five clusters. Taken together, these results highlight the prospect that the motivation to show these responses differs with context. The clusters with common characteristics were those observed in the context of: locomotion under saddle; saddling; reactions in a familiar environment, inter-specific threats, and intra-specific threats. These findings highlight the potential roles of fear and pain in such unwelcome responses and challenge the simplistic view that the problems lie with the nature of the horses themselves rather than historic or current management practices. Improved understanding of agonistic responses in horses will reduce the inclination of owners to label horses that show such context-specific responses as being generally aggressive.
争斗行为通常是针对其他动物以进行自我防御，或增加与有价值资源（如食物）的距离。例子包括攻击行为和反捕食行为。现代饮食可能会提升食物作为一种资源的价值，并与提供食物的人类建立意想不到的关联。与此同时，家马被要求承载骑手的重量并执行一些行为动作，从行为学角度来看，这些动作脱离了正常情境，可能与疼痛、困惑或恐惧的情况相关。争斗反应可能会危及人员和同类。传统上，它们与所谓的恶习归为一类，被认为是不受欢迎且应受惩罚的；这种反应往往会使马匹变得更加危险。当前的研究使用了经过验证的在线马匹行为与研究问卷（E - BARQ）的数据，来探究2734匹马的争斗行为（由主人报告）。以骑乘马为重点，本研究感兴趣的行为范围包括咬人及咬的威胁、踢人及踢的威胁，以及当马匹被接近、准备骑乘工作、骑乘和冲洗（如工作后）时，作为烦躁加剧迹象伴随的甩尾行为。根据行为出现的情境对回答进行分析，包括聚类分析，该分析在特定组的马匹中识别出了五类争斗行为，以及主成分分析，该分析揭示了六个与这五类行为密切相关的成分。综合来看，这些结果凸显了这样一种前景，即表现出这些反应的动机因情境而异。具有共同特征的类别是在以下情境中观察到的：鞍上移动；装鞍；在熟悉环境中的反应、种间威胁和种内威胁。这些发现凸显了恐惧和疼痛在这种不受欢迎反应中的潜在作用，并挑战了那种认为问题在于马匹自身本性而非历史或当前管理实践的简单观点。对马匹争斗反应的更好理解将减少主人给表现出这种情境特定反应的马匹贴上普遍具有攻击性标签的倾向。
