Heird J C, Lennon A M, Bell R W
J Anim Sci. 1981 Nov;53(5):1204-9. doi: 10.2527/jas1981.5351204x.
Twenty-four yearling Quarter Horse fillies were divided into three groups (I) very limited handling, (II) intermediate handling and (III) extensive handling. At about 14 months of age, each horse was preconditioned for 2 weeks and then run in a simple place-learning T-maze test in which it had to locate its feed. Thirty trials were run daily for 20 days, with the location of the feed changed each day. To retire from the maze, a horse had to meet the criterion: 11 correct responses in 12 tries, with the last eight being consecutive. Horses in Group II required the fewest trials to reach criterion. These horses also learned more and had the highest percentage of correct responses (P less than .05). Mean trainability tended to predict learning ability; however, trainability and trials to criterion were not significantly correlated. Mean emotionality scores indicated a tendency for horses in the intermediately handled group to be less emotional than those in Group I or III. Results indicated that horses with an intermediate amount of handling scored higher on an intermediate test of learning. All handled horses scored higher on learning tests than those not handled.
24匹一岁的美国 Quarter Horse 小母马被分为三组：（I）极少接触组，（II）适度接触组和（III）大量接触组。在大约14个月大时，每匹马先进行了2周的预处理，然后在一个简单的位置学习T型迷宫测试中奔跑，在该测试中它必须找到自己的饲料。每天进行30次试验，共进行20天，每天饲料的位置都改变。要从迷宫中退出，一匹马必须达到标准：12次尝试中有11次正确反应，且最后8次是连续正确的。II组的马达到标准所需的试验次数最少。这些马也学得更多，正确反应的百分比最高（P小于0.05）。平均可训练性倾向于预测学习能力；然而，可训练性与达到标准所需的试验次数没有显著相关性。平均情绪得分表明，适度接触组的马比I组或III组的马情绪反应更少。结果表明，适度接触的马在学习的中级测试中得分更高。所有经过接触的马在学习测试中的得分都高于未接触的马。
