Possible influence of neighbours on stereotypic behaviour in horses

Revealing risk factors of abnormal stereotypic behaviour (ASB) in horses can help in the design of protective measures. Previous epidemiological studies indicate that social isolation, housing, management conditions, and feeding regime have a strong effect on developing ASB. The common belief that e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied animal behaviour science 2008-06, Vol.111 (3), p.321-328
Main Authors: Nagy, Krisztina, Schrott, Anikó, Kabai, Péter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aggression
animal behavior
Horse
horses
linear models
Logistic mixed regression
neighbour effects
regression analysis
Risk factors
social behavior
stabled horses
stereotyped behavior
Stereotypies
Survey
surveys
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Summary:Revealing risk factors of abnormal stereotypic behaviour (ASB) in horses can help in the design of protective measures. Previous epidemiological studies indicate that social isolation, housing, management conditions, and feeding regime have a strong effect on developing ASB. The common belief that exposure to a stereotypic horse increases the risk of ASB has never been substantiated. Here we report that a generalised linear mixed models (GLMM) analysis of data on 287 horses of nine riding schools revealed that exposure to a stereotypic neighbour is a significant risk factor for performing stereotypy. Also, aggressive behaviour towards other horses increased the odds of stereotypy in the aggressor. These correspondences are unlikely to be a riding-school effect, because riding schools were treated as random factor in the GLMM. Risk factors identified by epidemiological studies cannot be treated as causal agents without independent evidence. Our aim in presenting these findings was to draw attention to the possibility of neighbour effects so that other researchers would include this variable in their surveys.
ISSN:0168-1591
1872-9045
DOI:10.1016/j.applanim.2007.06.006