Animal category: Equines

Scientific paper describing research to discover appropriate criteria to predict the potential suitability of a horse for animal-assisted services. It shows that sociability indicators and most temperament indicators of experienced AAS horses do not differ from those of novice AAS horses. However, during brushing, novice horses showed more affiliative behaviour towards their handler than experienced ones.

Editorial of a special issue of the Equine Veterinary Journal devoted to donkey health and welfare. It looks at pharmacology, diagnosis, disease prevalence and management practices for donkeys.

Scientific paper investigating the stress responses of horses used in veterinary teaching practice. The indicators measured included heart rate and behavioural indicators suggestive of stress. Limited physiological and behavioural stress responses were observed, suggesting that the horses in question might become accustomed to being handled and being in a teaching environment.

Scientific paper highlighting that horses roll more frequently after strenuous exercise or bathing, regardless of weather conditions, whereas mules roll more often after strenuous exercise on hot, humid days or after bathing on cold, dry days. It concludes that rolling is an important and frequent behaviour in domesticated equids that should be allowed to be expressed freely on the farm.

Scientific review describing two promising systems for the automatic recognition of facial expressions of pain in horses. The first is based on a manual classification system that involves machine learning. The second is based on recurrent neural network learning.

Scientific article proposing and testing a scale for acute pain in donkeys during castration. The proposed scale is both reliable and valid.

Scientific paper describing the facial expressions of healthy, pain-free horses before and during transport and social isolation, both of which are potentially stressful management procedures. The following facial features were observed in both cases: increased eye white, dilated nostrils, elevated upper eyelid, elevated inner forehead, exposed tongue, increased ear movements and blinking frequency. Some of these stress markers are already used as indicators of pain.

Summary of a presentation at a conference on the use of automatic facial recognition to develop an automatic pain prediction system for horses, based on grimace scales.

Scientific overview chapter dealing with the behaviour of horses, covering human-horse relationships, especially during dressage and training, social behaviour, effects of environmental restrictions and cognitive abilities

A scientific paper on experimental work to determine how the incorporation of rest days during initial preparation influences foal learning outcomes. The results support the inclusion of a rest day during the first four days of initial training programmes, to reduce the occurrence and development of undesirable behaviours such as biting.