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| Horses chose "Exit, stage right, to the pasture!" |
"König von Borstel and her fellow researcher Julia Keil, BSc, of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in Vienna, Austria, created a study in which horses were given the choice of more or less work. The team trained 18 warmblood horses in an arena set up with a Y-shaped entrance. If they took the left branch of the Y, they would work two circles before the rider dismounted. If they took the right branch of the Y, they would work only one circle before the rider dismounted. Once the horses had been trained sufficiently in that pattern, the riders dismounted and the horses were allowed to make the choice themselves: right branch or left branch?
As it turns out, they didn’t seem to choose either one, König von Borstel said. In fact, their favorite choice was usually the exit."
"For a social, prey animal, it’s not surprising that horses will generally choose feeding and social contact over locomotion,” said Uta König von Borstel, PhD, researcher at the University of Göttingen in Germany."
"For a social, prey animal, it’s not surprising that horses will generally choose feeding and social contact over locomotion,” said Uta König von Borstel, PhD, researcher at the University of Göttingen in Germany."
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Before I got to the end of the paragraph, I was already thinking "My horse would just turn around and leave."
ReplyDeleteNext thing you know, they're going to be releasing cutting-edge research that shows that horses like eating grass almost all day long.
ReplyDeleteI saw this a few weeks ago. I'm not surprised that 18 horses aren't interested in riding in circles. What would be more interesting would be a study looking at different kinds of "work" to see what the horses would choose.
ReplyDeleteI've always tried to make being ridden a good experience for mine, from the grooming part all the way through to the untacking part after the ride. Even the little donkeys who don't get ridden or worked per se will clamor to come in the arena and do what we're doing. At any given time I can go in the arena and start trotting around (on my own two feet) and at least one if not more of mine will come bang on the gate to come in with me.
Make it fun, make it interesting, listen to them if something's not right and try to fix it, and treat them fairly - I think in this scenario many horses would happily work.
Hahahahaha! That made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what they would do if they were given the choice between circles and jumps or jumps and trails or something more challenging than circles. I know they are always going to choose to eat, but if the choices were more involved or exciting (come on - who of us really enjoys circles?) I wonder if their behavior would change.
This sounds like the most pointless study I've ever heard. If you put me in a room and the door to the right is food and relaxation and the door to the left is work. I'm pretty sure... just maybe... that I would pick the door to the right every time. Do we really need to do studies for this?!?
ReplyDeleteThis is the Austrian equivalent of studies of shrimps on treadmills, duck genitals or cow flatulence. Beyond pointless. ;o)
ReplyDeleteHonestly after riding around in circles between two rings I'm not sure even my cognitive abilities, would remember which ring was "one circle" or "two" : )
ReplyDeleteThis is why I laugh at people always talking about a horse's "work ethic." It's a horse!
ReplyDeleteOh, please!!! Given a choice, the horse *always* chooses the exit. The exit represents the barn, the pasture, the carrot, the rub down, the pals, the hay, the comfort.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely nice! The first day of Junior Hunter competition at Summer in the Rockies III set up perfectly for an exciting showdown on Saturday, as three different competitors each won a class to put themselves within reach of the championship.
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