ABSTRACT

The increasing interest in animal welfare and the knowledge of equine physiological and ethological needs have led to the development of different types of horses’ management and housing systems. The research presented here aimed to assess the daytime activity budget of horses. Focal animal sampling was used as an observational sampling method, and the five animals were observed for a total of 9920 minutes in the paddock and inside the stall. The results showed that horses spent most of the daytime in foraging behaviors, followed by resting behaviors, and locomotion. Social behaviors (s.e. allogrooming, olfactory investigation) were rare, and the stereotypic behaviors (s.e. oral and locomotor stereotypies) occupied 2.74%±2.74% of the total time. The percentage of time spent in foraging, resting, and locomotion, reflects the activity budget observed in free-roaming feral horses. However, the rare occurrence of positive social interactions and the presence of some stereotypies could be aspects to ameliorate. This kind of housing facility could be considered a good alternative to traditional management; indeed, it might offer a better trade-off between the needs of the horse and the management goals from humans.

摘要

对动物福利的日益关注以及对马生理和行为学需求的了解导致了不同类型马的管理和住房系统的发展。这里介绍的研究旨在评估马的白天活动预算。采用焦点动物采样作为观察采样方法，在围场和畜栏内对5只动物进行了总共9920分钟的观察。结果表明，马白天的大部分时间都花在觅食行为上，其次是休息行为和运动。社会行为（se allogrooming、嗅觉调查）很少见，刻板行为（se口腔和运动刻板）占总时间的2.​​74%±2.74%。用于觅食、休息和运动的时间百分比，反映了在自由漫游的野马中观察到的活动预算。然而，积极的社会互动的罕见发生和一些刻板印象的存在可能是改善的方面。这种住房设施可以被认为是传统管理的一个很好的替代品；事实上，它可能会在马的需求和人类的管理目标之间提供更好的权衡。