Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

This study examined the influence of training techniques and housing environments on the
success of horses in following distal sustained human pointing and sustained body orientation.
Understanding how external factors affect horses’ interpretation of human non-verbal
communication is central for enhancing training practices, improving welfare, and ensuring safety
in human-horse interactions.
We employed the Object Choice Test (OCT), a commonly used method for assessing an animal's
response to human cues. The success of 34 adult horses was recorded in two separate test times and
then analysed. A comparison was made between subjects trained solely and partly with positive
reinforcement or solely with negative reinforcement. Regarding housing environments, the
comparison was between horses in open stable group housing and traditional social isolation stall�paddock housing. We hypothesised that horses trained with positive reinforcement and those housen
in open stables would perform better due to previously reported favourable effects on cognition.
Only three horses passed the pointing condition and five passed the body orientation, with a
statistically significant difference. This indicates that the OCT is a challenging task for horses overall
being especially the case with pointing. Our results align with most previous publications in terms
of general success. However, they greatly differ from an earlier study using the same study protocol,
where the overall success was high and better with pointing in comparison to body orientation.
As expected, the training technique affected the performance. All the successful horses in our
study were in the positive reinforcement group. Being subject to negative reinforcement
significantly correlated with being unsuccessful with both of the cues. Our study is the first to assess
the impact of positive reinforcement training on horses' performance in the OCT, offering new
insights into the role of the technique in enhancing cognitive responsiveness. No correlation was
found for housing environment despite being hypothesised after a previous study on horses and
OCT. This and other aspects of our study are discussed in depth.
These results underscore the importance of training in shaping horses' cognitive abilities, with
implications for developing more effective and humane training methods. Further research is needed
to explore the underlying mechanisms and the potential influence of environmental factors.