Short communicationA note on behaviour and heart rate in horses differing in facial hair whorl
Introduction
Anecdotally, a relationship exists between morphological traits or body conformation and temperament traits in domestic animals (Sumiński, 1930, Grandin et al., 1995, Tellington-Jones and Taylor, 1995). Recently, the position of hair whorl patterns on the forehead was suggested to be related to breeding soundness measures in cattle (Meola et al., 2004). As the displacement of the scalp line occurs in a number of syndromes (Wade and Sinclair, 2002), a common ectodermal embryonic origin has been suggested as the rationale for a possible interrelationship between nervous reactivity and hair patterns (Smith and Gong, 1974). Several reports concerning the relationship between whorl characteristics and specific behaviours in cattle have been published (Grandin et al., 1995, Randle, 1998, Lanier et al., 2001). To our knowledge, no similar studies have been conducted in horses, with the exception of a questionnaire comprising of 1500 different horses collected in 1965 by Tellington-Jones and Taylor (1995). Although a behaviour of great number of horses was characterised in the latter study, no statistical evidence was presented to support authors’ conclusions.
The aim of the present study was to determine more precisely if horses of the same breed and being handled in the same way, but having different facial hair whorl placement, would differ in their reactivity, as assessed by behavioural tests and heart rate. The results may have practical implications in the early prediction of horses’ reactivity and/or behavioural characteristics, which are important at handling, or while riding or driving horses.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
All procedures applied in the behavioural tests were approved by the 3rd Local Commission for Ethics in Animal Experimentation, Warsaw, Poland.
Fifty-five young horses of a native Polish breed Konik polski (25 colts and 30 fillies), reared until weaning either in a forest reserve under semi-natural conditions (n = 31) or under conventional housing conditions (n = 24), were used in this study. Thirty-four of the horses were yearlings (10–15 months old) and the remaining 21 were 2 years old (24–27
Results
The majority of horses had their facial hair whorl in the medium position. The distribution of horses with different types of hair whorl did not differ significantly between sexes (χ2 = 0.59, P = 0.089) or between age (χ2 = 0.77, P = 0.857) groups. All horses with an elongated or double whorl appeared only in the reserve-reared group, and therefore the distribution of horses with different types of whorl differed significantly between the stable and reserve-reared groups (χ2 = 7.97, P = 0.046).
The results
Discussion
The results of the present study have shown that horses with different facial hair whorl positions differed in two behavioural measures, but not in cardiac reactivity. A reduced manageability of horses with a high whorl position is in agreement with results reported in cattle (Grandin et al., 1995). In the present study it may be hypothesised that horses with a high whorl position are more stubborn when handled, but not more “flighty” when confronted with a suddenly appearing novel object. The
Conclusion
In conclusion, this study supports the relationship between the position and/or the shape of the hair whorl on the head of a horse and their manageability during handling, as well as the latency to approach an unknown object. However, this does not apply for behavioural startle reactions to a suddenly appearing novel object, or for cardiac activity measures as a physiological indicator of emotional arousal.
Acknowledgement
Our thanks are due to Dr. P.E. Kendall for his help in the correction of English.
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2021, Livestock ScienceCitation Excerpt :In horses, the vertical position of hair whorls on the head (below, between or above the eye line) has been associated with temperament. Górecka et al. (2007) observed more difficulty in handling horses whose hair whorl was located above the eye line compared to animals whose hair whorls were between or below the eyes. These authors found that horses with two facial hair whorls took longer time to approach a novel object than those with one hair whorl.
Behavioral Laterality and Facial Hair Whorls in Horses
2016, Journal of Equine Veterinary ScienceCitation Excerpt :Studies have demonstrated that facial hair whorl height was associated with behavioral tendencies in cattle, such as agitation during restraint [7], in the auction ring [8], and in response to different stimuli [9]. Horses' manageability during handling was associated with the position of hair whorls on the face, where horses with high facial hair whorls were more difficult to handle than horses with medium or low whorls [10]. In dogs, relationships between hair whorls, motor, and sensory laterality have been shown [11].
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