Weaning Methods Contribute to the Onset of Stereotypical Behaviours - Dissertation Example

While all animal behavior is extremely complex in nature, the causes of stereotypic behavior in horses have been especially elusive. One suggested cause for these behaviors has been the changes and stressors a foal undergoes at the point of weaning the foal from the mother's milk (Waran et al., 2007). Many stressors affect a foal surrounding the experience of weaning. It is a logical extrapolation that these stressors may continue to affect the personality and behavior of a horse into adulthood.

Therefore, reducing the presence of these unwanted behaviors could be done by reducing the stress level of the weanling. There are multiple methods of weaning, all with their positive and negative points. Current suggested methods of weaning cover procedures from the very rapid and sudden to the very long-term (Householder, 2003). A clear layout of these methods is necessary to compare them and determine the least stressful option. 1.1 Hypothesis and Study Objectives The purpose of this study is to determine the least stressful method of horse weaning, to ease weaning stress on horse behavior and so reduce certain unwanted stereotypic behaviors To achieve this purpose, four objectives must be met: 1.

Determination of the behaviors of concern 2. Analysis of current weaning methods 3. Determination of factors involved in weaning stress, including the environment 4. Comparison of weaning methods and determination of least stressful Due to the correlation between the start of unwanted stereotypic behaviors and the process of weaning, the initial hypothesis is that these stereotypic behaviors are related to abrupt weaning methods and that a more gradual method will produce lower levels of this behavior. 1.2 Study Rationale Caring for and training horses are made much more difficult if those horses are prone to stereotypic disruptive behavior.

One known cause for unwanted repetitive behavior in performance horses is chronically high stress, which affects the horse's overall health and its temperament (King, 2006).