Effect of the length of working time in recreationally used horses on their behaviourin selected horse riding centres

摘要

Etiological observations were carried out in two horse riding centres in 2006 and 2007 where the behaviour of 23 recreational horses was observed.Observations referred to the response of horses during approach by a stranger, bridling, saddling, picking up legs for hoof cleaning as well as moving at the walk and trot under a rider. The first observation was made before summer holiday season started, with next observations being made every two weeks and the last one after the season finished. The effect of working time on changes in the behaviour of horses was statistically confirmed by f calculating negative coefficients of correlation. The response during picking up legs for hoof cleaning was scored the lowest, whereas the highest decrease of scores in all observations was found in case of stranger's approach to horse. It was observed that horses from the horse riding centre where they were most frequently used in field obtained higher scores than those from the centre where they were mainly ridden in a riding school.Differences between behaviour scores for horses from both horse riding centres could also result from different time on pasture. Longer pasture timeresulted in higher scores for all behaviour elements.