title: Early-life object exposure with a habituated mother reduces fear reactions in foals.
abstract: Fear reactions in horses are a major cause of horse-human accidents, and identification of effective pathways for reduction in fearfulness can help decreasing the frequency of accidents. For a young mammal, the mother is one of the most salient aspects of its environment, and she can have a strong influence on her offspring's behaviour. This study investigated whether fearfulness in foals can be reduced through weekly exposure to usually frightening objects with a habituated mother during the first 8 weeks of life. Prior to foaling, mares (N = 22) were habituated to five initially fear-eliciting situations, including exposure to novel stationary and moving objects. At birth, the foals were randomly assigned to either a Demonstration group (N = 11) or a Control group (N = 11). Demonstration mares demonstrated habituation towards the objects to their foals once per week in weeks 1-8 post-partum. Control mares were inside the empty test arena with their foals for the same amount of time. The foals were tested at 8 weeks and 5 months of age in four standardised fear tests. Demonstration foals showed significantly reduced fear responses (behaviour and heart rate) and increased exploratory behaviour at both 8 weeks and 5 months of age. The effect was likely achieved through a combination of maternal transmission and individual learning. It is concluded that fearfulness in foals may be reduced through exposure to frightening objects together with their habituated mother during the first 8 weeks of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, 8830, Tjele, Denmark. jwc@anis.au.dk.
authors.forename: Janne Winther
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Christensen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000833:Animals, Suckling / Q000523:psychology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006234:Handling, Psychological; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006736:Horses / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D011897:Random Allocation
keywords: Fearfulness; Habituation; Horse; Maternal behaviour; Observational learning; Social transmission