The effect of being housed with a goat on abnormal behavior in horses

Abstract

Abstract. Horses in stalls generally remain in single-stall housing, so abnormal behavior can be observed in this management condition. Abnormal behavior can harm the horse's keeper, rider, or even the animal itself. The present study aims to examine the effect of goats on abnormal behaviors in horses. For this purpose, it placed six horses and six goats in the single-stall housing of the horses, one horse and one goat, and monitored them for 45 d. The research was divided into three observation phases during this time: in the first observation, the horses were left alone (0–15 d), in the second observation, the horses were left together with the goats (16–30 d), and in the third observation, the horses were left alone again (31–45 d). In the first of these three stages, 12 different abnormal behaviors were detected in horses. The determined hours (00:00–01:00, 06:00–07:00, 07:00–08:00, 19:00–20:00, 20:00–21:00, 23:00–24:00 LT) of the day for abnormal behaviors identified in six different single-stall houses were examined. The frequency of the total abnormal behavior occurring at these hours was evaluated with nonparametric statistical tests. At the end of the research, front feet playing (p=0.002), crib-biting objects (p<0.001), and box walking (p<0.001) behaviors were significantly affected positively by the goats, while there was no statistical difference in other abnormal behaviors (p>0.05). In conclusion, it can be said that goats positively affect some abnormal behaviors in horses but not others.