Feeding and activity time location preferences of horses in a paddock area

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the areas where horses spend the most time in a paddock area, and the time they spend on certain behaviors in an outdoor paddock environment during summer. Four horses were used in the study, and the data were collected between 09:00-16:00 for 12 days through video recording (a total of 84 h recording). Of the available locations, the horses spent 32.54% of the time in the pasture, 25.06% at the water bucket, 22.63% at the hay rack, 17.26% with the other horse, and 2.51% at the entrance gate. In terms of feeding and activity, they spent 43.24% of the day standing, 27.91% eating (pasture), 19.38% eating (hay rack), 5.74% walking, 3.39% drinking, 0.32% in other activities, and 0.02% running. From the examination of the times of the day when the horses were at the different locations in the paddock, it was found that they spent more time in the hay rack area between 09:00-10:00, in the pasture area between 10:00-12:00 and 14:00-15:00, and in the water bucket area between 12:00-14:00 and 15:00- 16:00. As for the times of feeding and other activities, they spent more time eating from the hay rack between 09:00-10:00, eating in the pasture between 10:00-11:00, and standing between 11:00-16:00. According to these results, of their different activities the horses spent the most time in the pasture area and also more time feeding.