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Discussion on Research Study: Long Time Memory of Horses
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Feb 13, 2009 - 10:45 am:
No surprise here but the first attempt to measure how well horses remember, horses remember events for a long time...at least 7 years. Perhaps more interesting was the ability to generalize remembered learned behavior to novel stimuli. It suggests that a horse that has had a bad experience with a white barrel may be frightened by other white items or other barrel shaped items. Or applied to a good experience like the food reward pared to a "click" they can generalize this good experience with other events pared to a click. But we knew that already didn't we? The take home message is to be aware of what your horse learns in one situation he may apply to another situation and may do that years later.
DrO
Anim Cogn. 2009 Jan 16.
Long-term memory for categories and concepts in horses (Equus caballus).
Hanggi EB, Ingersoll JF.
Equine Research Foundation, P.O. Box 1900, Aptos, CA, 95001, USA, EquiResF@aol.com.
Three horses (Equus caballus) with a history of performing cognitive tasks including discrimination learning, categorization, and concept use were tested to evaluate their long-term memory (LTM) in three experiments. In addition, use of LCD multi-displays for stimulus presentation was incorporated into cognition testing protocol for the first time with horses. Experiment 1 tested LTM for discrimination learning that originally occurred 6 years earlier. Five sets of stimuli were used and the two horses tested showed no decrement in performance on four of the sets; however, both horses did score below chance on one set. Experiment 2 examined long-term categorization recall 10 years after horses had demonstrated the ability to make stimulus selections based on shared characteristics within a given category. The horse tested for LTM after the decade-long interval immediately and consistently applied the previously learned categorization rule to not only familiar but also novel sets of stimuli. Experiment 3 tested another horse for LTM for a relative size concept. This horse had originally demonstrated concept rule use in order to select stimuli based on their relative size to one another. More than 7 years later and without further training, this horse reliably applied the previously established size concept to both familiar and novel sets of stimuli. These findings are the first reports of long-term categorical and conceptual memory in horses and are consistent with observations of domestic and wild horses, which indicate that behavioral and ecological events may be remembered for long periods of time. These studies also demonstrate the adaptive nature of horses with regard to their ability to generalize over several different testing conditions.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Friday, Feb 13, 2009 - 3:00 pm:
Well, hey, any horse owner can tell you that a horse never forgets, !
Great study, btw. The last sentence is encouraging that they are adaptive also.
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Member:
zarr
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Posted on Friday, Feb 13, 2009 - 3:53 pm:
Glad science has caught up with the everyday horse owner!  !!
Will never forget Josh Lyons telling the story of teaching his horse how to catch a frisbee!!Which Led to interesting applications by the horse.Took him longer to UN-teach!
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Friday, Feb 13, 2009 - 9:19 pm:
Great observation.
Thanks, Dr. O.
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Member:
cgby1
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Posted on Saturday, Feb 14, 2009 - 2:20 pm:
Cindy,
I would love to hear what the applications were, can you remember the rest of the story?
Cynthia
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Member:
zarr
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Posted on Saturday, Feb 14, 2009 - 4:52 pm:
What I remember( 10 yrs) was Josh watched his dad teaching Zip a trick and thought hmmmm I'll teach my horse to catch frisbee.So he started right next to the horse who bite the waving frisbee and from there he backed up slowly tossed away and the horse got really good from quite a distance.The problem arose when the catching didn't stop with frisbee.The horse tried to catch all things tossed near him! Reins, halters, saddle blankets, saddles, hands, you get the picture. I believed, because I have one that would just love to catch a frisbee and anything else if it were a game!
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Saturday, Feb 14, 2009 - 9:45 pm:
A friend of mine has taught her Rocky Mountain horses to not relieve themselves inside of their stalls, which she did by doing the same whistle whenever they would relieve themselves.
Now she can get them to go on command too, such as before loading into her trailer, by whistling and telling them what she wants.
They don't do anything in their stalls unless she forgets to turn them out for too long, leaving them locked up.
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Member:
zarr
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 - 12:35 am:
Have a friend who taught her's to go in a "sand box". No manure to pick up except there! Now that's a trick!
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 - 10:30 am:
Visited a stable one time that had tractor tires buried along the edges of the paddocks. The males all straddled the tires to urinate, the mares parked over them just so also. The poop was all along the fence line I think. Well, what little there was, very clean place!
The owner said they led the horses to the tires every time they were starting to go from birth and thus they became trained to go there.
Wish mine would do that! Both mares come into the stalls to go..grrrrrrrrr.....
And those 2 don't have a very good memory, I've given them heck time after time for doing that!
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Member:
cheryl
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Posted on Sunday, Feb 15, 2009 - 11:55 am:
Angie - instead of giving them heck for urinating in the stall - use it as a method for teaching them to urinate on clue - I was taught to use a whistle - 4 descending notes - any time the got in the stance to urinate - When they have learned that - next time you see them starting to urinate in the stall - lead them outside - whistle - when they urinate - give them a treat - repetition will end up giving you the desired result - maybe
Cheryl
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Member:
cgby1
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Posted on Monday, Feb 16, 2009 - 5:00 pm:
Angie,
I have a arab gelding that learned to go outside because I yelled at him when he relieved himself in his stall. Two of my mares would just look at me like I was nuts and keep going. The arab was just more sensitive to the yelling. The mares would be finished before I could get a halter on them. All their stalls have runs attached to them.
Cynthia
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Monday, Feb 16, 2009 - 9:49 pm:
Thanks for the ideas. Neither of my mares move either; but then I guess from a female's point of view, I wouldn't want to move during the act either, lol!
I might try just using Animal Communication and tell Cody to ask the other 3 to learn from him! He won't pee in his stall even if stalled 14+ hours, he'll wait til he's let out. Pooping is o.k. in his book though. Don't anyone worry about his bladder though, I very seldom lock my horses in seperate stalls at night.
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