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In this study, stabled horses were managed on all combinations of two exercise regimens (light or strenuous) and two diets (forage or forage/grain).
Observations of behavior were made on three consecutive days in the second and fourth week of each four-week treatment period. Behavior was noted while the horses were in stalls and also as they were being handled in a set routine (grooming, application of fly spray, fitting of a heart monitor with surcingle).
Horses that had been lightly exercised showed more uncooperative behavior during handling. Restless behavior in the stall was more pronounced in horses on the mixed diet. There was an interaction between diet and exercise for a number of redirected oral behavior patterns such as licking objects.
This report of KER's 1998 research was published in Proceedings of the 32nd International Congress of the International Society of Applied Ethology.
Read the entire research paper, titled The Effects of Diet and Exercise on the Behavior of Stabled Horses.
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