FEAR NA TRAINER ISSUE 34_Jerkins feature.qxd 23/10/2014 01:18 Page 2
THE FEAR FACTOR
stiff body posture are also indicators of anxiety. The heart rate will rise and breathing will become more rapid. Intense fear is easier to recognize: nostrils flare, the whites of the eyes are visible, eyes roll, ears are laid back, the tail may be clamped down, and muscles can tremble. The horse’s behavior will also change and it will move more stiffly as it becomes anxious. Jogging, spooking excessively, refusing to stand still, sweating, head tossing, tail swishing, snatching at the bit, or teeth grinding may all indicate fear. All of these fear indicators are regularly seen in the parade ring prior to a race. Of course, bolting is the most extreme form of fear and horses may rear or buck in an attempt to get away from their handler or rider.
Nature vs nurture How much of a horse’s fear response is innate and how much is a result of environment, training, and experience? This is a complex subject. One of the least studied areas of equine science is the heritability of behavioral traits. Horses are all
individual and what frightens one horse may not affect another. However, breeders do recognize that genetics plays an important role in a horse’s temperament and that certain personality traits may be passed down in specific breeds or bloodlines. A French study looked at the influence of different genetic and environmental factors on personality traits in over 700 horses. The researchers found that genetic factors, such as the sire or breed, appeared to influence neophobic reactions (fear of something new), while management influenced the horses’s learning abilities or reactions to social separation. Despite there being little scientific research on inherited behavior patterns in horses, we can extrapolate from studies with other species. A recent study in mice has shown that specific fears experienced by parents and grandparents in their lifetime can be inherited by their offspring. Mice were taught to associate the scent of orange blossom with a shock. When their children and grandchildren were presented with the scent, they exhibited a
startle response indicating fear, even though they had never encountered the smell before. On an evolutionary level this makes sense: inheriting information from your parents’s experiences could be essential for survival. This is groundbreaking evidence and has important implications when considering which behavioral traits may be inherited when breeding horses. The management of youngsters will also affect their subsequent behavior as adults. If a dam is stressed while in foal this may affect the fetus, resulting in nervous offspring. If a foal is weaned abruptly or too early they will be more susceptible to separation anxiety and may also be fearful of humans. Youngsters who are unable to interact and socialize normally with others will often be frightened of other horses, even to the point of becoming aggressive. Under-socialized horses are often more fearful of people, difficult to handle, and slower to learn than those raised with other horses. A recent Polish study investigated the effects of transporting young Arab and Thoroughbred
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