What Effect Does Touch Have on the Feeding Habits of Horses?

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective was to investigate if touch had any effect on horses feeding habits. I have 2 horses of my own and they are always eating from a smooth, large tub, and I was wondering if they would mind eating from a small tub with different linings. Methods/Materials I started my project by buying buckets, glue, bristle brushes, rubber dish mats, and foam curlers at a local store. Then, I glued these linings to three of the four buckets. My Dad constructed a rack for the buckets and I placed them in the rack in the horses' stall. Next, I placed 1/4 cup of grain in each bucket. I then lead one horse at a time to the buckets and timed them as soon as they started eating the grain. When all grain was gone from the buckets, I stopped the timer. The order of preference and order of finishing was recorded. This was done with the other horse morning and evening for four days. Results The results of my investigation were as follows: plain bucket in first place, the rubber lined bucket in second place, the bristle brush lined bucket in third place, and the foam lined bucket in fourth place. Conclusions/Discussion After completing my investigation on the effect of touch on the feeding habits of horses, I found my hypothesis was correct. My hypothesis stated that the horses would finish eating from the plain bucket first. Out of eight trials, only seven were completed. The horses preferred the plain bucket over the others, even though the other buckets were not a problem to finish. In conclusion, horses are not as sensitive to touch because they eat around many objects in their everyday life. These objects may include rocks, stickers, or plants not palatable to horses. If a horse wants to eat something it likes, such as grain, being mildly uncomfortable will not affect it.

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Behavioral Sciences · Entry J0338

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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