To jump or not to jump? Strategies employed by leisure and sport horses

Show jumping is one of the most popular equestrian disciplines although strategic jumping per se is seldom used by free-living horses when negotiating obstacles that they might otherwise avoid. To establish if horses are naturally motivated to jump, we examined horses in a free-choice situation when negotiating various obstacles under test conditions. Eighteen leisure horses (LHs) and 16 sport horses (SHs) participated in a number of 2-choice tests. First, horses were presented with 2 optional routes during a “free-choice test” to reach a food stimulus. The choices were a shorter route (over an obstacle) or a longer route (around the obstacle). During 8 consecutive trials, the horses encountered an increase in obstacle height on every second trial as follows: 0, 20, 35, and 50 cm. In the “ridden test” after an initial conditioning period, the horses were tested with a Y-maze formation during 3 consecutive trials, where one element of the maze contained an obstacle arm (OA). The horses walked or trotted over the obstacle most frequently (59.9%) and jumped the obstacle in only 10.7% of the cases. For both the LH and SH groups, the horses' motivation to traverse the obstacle decreased as the obstacle height increased and only 44.1% of horses actually negotiated the 50-cm obstacle as compared with the 20-cm obstacle (85.3%). The LH group preferred to go around the obstacle significantly more often than the SH group (24 trials, 16.7% vs. 9 trials, 7.0%, for SH and LH, respectively; χ² = 6.81, N = 33, P = 0.0090). The LH group used a jumping strategy to clear the obstacle far less frequently (6 trials, 4.2%) than the SH group (23 trials, 18.0%; χ² = 9.96, N = 29, P = 0.0023). In the Y-maze trials, the LH group exhibited preference (40 per 54 trials, 74.1%; χ² = 12.5, P < 0.0001), and the SH group failed to exhibit any preference (20 per 48 trials; χ² = 1.33, P = 0.3123). There was no evidence of any correlation between the motivation to clear the obstacle and total number of OA choices in either the LH group (r_s = 0.13, P = 0.9594) or the SH group (r_s = ?0.25, P = 0.3492). The findings from the present study indicate that SHs are motivated and willing to jump obstacles more often than are LHs under similar conditions. However, the apparent reluctance of the horses overall to continue jumping as the obstacle height increases suggests that, in general, many horses could easily encounter excessive demands (overfacing) in sport. This issue should be carefully monitored in terms of equine training, competition, and welfare.     

To Insure or not to Insure? Factors Affecting Acquisition of Prescribed Burning Insurance Coverage

Prescribed burning is a widely used tool in forest and grassland management. However, because fire that escapes from a prescribed burn accidentally may cause property damage, injuries, and even human casualties, purchasing insurance to cover such damages may be beneficial for prescribed burn practitioners. Given that insurance coverage for prescribed fire is recently emerging, factors that determine burners’ decisions to purchase such insurance are largely unknown. On the basis of data from a survey of prescribed burn practitioners in 14 southern and midwestern states, we modeled prescribed burners’ likelihood of purchasing insurance with respect to demographic characteristics, land management objectives, and importance placed on regulatory compliance and land use practices. Results suggest that prescribed burn practitioners are more likely to obtain such insurance if they are landowners themselves or have a written prescribed burn plan. Age of respondents and the level of importance they place on compliance with environmental laws also had a significant positive effect on the likelihood of obtaining insurance coverage. Respondents were less likely to purchase insurance if their land management objective was to control invasive plants or they considered the availability of lower-cost alternatives for woody plant removal an important factor in deciding whether or not to conduct prescribed burns. These findings shed light on underlying factors influencing insurance coverage for prescribed burning and are potentially beneficial for promoting the acquisition of insurance among burn practitioners.     

Mycobacterium bovis at the animal–human interface: A problem,or not?

Mycobacterium bovis is a pathogen of significant importance in livestock and a wide range of wild animal species worldwide. It is also known to cause tuberculosis disease in humans, a fact which has raised renewed concerns regarding the zoonotic risk for humans, especially those living at the animal-human interface. This review consolidates recent reports in the literature mainly on animal and zoonotic tuberculosis with an emphasis on evolution, epidemiology, treatment and diagnosis. The information presented reveals the fundamental differences in the complexity and level at which the disease affects the economy, ecosystem and human population of regions where animal tuberculosis control is achieved and regions where little or no control is implemented. In conclusion the review suggests that bovine tuberculosis has essentially been reduced to a disease of economic importance in the developed world, while low-income countries are facing a multifaceted impact which potentially affects the health of livestock, humans and ecosystems and which is likely to increase in the presence of debilitating diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other factors which negatively affect human livelihoods.