Flight Distance and Avoidance Score in Thoroughbred Foals and Yearlings and the Relationship with Handling Frequency in the Young Ages

Flight and avoidance reactions from human were examined using 168 postweaningThoroughbred foals in 22 breeding farms. Further 114 yearlings of 168 foals were tested inthe following summer. The foal handlings by the stabler were asked in questionnaire. Therelationship between the behavioural reactions and the foal handling frequencies wasanalyzed. The flight reaction was estimated as the distance from the animal to a strangerwhen the animal began to flight away from his approach. The avoidance scores were set upfrom (1) (not resistant) to (5) (touch rejection) from human touching. In the stablerquestionnaire, handling frequencies of “body brushing”, “rectal temperature measurement”,“hoof cleaning”, and “stall cleaning” in the early nursing period were asked. The handlingfrequencies were scored from (1) (not done) to (5) (every day). In the preliminary test, ameasurement reliability of the flight distance and the avoidance score was confirmed. Themean flight distances were 0.56 m and 0.27 m in the postweaning foals and the yearlings,respectively. Touch-avoidance scores of the highest frequency were (3) and (2) in thepostweaning foals and the yearlings, respectively. As the results of Spearman’srank-correlation analysis, “body brushing” showed highly negative relationships with“flight distance” (ρ=–0.31, P<0.001) and “avoidance score” (ρ=–0.37, P<0.001) in thepostweaning foals. In the yearlings, “hoof cleaning” also showed significantly negativerelationships with these behavioural indices (ρ=–0.24, P<0.01; ρ=–0.22, P<0.01,respectively).