ABSTRACT
WHEN DOESA BEHAVIORAL ABERRATION BECOME MANIFEST? Behavioral aberrations due to management and handling mistakes do not manifest immediately. The causative and predisposing factor in their original development is an environment which insufficiently meets horses’ requirements. Mistakes in this area are frequently made unknowingly because – often with the best intentions – one uses human needs as a guideline. For this reason, evolution and the ethogram were discussed in depth in the first part of this book and the essential requirements of the horse were highlighted. The close relationship between the individual management systems and the occurrence of behavioral aberrations has by now been proven unequivocally. Scientific studies from Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, and Germany have been published in recent years, which demonstrate that lack of social contact, insufficient exercise, lack of roughage, and lack of environmental stimuli and opportunity for play can lead to deprivation, frustration, and conflict in the horse. The resulting emotional build-up in return lays the groundwork for future behavioral aberrations (p.26).
