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Maze Learning in Quarter Horses¹

University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506

Abstract

A two-compartment maze providing a single left- or right-side choice was used to test maze-learning ability in 37 quarter horses. Preference for left- or right-side choices varied among the horses. The taller and thinner horses tended to go left. The horses showed learning ability based on decreases in latency and decreases in errors as trials progressed in a right-side escape pattern. The rate of learning an opposite escape pattern, left-side escape, was faster but owing to the large number of errors occurring when the pattern was reversed, the level of errors did not reduce to a level comparable to that achieved in the right-side escape pattern until adverse stimuli were presented in the blind compartment. Heavier horses took longer to escape from the maze when adverse stimuli were presented. Differences in learning ability for horses fed various levels of dietary protein were not consistent.

¹ Department of Animal Sciences, Journal Paper No. 76-5-72, University of Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station.