Reproductive status and stereotypies in breeding mares: A brief report

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between age, reproductive status and sire of the mare and the tendency to perform stereotypies. One hundred and fourteen purebred Arab mares, offspring of 39 sires (x¯=3±9 offspring per sire) and aged 4–21 years (x¯=9.23±4.1) were observed from the 30th March to the 15th of May 2005 using instantaneous scan sampling. We used a multivariate logistic regression in order to study the relationship between age, reproductive status and sire of the mare and the tendency to perform stereotypies. 28% of the observed mares showed stereotypic behaviour, mostly weaving (22%). Neither age (χ2 Wald = 9.36, p = 0.89) nor sire (χ2 Wald = 4.34, p = 1.0) affected the occurrence of stereotypies whilst the reproductive status of the mare influenced significantly the occurrence (χ2 Wald = 10.75, p = 0.001) but also the type (χ2 = 12.1, p < 0.001) of stereotypic behaviour. Weaving was more frequent in non foaling mares (41.4%) than in foaling mares (1.8%) that performed mostly stall-walking.