Publications by authors named "Sarah Matlock"
It is dangerous for both riders and horses when a horse suddenly startles. Sometimes horses do this in familiar environments because familiar objects may look different when rotated. The purpose of this study was to determine whether horses that had been habituated to a complex object (children's playset) would react to the object as novel when rotated 90 degrees.
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- The Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) is designed to collect quantitative data on horse training, management, and behavior over time, enabling researchers to study changes and their effects on horse welfare.
- Validation and reliability of the E-BARQ were demonstrated through tests showing strong alignment between owners' assessments of their horses' behaviors and E-BARQ scores, along with consistent ratings across different observers and repeated assessments by the same observer.
- A large-scale study with 1923 responses validated E-BARQ's effectiveness, showing significant correlations for both ridden and non-ridden horses, confirming its utility as a standardized tool for evaluating equine behavior.