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. 2018 Mar 22;13(3):e0194272. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194272

Table 3. Effect of the journey hour (from the first to the eighth) on horse behaviour.

Behavioural Parameters 1st h 2nd h 3rd h 4th h 5th h 6th h 7th h 8th h SE P
Evasive behaviour/Pulling back 2.7 2.2 1.0 1.2 0.3 1.4 0.9 0.6 1.0 0.054
Explorative behaviour/Sniffing 34.9 27.4 25.5 22.9 26.7 17.6 25.6 21.9 12.4 0.228
Licking/chewing 42.9A 22.6Ba 17.5B 12.3 B 15.5 B 10.1 Bb 12.3 Bb 10.7 Bb 7.4 < .0001
Licking the truck/wall 7.0 3.5 2.4 2.8 2.7 2.4 2.3 1.2 1.4 0.067
Nose outside 41.8A 24.9Ba 10.2BCb 15.5BC 9.9BCb 9.4BCb 6.2C 2.7C 6.7 < .0001
Pawing 5.5 1.9 1.3 3.4 0.8 1.2 1.8 1.1 1.4 0.284
Touching rubber tie cord 35.5Aa 30.0ab 28.3 21.2bc 21.2bc 20.8bc 18.7B 16.9Bc 5.2 0.032
Turning the head 12.8 8.4 8.4 5.4 5.0 1.9 4.5 5.9 3.1 0.089
Total stress-behaviours 221.8A 155.7Ba 129.1B 123.3B 117.2B 98.7B 110.0B 94.4Bb 26.8 < .0001
Backward movements 1.6 1.8 1.2 1.6 1.4 1.1 0.9 0.7 0.8 0.773
Forward movements 1.8 1.03 0.5 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.113
Lateral movements 16.1 18.4 14.0 15.3 16.3 15.9 16.5 22.3 3.9 0.343
Leaning on stall rails 34.0ac 23.4 ab 26.3 ab 31.5 22.7b 30.0 ab 30.1 40.1c 5.5 0.023
Loss of balance/
dashing on the partitions
8.8Aa 5.6b 2.3BC 3.6BC 4.2 BC 4.7 BC 5.5b 6.5AC 2.1 0.004
Total balance related behaviour 62.2ac 49.9A 44.1Ab 52.7ab 45.2Ab 52.2ab 53.3ab 70.8Bc 6.8 0.006
Head tossing/shaking 13.6 43.4 46.0 69.9 53.6 77.9 71.7 42.8 49.1 0.428
Biting neighbours 2.6 3.2 1.4 1.3 2.4 0.9 6.1 2.0 1.9 0.451
Interaction with neighbours 43.7 35.9 32.3 31.1 35.4 35.4 32.4 28.9 6.7 0.361
Look outside 38.8 35.0 34.7 38.6 35.1 34.1 38.0 33.4 5.9 0.933
Shaking head 7.0 6.4 3.5 6.4 3.1 3.4 5.7 3.5 2.9 0.779
Yawning 1.3 0.7 1.0 0.8 0.1 0.2 1.0 0.1 0.6 0.672
Lowering the head 12.1A 39.7B 43.1Ba 44.6Ba 31.4Bb 38.4B 42.3 Ba 49.3 Ba 5.0 < .0001
Total movement 362.3 333.1 298.6 328.2 286.6 305.1 320.7 289.9 71.2 0.216
Total head down duration 55.1A 245.4B 318.9BC 268.3BCa 249.7 B 363.9BC 265.9Ba 429.5Cb 81.6 < .0001

Effect of the journey hour (from the first to the eighth) on frequency of the measured behavioural events (n/25 min) and total head down duration (s/25 min). Data are expressed as the least square mean and standard error (SE), with P value determined by linear mixed model and Tukey post-hoc testing. Means with different superscript differ significantly (A, B, C: P<0.001; a, b: P<0.05)