1. Behavioral Laterality and Facial Hair Whorls in Horses
Bell Eyles
Alyvia Elliott

2. Introduction
Hair whorls are a permanent form of identification for horses since birth
Does not change in location or direction during a horse’s entire lifetime
Hair whorls can either go clockwise or counterclockwise, horses can have more than one as well as on various parts of the body
Horses should learn to be equally balanced on both sides so being able to learn which side they are most dominant on can help the rider teach their horse to become a better balanced athlete

3. Hypothesis
To see whether the direction horse's hair whorl (clockwise or counterclockwise) could help us determine their more dominant side.
Right-handed horses= clockwise whorls
Left-handed horses= counterclockwise whorls

4. Materials Iphone for video, pictures, and timer Pen & Paper Pasture
Umbrella
18 horses
14 geldings and 4 mares

5. Method Behavioral Laterality Test: Recorded the horses for 5 minutes
Kept tallies of how long they were on the front foreleg (dominant leg)
Kept track of how long they were on their dominant leg within those five minutes

6. Method Frightening Stimulus Test:
Used an umbrella to make the frightening stimulus happen
Approach the horse from the front (head of horse) so that we would have an accurate representation of which side they would naturally run off too.
Depending on if they went left or right determined their dominant side

7. Pictures: Counterclockwise (Whimsy, Oliver, Cisco)

8. Pictures: Clockwise (Oreo, Champaign, Cassie)

9. Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti2Ua9f1VAM
Oreo: turns to the right, has clockwise whorl, left leg dominant stance
Evie: turns to the right, has clockwise whorl, right leg dominant stance
Tyme: turns to the left, has counterclockwise whorl, left leg dominant stance

10. Data

11. Data Continued

12. Data Continued

13. Data Continued

14. Data Continued

15. Results Grazing stance:
6 out of 16 horses had the correct stance depending on the direction of their hair whorl
10 out of 16 horses had the incorrect stance
(did not use Panda or Kona because they had more than 1 whorl)
Proves that a person cannot determine a horse’s dominant side by their grazing stance or that the dominant leg is not the fore leg that is forward.

16. Results Frightening Stimulus:
11 out of 15 of the horses turned the correct way of their hair whorl
4 out of 15 of their horses turned the incorrect way of their hair whorl
(did not include Zenith since he did not react)
The results show that the frightening stimulus was more accurate when determining the horses more dominant side in correlation to their hair whorl, than just observing their grazing behavior.

17. Limitations Grazing Stance: Friendly horses Not hungry horses
More research on the dominant leg of the horse
Frightening Stimulus:
Zenith did not react
Number of trials
Precise about approaching the horse

18. Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank the Bridgewater Equestrian Center Staff for their cooperation and supply of horses for this study.

19. References
Shivley, Chelsey. “Behavioral Laterality and Facial Hair Whorls in Horses…” Journal of Veterinary Science. N.p., Web. 27 Nov
Steward, Daniel. Ride Right with Daniel Stewart: Balance Your Frame and Frame of Mind with an Unmounted Workout and Sport Psychology System. North Pomfret, VT: Trafalgar Square Pub., Print.
Oke, Stacey. “Link Between Facial Hair Whorls and Horse ‘Handedness’ Reported.” TheHorse.com. N.p., 23 June Web. 27 Nov
Randle, H.D., T.J. Webb, and L.J. Gill. "The Relationship Between Facial Hair Whorls
And Temperament in Lundy Ponies." Rep. Lundy Field Soc. 52 (n.d.): Web.
Williams, Carey. “Basics of Equine Behavior—Extension.” Extension. N.p., 23 July Web. 27 Nov. 2008