human judgment in diagnosing problem behavior in horses using

owner or handler will be able to increase the accuracy of predicting behavior problems in
horses the next time he is faced with the same cues and situation (Gunderson & Brown,
2001).
1.4 Scope of the Project
The scope of the thesis will be on how owners or handlers predict or judge general
behavior problems exhibited by horses, particularly domesticated horses. Based on
readings on equine behaviors the same visual cues perceived by the observer can
contribute towards different types of behaviors. However, treatment and management of
each behavioral problem is different. Therefore the more accurate the judgment made by
the observer compared to actual behavior of the horse, the more efficient the treatment
will be. The knowledge-based system developed for this area will help the owners to
increase the accuracy of judgment and further increase awareness of cues or signs given
by the horse, stressing the importance of the visual cues that are perceived every day.
1.5 Values of the Study
Most researches on equine studies are focused towards diagnosing illness and
corresponding treatment, however, this thesis is more directed towards the behavioral
signals or cues given by the horse indicating some displeasure that it is experiencing.
This is because it is very difficult to identify specific behavior problems in a horse since
there are a lot of factors to take into consideration and each horse is itself different in
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