Social Isolation: Goat Company May Not Soothe Horses’ Emotional Excitability

A group of scientists in Poland created a study to determine whether the loneliness horses feel when isolated could be minimized through contact with different animal species, specifically goats.

Dr. Anna Wiśniewska and her fellow researchers at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, used three castrated goats and 20 Warmbloods that lived in a herd. The horses were often exercised in groups, with limited individual riding.

The horses were divided into four groups of five and underwent four 15-minute tests. They were monitored for the amount of standing, walking, trotting, and cantering. Their heart rate and heart-rate variability parameters were also recorded in order to measure the horses' emotional excitability.

The first test was a herd control test, in which each group of horses was let into a paddock with an area that would hold goats in future tests.

The second test started 48 hours later. Each of the 20 horses was let out individually into the same paddock for 15 minutes.

Two days after the isolation test, the goats were allowed into the aisle way so the horses could get used to them.

The third test, 24 hours after the horses saw the goats, involved letting the horses out in groups in the paddock with the goats in the corral.

The fourth test repeated the initial 15-minute isolation test, but with the goats in the corral.

The scientists found that the presence of goats prolonged the amount of standing the horses did, whether they were alone or in groups. The amount of standing was shortest when the horses were completely alone.

However, there was no evidence that the presence of the goats had any positive impact on the horses' heart rates or heart rate variability.

The team determined that having the goats as company limited an individual horse's movement, but did not directly decrease the horse's emotional excitability, which is a reaction to isolation.