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Buddy Up: Stressed Horses Respond Better With A Friend

Horses that are stressed or scared are better able to cope when they have another horse nearby. Whether they know the horse or not is of little consequence; the presence of another horse can reduce the first horse's reaction to what is scaring him and can calm him down after the scare, reports The Horse.

Dr. Claire Ricci-Bonot led a study that paired 32 riding school horses with a companion horse they did or did not know.

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Half the companion horses were taught to not react to an opening umbrella or a striped gymnastics ball being placed near their hooves. The test horses, either with or without a companion they may have been familiar with, were then exposed to the objects.

The research team measured the test horses' heart rates and reactions, discovering that the horses reacted more calmly to the ball when they had a companion with them, whether they knew the other horse or not.

Their fearful reaction to the umbrella was the same with and without a companion, but the test horse's heart rate decreased more rapidly when paired with a companion than when alone. This discovery suggests that a companion has a post-reaction calming effect.

Study: Sedation And Whip Use May Lead To Trailering Trouble

Trouble getting a horse on a trailer is common; it often takes time and patience to get a horse to the point where he will load and travel well. However, if the horse needs to get on a trailer and there isn't multiple hours or days to work with him, there are quite a few tricks horse handlers can use, employing everything from feed to brooms to whips to sedation to get him in the trailer.

Nearly 14.5 percent of responders to an Italian study indicated that they had issues loading horses in their care onto trailers within the last two years. The 37-question, online survey was sent to people who were directly involved with the transportation of horses, either for recreational or professional purposes. The survey aimed to identify risk factors for problem behaviors and injuries.

The study team, made up of Drs. Francesca Dai, Martina Zappaterra, Michela Minero, Francesca Bocchini, Christopher Riley and Barbara Padalino, received 148 responses. The questions they asked related to the handler's equine background, vehicles, practices and experience. They were also asked if horses they handled sustained transport injuries within the last two years.

The most common problem behaviors were related to fear and anxiety before loading, including kicking and refusing to get on the trailer, and loss of balance while in the trailer. They discovered that the probability of the horse displaying an issue were:

three times more likely if the driver didn't check the brakes before hauling
five times more likely if the handler was female
five times more likely if the horse handler used a whip at loading
five times more likely if the vehicle wasn't designed for horse protection and if the trailer didn't have shavings as bedding
13 times more likely if the animal was sedated,

Nearly 11.5 percent of respondents said that their horses had injuries directly related to transportation within the last two years. The researchers determined that sedation and coercive equipment, like using whips, were major risk factors for injuries. Though sedation may be helpful to get a horse on a trailer, it can affect the ability of a horse to balance once the trailer is in motion.

Horses were more likely to be injured during travel if the trailer brakes weren't checked before transport, there was no padding on the chest bar and if there were no rubber mats on the floor. Horses that exhibited problem behaviors during loading and transport were more likely to be injured.

The study team concluded that transportation is a risk to the wellbeing of both the horse and the handler, and suggested that more research is needed.

Read the full study here.

Study: Fearful Foals Make Fearful Horses

A Danish study sought to decode behavior in foals that might indicate which ones may become fearful adults. Fearful horses can be dangerous if placed in uneducated hands; if bred, they can pass the trait on to their offspring.

Drs. Janne Winther Christensen, Carina Beblein and Jens Malmkvist note that horses will always face situations that can scare them, but through habituation and breeding for a calm demeanor, they can be trained to not flee.

Horses that are scared cause accidents; the researchers note that everyone involved with horses, from those who breed to those who play sports and teach others how to ride, have a responsibility to try to reduce accidents. They also report that it is unethical to breed fearful animals as it has a negative impact on animal welfare.

However, to study equine fearfulness, the same group of horses need to be kept in the identical management situations for the first three or four years of their lives, which is unusual. Winther Christensen and her team followed 25 Warmblood stallions from five months to 3.5 years of age; they were kept as a group with limited human handling.

The researchers reported that foals on their dams' side showed distinct differences in how they approached novel items. Some foals hurried back to their mothers when they saw a scary object while others approached and investigated it. Heart rate monitors showed that the foals that hurried back to their mothers had higher heart rates than the more-inquisitive foals.

Tested again as 3-year-olds, the same horses had similar reactions; overall, the horses that were more alert to the object had more pronounced fear reactions. The team determined that a foal's expression of alertness can help predict later behavior. Fearfulness is consistent across ages, which is helpful to know to ensure proper training and handling of the most-fearful horses. Additionally, if breeders were to breed only calm horses, after a few generations the population would generally become less fearful.