stress | Horse Racing Free Tips

Like Humans, Exercise Reduces Stress In Horses

Exercise has been shown to lower stress levels in humans and research has shown that horses are no different: horses that are regularly exercised have lower levels of stress hormones than those who are not worked.

Drs. Ok-Deuk Kang and Wang-Shik Lee of the Jeju National University used 61 horses in a study to test stress levels of horses in various endeavors. Each of the horses fell into one of three groups: horses that weren't ridden at all, horses ridden in lessons and horses that gave rides to tourists.

Salivary samples were collected from each horse four times a day, including before and after an exercise session for the horses that were worked. The saliva samples were tested for cortisol levels; cortisol is a hormone produced when an animal is stressed.

The cortisol levels of all three groups of horses were lowest in the samples taken on the third day. The lesson horses had the greatest decrease in cortisol throughout the day. The horses ridden by tourists had the next most-significant drop, followed by the unridden horses.

The research team also tracked spikes in cortisol levels, which correspond with periods of increased stress. The highest spikes were found in the horses that were not ridden and the lowest spikes were found in the lesson horses.

The researchers concluded that consistent exercise reduces stress levels in horses even when the horses are ridden by beginner riders.

Study Shows Which Equine Activities Make Horses Stressed

A new study shows that the type of riding a horse is asked to do and his age affect cortisol release. Drs. Boguslawa Dlugosz, Tomasz Próchniak, Monika Stefaniuk, Marta Basiaga, Jaroslaw Łuszczyńśki and Magdalena Pieszka created a study to determine what level of stress horses experienced when engaged in a variety of types of riding.

The research team used 68 horses that were divided into groups based on the type of activity they were asked to do, their breed, age, gender and type of saliva collection. Activities the horses were involved in included dressage, jumping, giving lessons, reining, driving, hippotherapy exercises, lunging and hacking outside an arena. Saliva samples were taken at 6 a.m., 6 p.m. and immediately after the horse was ridden.

It was discovered that salivary cortisol was lowest before noon and highest during the night; cortisol levels can be affected by management, transport and weather. The scientists noted that monotonous training, changing the hours of training and handling the horse in an unprofessional manner that may cause pain and discomfort can all affect the horse's cortisol levels.

Young horses had higher levels of cortisol no matter what activity they did; it's assumed that age and skill level allow horses to better cope with the demands of recreational riding. The team also found that horses with the highest levels of cortisol are those involved in dressage, jumping, driving and reining; school horses and hippotherapy horse had cortisol levels that changed the least.

It's believed that the stress dressage horses feel is related to the way in which they are asked to carry themselves to correctly complete movements.

Read the study here.

A Little To The Left: Does “Sidedness” Indicate Stress?

German researchers have completed a study that shows horses tend to become more “left-eyed” and “left-legged” when they are in stressful situations. This shift suggests that horses may be using the right side of their brains when confronting challenges; the right side of the brain deals with emotions. When the horse learns to handle the stress, they tend to revert back to left-brain hemisphere processing. The left side of a horse's brain deals with routine, reports The Horse.

Researcher Isabell Marr suggests that changes in laterality could be an effective tool in monitoring how horses are handling changes in their management or training. A shift to the left suggests a horse is stressed. Observations should be made about how often the horse uses his left side compared to his use of the right.

Sensory laterality is a horse's tendency to use one side of his face more than the other; using one side of the body more than the other is motor laterality. A stressed horse may shift left, but when he learns to cope with the stress, he will generally shift back to the right. Laterality is also associated with personality. Horses that tend to step forward with their right front, which indicates left brain dominance, tend to be more optimistic toward new stimuli.

The researchers followed 12 3-year-old sport horses as the geldings were shifted from being field-kept in a herd with no work regimen to box stalls and the beginning of under-saddle training. The scientists looked for correlations in laterality shifts and fecal stress indicators.

They found that when the horses were first moved into the box stalls that they preferred to use their left eye and ear for exploring and listening. By the second week they preferred the left leg over the right, observed by which leg they placed forward while eating.

The scientists conclude that laterality could be used to monitor how a horse is handling environmental changes; ongoing laterality may indicate a negative effect on his welfare.

The Difference Between Sleep Deprivation And Narcolepsy In Horses

Similar to humans, horses need to be physically and emotionally comfortable to fall into deep sleep. Though they don't require this deep sleep every night like humans do, their behavior and demeanor can change if they don't get adequate rest.

Equine sleep has three distinct phases: it begins with the deep restfulness phase where the horse is relaxed, but easily roused; he can stand while in this phase. Next is slow-wave sleep where he is even more relaxed, but can still be standing. To enter the final sleep phase, paradoxical sleep, the horse must lie down. This phase of sleep is where a horse loses reflexed and muscle function; REM (rapid eye movement) occurs in this phase, as well. The horse's brain is just as active in this phase as it is when the horse is awake.

Though people need two to three hours of paradoxical sleep each day, horses need only 30 to 60 minutes. Horses don't have daily sleep cycles like humans, so they don't need paradoxical sleep every day. They can typically only go between seven and 14 days without this type of sleep before becoming sleep deprived. A horse that desperately needs paradoxical sleep will begin having “sleep attacks” that may look similar to narcolepsy, but are not: Narcolepsy is where a horse has frequent, uncontrollable periods of deep sleep. It is a neurological problem typically brought on by stress, excitement or exercise.

Equine sleep deprivation can have physical causes, including pain. Some older horses may have difficulty lying down and getting up because their joints hurt. If a horse won't lie down to roll, he is most often too painful to lie down to rest, as well. If a horse has enteroliths, stone-like formations in his colon, he may not lie down as the stones may press and pull on his colon, causing pain.

If the horse is uncomfortable in his environment he may be unwilling to lie down. He may be alone and fearful in his field, or he may feel unsafe as his herd is lacking a leader. Additionally, horses trying to enforce a specific pecking order in a herd may be too vigilant to sleep.

Three questions can be asked to help determine if a horse is having sleep issues:

Has he rolled lately?
Has his social situation changed?
Is his environment noisy or somehow disturbing?