Competition Horses Housed in Single Stalls (II): Effects of Free Exercise on the Behavior in the Stable, the Behavior during Training, and the Degree of Stress

Werhahn, Hanna; Hessel, Engel F.; Weghe, Herman F.A. Van den

doi:10.1016/j.jevs.2011.06.009

Cited by 38 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In accordance, horses that spent more time outside of their stalls on pasture or for training and competition had a decreased reaction to exogenous ACTH. This is in accordance with previous studies indicating better welfare in pastured horses compared to stalled horses [6, 28, 47], possibly because the possibility to range outside more closely reflects the horse’s natural living conditions [6, 48].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…However, modern keeping conditions often bear little resemblance to the horse’s natural habitat and social structure and in many cases allow only limited natural foraging behavior [1]. Sport horses, especially, are now mostly housed in single stalls [6] and their time on pasture and the amount of roughage fed is often restricted [7]. In equestrian sports, horses often complete high intensity trainings with different trainers and riders, go to national and international horse shows, and are thus often required to live in different stables and to travel long distances in trailers and airplanes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of breed, management and personality on cortisol reactivity in sport horses

Sauer

Hermann²,

Ramseyer

et al. 2019

Preprint

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18Sport horses need to fulfill high physical and psychological requirements during training 19 and competition. These as well as certain conditions of modern husbandry may affect their 20 wellbeing. Here we aimed to (1) evaluate effects of demographic and management factors 21 as well as personality traits on stress reactivity of sport horses, (2) investigate if elite sport 22 horses have elevated stress levels compared to amateur sport horses, and (3) assess whether 23 different equestrian disciplines differentially influence horses' adrenal cortex 24 responsiveness. For this purpose, we visited 149 healthy elite (n=94) and amateur (n=54) 42 their use. 43 44 50 competition purposes and training [4, 5]. However, modern keeping conditions often bear 51 little resemblance to the horse's natural habitat and social structure and in many cases 52 allow only limited natural foraging behavior [1]. Sport horses, especially, are now mostly 53 housed in single stalls [6] and their time on pasture and the amount of roughage fed is 54 often restricted [7]. In equestrian sports, horses often complete high intensity trainings with 55 different trainers and riders, go to national and international horse shows, and are thus 56 often required to live in different stables and to travel long distances in trailers and 57 airplanes. As a consequence, modern sport horses are significantly challenged [8]. The 58 high requirements that they are expected to fulfill, as well as the conditions of modern 59 husbandry, may lead to significant stress, both acute and chronic. 60Stress is the response of the body to a demand (stressor) placed upon it [9]. Whenever a 61 stimulus is perceived as a stressor, it results in a biological response in an attempt to cope 62 with the situation [10]. This biological reaction consists of the behavioral response, the 63 sympathetic-adrenal medulla (SAM) axis response and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal 64 cortex (HPA) axis response, which are often activated concurrently and interact during 65 stressful situations [11]. Studies investigating acute or chronic stress in horses have 66 assessed either one or several of these pathways [12-14]. SAM axis parameters, such as 67 evaluation of heart rate or heart rate variability and endocrinological parameters such as 68 cortisol levels are typically used as measures of acute stress [10]. HPA axis stimulation 69 tests such as adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) 70 challenge tests are described as potential tools for the assessment of long-lasting effects of 71 stress in horses [10]. Stimulated cortisol may give an impression of an animal's overall 72 adrenal capacity, with both a depression [15-17] or an exaggerated response to stimulation 73 [18-21] reflecting a long-term stress-related alteration of the HPA axis.74Several management factors as well as personality traits have been investigated in relation 75 to stress responsivity in horses. For instance, a lack of social contact was linked to changes 4 76 in stress...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of breed, management and personality on cortisol reactivity in sport horses

Sauer

Hermann²,

Ramseyer

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Additionally, ponies being generally bolder than horse breeds like Thoroughbreds can also explain ponies' lower latencies [12,22]. In addition, exposure to management conditions (e.g., box housing) likely to have been experienced by the horses because they were ex-racehorses [23] could have reduced cognitive abilities of the horses [10].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of Domestic Horses and Ponies to Single, Combined and Conflicting Visual and Auditory Cues

Prendergast

Nansen

Blache

2016

Journal of Equine Veterinary Science

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a b s t r a c t Domestic horses and ponies communicate using visual and auditory signals. It has been reported that equines can respond to visual cues in object-choice tests, but utilization of auditory cues, alone or associated with visual cues, has not be investigated. Effect of equine breed type in object-choice selection is unknown. Using object-choice tests, we investigated the hypotheses that breed types (1) can use both visual and auditory human-given cues; (2) that performance is enhanced when both visual and auditory cues are presented together to signal a baited bucket, compared with when a cue is presented singly; (3) that latency to make a choice increases and choice is random, when auditory and visual cues conflict; and (4) that ponies outperform horses. Irrespective of breed type, subjects were equally successful at using single visual, auditory, and combined cues (proportion of correct choices: visual 0.63 AE 0.047 [P ¼ .004], auditory 0.61 AE 0.045 [P ¼ .013], combined 0.64 AE 0.054 [P ¼ .007]). In contrast to our hypothesis, combining cues did not significantly improve the likelihood of correct choice. Ponies outperformed horses using visual cues (P ¼ .044). In conflicting cue tests, 70% of subjects responded randomly; the remainder preferentially responded to visual cues. Our study showed that horses and ponies can respond with equal proficiency to both visual and auditory cues, alone and combined; however, ponies outperformed horses using visual cues. Our results may be used to improve relationships between humans and equines, as we demonstrated the importance of engaging both visual and auditory modalities.

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“…Heart rate variability, referring to the changes in beat to beat heart rate measured over a period of a RR-interval recording (tachogram) [8,9], has been proven as a valid method to assess stress in humans [8] and animals [10], including horses [5,6,[11][12][13][14], pigs [15,16], sheep and goats [17][18][19], cattle [20,21], poultry [22], and dogs [23,24]. Studies in humans showed that standardization of methodology is important to assure inter-and intra-study repeatability of HRV measurements [25][26][27][28][29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repeatability and Reliability of Heart Rate Variability in Healthy, Adult Pony Mares

Vollenhoven

Grant

Fletcher

et al. 2016

Journal of Equine Veterinary Science

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Competition Horses Housed in Single Stalls (II): Effects of Free Exercise on the Behavior in the Stable, the Behavior during Training, and the Degree of Stress

Cited by 38 publications

References 30 publications

Effects of breed, management and personality on cortisol reactivity in sport horses

Effects of breed, management and personality on cortisol reactivity in sport horses

Responses of Domestic Horses and Ponies to Single, Combined and Conflicting Visual and Auditory Cues

Repeatability and Reliability of Heart Rate Variability in Healthy, Adult Pony Mares

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