Massage or music meant to be relaxing, result in lowering salivary cortisol concentration in race horses

Abstract

Summary: At the beginning of training routine, young race horses are exposed to stressful stimuli. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of a relaxing massage which the horses received in the stable, and the influence of music piped into the stable, on the longlasting stress level of the horses. 120 Purebred Arabian horses were studied. They were examined during first racing season, which lasted for six months. At the beginning of the study, the horses were 28 -31 months old. The horses were brought to Słužewiec Horse Race Track (Warsaw, Poland) from their familiar studs and were randomly assigned to music (n = 48), massage (n = 48), or control (n = 24) groups. All horses were regularly trained and competed in official races. Once a month, saliva samples were collected from each horse to determine the cortisol concentration. Both music and massage resulted in significantly lower salivary cortisol concentration compared to control treatment.

A Systematic Review of Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine in Sport and Companion Animals: Soft Tissue Mobilization

“…Yet another issue is the use of healthy animals to study the effect of treatment of pain [ 25 ]. Some of the studies use non-validated outcome measures, such as visual movement examination or assessment of racing performance [ 21 , 22 ], which introduces yet another risk for bias.…”

“…Effleurage on small areas of the animal at one time was conducted with no control group [ 23 ]. Friction, petrissage, shaking, and tapotement were used and compared to randomized control groups [ 21 ]. Effleurage and petrissage on proximal body and limbs were compared to non-randomized control groups, one ridden exercise and one non-active group [ 25 ].…”