Abstract

In order to determine ways to increase horse health, three studies were created to analyze importance of socialization in overall horse health. The first proposal, a correlational study, correlated horse health, using the Equine Guelph Horse Health Check scale, and socialization using a Pearson’s r test to determine whether or not socialization was a factor in horse health. Once a significant correlation was found, an observational study was set up to see if quality of socialization in a domesticated herd could be increased. The amount of hay was increased during this two-phase observational study, and observers recorded instances of fighting behavior and tested their relationship using a Chi-squared test. Because some horses are required to be isolated for medical or social reasons, a third, experimental study was created wherein a dependent samples t-test was conducted to analyze the relationship between comforting behaviors, or lack thereof, from humans and stereotypic behavior. The results of the studies may provide insight on how to increase the physical and mental health of isolated and non-isolated horses.

Keywords: horses, socialization, animal behavior, veterinary medicine, equine health

Increasing Physical and Mental Health of Horses (Equus caballus) Through Socialization

Even though horses are one of the few animals that humans have domesticated for means other than consumption, not much research has been done on them and their social lives. What little research that has been done has revealed fascinating aspects of this creature’s life. For instance, Wathan, Waller, and McComb (2015) were able to study equine facial expressions and put together a manual called EquiFACS (Equine Facial Action Coding System). The researchers studied the movements of eyelid muscles, nasal muscles, ear muscles, and lower cheek muscles, and were able to describe seventeen different facial expressions in horses, ten of which are shared with humans. Other research has found that horses are social learners. Krueger, Farmer, and Heinze (2016) found that socially low-ranking and younger horses learned how to operate a feeding mechanism from their superiors, even though earlier research had suggested that horses were not social learners. What these earlier researchers failed to consider, according to Krueger et al. (2016), was that horses will only learn from those higher on the social ladder than themselves. Therefore, an older, high-ranked horse will not learn from a younger horse at the bottom of the social ladder. Horses are also very adept at recognizing others’ social status compared to their own, both in captivity (Krueger & Heinze, 2007), and in the wild (Cameron, Linklater, Stafford, & Minot, 2002). To further the importance of equine social structure Andrieu, Henry, Hausberger, and Thierry (2015) completed a study where they found that horses of a low social rank may gently influence group movements towards a source of food they have been previously informed of, they will not directly lead their group.

Not surprisingly, there are many sources of socialization issues in horses such as orphan syndrome, physical limitations such as blindness or lameness, and excessive stall confinement, all of which lead to either not being able to or not being allowed to socialize with the herd (Marcella, 2006). One of the symptoms of poor socialization, as discussed by Dezfouli, Tavanaeimanesh, Naghadeh, Bokaei, and Corley (2013) is stereotypic behavior. Stereotypic behavior is defined as repeated coping behaviors such as weaving, cribbing, chewing, pacing, and wind sucking. Horses have often been shown to exhibit these sorts of behaviors to cope with a poor environment or a lack of socialization.

What’s even more fascinating is that horses are shown to experience cross-species social learning. Schuetz, Farmer, and Krueger (2016) found that horses that watched a human complete a small series of steps to obtain food performed significantly better than those who did not have the steps demonstrated to them. Schuetz et al. (2016) also found that horses who struggled with the steps often approached the experimenters, which they deemed to be comfort-seeking behavior. There have also been studies conducted to analyze the ways humans can make horses happier and healthier through their behavior. For instance, Rozempolska-Rucinska, Trojan, Kosik, Prochniak, and Gorecka-Bruzda (2013) did a review of various studies where they found that “natural horsemanship training” (NHT), which is a training method that strives to develop a rapport with the horse, use methods derived from the observation of wild horses, and reject abusive training methods like whipping and fear conditioning. The study found that NHT led to higher rates of horse happiness, comfort, understanding, and willingness to work with humans in the future (Rozempolska-Rucinska, Trojan, Kosik, Prochniak, & Gorecka-Bruzda, 2013). Likewise, Graham and McManus (2016) found that an increasing number of people in the horse-racing industry are dropping use of the whip due to increased mental instability in their horses.

In fact, more and more people are beginning to understand how important a trainer’s disposition and methods are in maintaining overall horse mental health. Kydd, Padalino, Henshall, and McGreevy (2017) found that when introducing horses to round pen work, the more experienced a trainer was, the less “bad” behaviors a horse exhibited, the faster they learned to work in the round pen, and the more comfortable they were with the trainer. But training is not the only way horse owners can increase their horse’s comfort and mental health. According to Harrison and Von Geldern (2017), allowing the horse to play on its own and playing with it directly can increase mental health and social skills in a herd. Thus, humans play an incredibly important role in the health of their horses, and the literature raises the question: what other ways can we increase a horse’s health and wellbeing.

The purpose of these studies is to investigate three topics; whether horses benefit from being in large social groups, whether these large social groups can be made more socially healthy, and how humans can influence health of horses who cannot be in a large social group.

References

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