WHAT’S NEW in the veterinary world?
Can music and massage reduce stress in racehorses — and are some horses just plain greedy? Peter Green MRCVS reports
SIZE MATTERS
IN a recent study, a group of researchers from across the UK asked horse owners to look at images of horses, cobs and ponies and give an opinion on their body condition — were they underweight, about right or overweight? More than 530 owners took part in the online questionnaire.
In the flesh, six of the 12 animals photographed had been deemed overweight or obese by experienced assessors, yet only 11% of the owners correctly recognised that these animals needed to lose some weight. Interestingly, the respondents who considered themselves “professional” horse people were no better at recognising obesity than the “amateurs”.
The respondents were also asked about the role or purpose of the various horses in relation to their body condition — would they be suitable for eventing or weekend hacking, for example, or dressage, Pony Club camp or the show ring? These results were even more revealing.
A pony considered “about right” in body condition by the expert was considered underweight for showing, while a sports horse in ideal condition was considered underweight for all activities except eventing.
Across the board, the response clearly revealed that being overweight is considered acceptable in the eyes of the owners for a variety of disciplines — and that it is expected in showing classes.
GRUB’S UP!
GERMAN scientists have highlighted just how greedy some horses can be.
A large group was kept in a herd situation on a free-range complex with yards, paddocks and an automatic feeding station. Each horse wore a transponder, so that when he entered the concentrate feed station, the door closed behind him and allowed him to feed individually without disturbance from other horses.
The system calculated when each horse had eaten enough, opening the exit door and triggering two stimuli to make him leave — a loud bleeper and a lightweight, flexible stick that came down gently but firmly on his quarters. This allowed the next horse in to feed.
A few horses, however, resisted the bleeper and stick and refused to leave the feed station. The scientists added a third stimulus — a loud hiss of compressed air between the horses’ back legs once their time at the feeder was up.
Sure enough, the hissing did the trick and deterred all horses from lingering. Yet within six weeks, the greedier individuals had overcome their reaction to it and had started to “block” the feeder again.
RELAXING RACERS
LIFE in racing stables can be stressful for young horses. They are stabled individually in busy yards, exercised strenuously and then transported to unfamiliar places with big crowds, where they are raced among strange horses and probably ridden by a jockey they have scarcely met.
Welfare-conscious trainers will do all they can to reduce stress levels and a recently published research paper may give them some extra ideas.
Scientists in Poland took 60 three-year-old Arabian horses entering Flat race training for the first time and divided them into groups comprising half colts and half fillies. Some received no relaxing therapy; some received relaxing massage every day, while others were massaged only on the day before racing. Some were played ethereal, New Age-type music for one hour daily and some for three hours daily.
Levels of stress and degree of relaxation were monitored for six months across the whole group using heart rate monitors and salivary cortisol levels.
The results were clear: both music and massage reduced stress levels and the youngsters that received more were more relaxed than those given less or none.
And guess what? Racing performance was related to relaxation: the horses getting most massage and listening to the most music performed better on the track.
FURTHER READING
RACEHORSES: Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 53, 100-107
OBESITY: Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 53, 19-29
FEEDING: Applied Animal Behaviour Science 191, 39-48