CAN THE USE OF A COMPANION MIRROR HELP TO REDUCE STRESS INDICATIVE BEHAVIOURS WHILST LOADING / TRAVELLING?
In conjunction with Dr Veronica Fowler from the Instutute for Animal Health and Intelligent Horsemanship
As part of my case work for the Monty Roberts Preliminary Certificate of Horsemanship that I am taking through the Intelligent Horsemanship Association I am required to present a psychology project. I have chosen to look at whether having a companion mirror visible to a loading and travelling horse can reduce the stress indicators of heart rate, ground pawing and calling out.
This area of study is of particular interest to me as the majority of calls I receive are in relation to loading and travelling problems, a problem that can become extremely stressful and sometimes dangerous if not resolved. Over the course of summer 2010 I will be taking two groups of horses (those with and those without known loading difficulties) and after fitting a Polar Equine Heart Rate Monitor, they will each be loaded and travelled twice (with and without the mirror) and their behaviour and heart rate will be monitored and filmed.
The data recorded on the Heart Rate Monitor is then sent off to Dr Fowler at the Institute of Animal Health, who will download it all, analyse, and interpret the findings. Hopefully, the information gathered will show that the simple and relatively cheap addition of an acrylic mirror to the trailer or lorry can reduce stress levels for all horses, making it safer for horse and handler. I will be posting my findings to this site once the study has been completed.
Details of Psychology Project:
CAN TRAVELLING WITH A MIRROR REDUCE THE STRESS INDICATORS OF HORSES IN TRANSIT?
INTRODUCTION.
The study entitled ‘The use of a mirror reduces isolation stress in horses being transported by trailer’ is a paper by R. Kay and C. Hall published by Applied Animal Behaviour Science in 2009, and concludes that when it is not possible to transport horses with a live companion a travel mirror is preferable to travelling alone, and does reduce stress indicative behaviours and physiological responses. However, this study only examined the behaviours of horses with no known loading and / or travelling problems, and this project aims to complete a similar study, whilst including a group of horses with known loading and /or travelling problems.
MATERIALS & METHODS.
HORSES. This project will study two groups of horses with 6 horses in each group. The groups will be split into those horses with known loading or travelling problems and those without. All horses included in the project are privately owned and located in different yards within a 10 mile radius of Leominster, Herefordshire. They are all leisure horses of varying ages, sexes and breeds (no stallions will be included), and all horses are in good health and are fit to load and travel.
Group A (those with known loading and / or travelling problems): (details of horses)
The horses in the above group have all received recent loading training, and whilst not 100% happy to load, they can now all load without becoming hot or distressed.
Group B (those with no known loading and / or travelling problems):
EQUIPMENT. A Richardson Supreme 2 horse trailer will be used for the project, and will be towed by a Landrover Freelander. As the project includes horses with loading and travelling problems, the study will not use a dividing partition in the trailer, but will instead use full width breast and breach bars for all of the journeys (as well as reducing the claustrophobic element of the problem this also allows each horse to position themselves at their preferred angle of travel). The recording device (Panasonic digital camcorder) will be clamped onto the pin where the central partition would normally fix. Each horse will be cross tied, provided with a hay net, will wear protective travel kit (boots, tail and poll guard), and be fitted with an Equine Heart Rate Monitor*. The trailer is fitted with an acrylic stable mirror 600mm x 800mm, which has been positioned in the middle of the cone section. The mirror is permanently fixed for safety, and is able to be obscured using fabric strung on curtain wires (see photo).
TREATMENT PROTOCOL.
Prior to loading, each horse will be fitted with travel boots, leather poll guard, tail protector and Heart Rate monitor. They will then be left to settle in their stable with hay and water for 10 minutes before the first heart rate reading is taken and loading is started. In order to avoid the beneficial effects of repetition, the first journey will have the companion mirror visible, and the second one with it obscured. Once each horse is loaded as described, the camera will be switched on and the journey will begin. As the horses are separately located each horse will take different journeys, however the time period monitored during the study will be exactly 30 minutes from the start of the journey, and each trip will be as close to that length as logistically possible. Upon return, each horse will be unloaded, travel kit removed, and returned to their stable with hay and water, to rest for 45 minutes before commencing the second journey which be the identical to the first apart from the visibility of the companion mirror.
The stress indicators that will be included in this study are; calling out, eating, head tossing, head turning, and heart rate. The duration of these behaviours will be noted during playback using a stopwatch, and heart rate readings will be downloaded from the receiver which will be set to log HR at 5 second intervals.
Tip: If you haven't managed to ride much over winter, your horse may be anxious when you start to hack out again. It is perfectly acceptable to walk beside him for part or even all of your early rides out - let him remember he can trust you to look after him.