Horse Travel Stress Reduced By Mirrors

Research has been released which suggests that horses who have mirrors within their horsebox do not feel as much stress as their less vain counterparts when travelling!

The study won the Eqvalal Duo Equine Thesis of the Year Award from the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Dr Batson (judging the competition from Merial Animal Health), congratulated the finalists and added:

We’re pleased that the award has gone to a project that has both commercial relevance and welfare benefits, but congratulations must go to all the finalists for producing such innovative and valuable work in a range of equine subjects. Recognising excellence among students is one way of fostering a solid base for innovation in the UK.

The research, conducted and presented by Rachel Kay of Nottingham Trent University, claims that transporting horses with a mirror can reduce behaviours which are assigned to stress - such a neighing, turning, not eating and head tossing. The thinking behind the research suggests that those horses who were given a mirror inside their horsebox felt as though they were travelling with a companion. Ms Kay said:

My recommendations from the study are to travel horses with a mirror as they seemed much calmer, although a real companion is best. The positive effect on eating behaviour was also interesting; It would be interesting to study the effect of mirrors in the stable on poor feeders or horses in rehabilitation.

The award winning research, which examined the affect of surrogate companionship on the behaviour of horses during transportation, was choosen amongst a number of contenders from other UK educational and research institutions. The findings should add to the many techniques anyone with a horsebox will have find out for themselves - the hard way.

One of the overiding principles involved here is to make sure the horse is as relaxed as possible at all stage of loading. A horse should never be rushed or forced into uncertain or unfamiliar territory. This simply provokes erratic behaviour. You can read more in our loading your horse into a horsebox article.

Other finalists concentrated their work on research into the use of MRI in equines and the properties of surfaces for arenas which have been subjected to a variety of methods of preparation. The finalists met at a champagne reception at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, in November.

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