Kim's Equine School

Emotions refer to intense and short-lived affective reactions triggered by either internal or external stimuli or events, which animals strive to obtain or evade. Up to 6 emotions were first recognised in 1872 (The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin): happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, anger, and fear.  However, to this day we have lacked to investigate this area further within scientific research, and the training syllabus available to riders around the world.

 In 2021 (Fletcher et al.) another study highlighted the need for standardised emotional assessment of horses as part of their management. Understanding the emotional states, and how they act on the body and the nervous system (autonomic, and sympathetic) is the first step to be completed, prior to considering the assessment systems. The reader must first bear in mind that there are different kinds of stress – acute or chronic, the latter leading to physical and mental exhaustion, which might translate into an extreme loss in performance, a change in the equine’s attitude, and potentially additional disorders such as learned helplessness, or reproductive issues. These could also result from a combination of negative experiences that can also lead to behaviours that can themselves have a direct impact on overall health and performance. Therefore highlighting the interconnection and crucial role of all five domains.

Example: How could you improve your equine welfare with your interactions alone?

-Company alone: As a herd and prey animal company from a known and calm presenting humans offers innate safety

-Providing forms of enrichment as part of training: Positive reinforcement can be used as part of clicker training, or findings more elaborate 'ways' and 'games' to access 

-Introduction to new activities and opportunities (though the behavioural responses must be continuously studied to avoid turning a new positive experience into a 'scary' negative experience). Whilst introducing your horse to a new experience you must also be conscious of your own state of mind, although horses tend to be more confident with the person that they have the most interactions with (as long as they are positive), if you find that stress or anxiety might be an extreme issue for you, this tends to be communicated with the horse, in that case, it might be effective to consider going out for those new experiences with your coach at first.

As suggested by Fletcher et al. and Mauricio et al (2023), it seems that there is a need for a training syllabus to include more in-depth methods of emotional assessment to ensure that both management and training plans can be carried out in a way that optimises equine welfare. This article would support that as a gateway towards emotional assessment, should be considered, in a very structured and extensive manner, a study of equine behaviour, and how to translate those in relation to their current living situations, any recent stress or changes, their specific training schedules, and finally any acquired knowledge on 2 of the 3 levels of the psychological state of the horse (temperament and mood). 

Following from this, these emotional assessment methods should also consider basic elements within equine well-being - social, nutritional and spatial restrictions, why and how these restrictions might impact the equine so that owners and other professionals can recognise swiftly the causes of current or future issues.

Approved methods of assessment (of pain, stress ...) such as HRV and temperature monitoring, cortisol level (blood, saliva, hair, fecal), and other hormones levels are indeed very useful for professionals and in research settings where there might not be a sense of urgency, however, these methods of assessment are not as accessible for a lot of owners and other professionals in the industry (such as farriers, nutritionist, breeders...), highlighting our earlier point in the need of clear and knowledgeable methods of emotional assessment.

So what are some of the visual, cognitive or auditive factors that you might want to consider in addition, or in lieu, of the above?

Starting with the muzzle... As for the rest of the skin, it is a very sensitive area. It is also covered with sensory hairs (facial vibrissae) or whiskers, which are present for multiple purposes, including exploring their environment, gauging the distance to objects as they cannot see right under their muzzles, they provide a better sense of orientation and balance, and it helps to protect this area... (Dierendonck, 2013, Utrecht University (Netherlands)).

Due to welfare and safeguarding concerns, shaving the whiskers has been banned by the FEI.

The muzzle itself has multiple sources of information on the current mental state. These include:

• Lip tension, an extended or droopy lower lip is a known signal of relaxation, there likely are no sources of current concern. Tight lips are however associated with negative mental states, depending on the circumstances this can also be a warning sign of aggressive behaviour, frustration, or anxiety.
• Lip and mouth movement - this might include behaviours such as chewing which has previously been associated with a positive outcome within training. However lip movement can also be used for horses that are struggling with the other 3 domains and as a result utilise repetitive lip movement to distract themselves from boredom, or anxiety (as these would be considered stereotypies, they can be due to current or past issues; due to the addictive nature of stereotypies these might sustain in new living arrangements). Other movements such as flehmen (or lip curls) should also be considered - this is often present as a result of a certain smell (to acquire more information on the odour), however, it has also been reported to be present as a sign of pain (for example when suffering from colics...), and some negative emotions (such as anticipation and frustation),
• Dilatations of the nostrils, similarly to lip tension, tight nostrils are related to intense emotions (such as anticipation, stress or anxiety, and pain...)
• Facial muscles (including mentalis, dilator naris, orbicularis aris and caninus), again as above tight muscles are a direct consequence of what one will be able to see when assessing lip and nostrils tightness,
• Vocal signs:
  • Snorting, following Stomp et al study (2018), it would seem that this behaviour is also related to positive emotions and mental experiences. This interesting study considered the value of vocalizations in two different living situations (therefore applying two opposite versions of the other 3 domains to see how they would affect the 2 domains we are considering). The findings were that a horse snorting is likely anticipating a positive event (such as feeding, or seeing a person that they have had multiple positive interactions with...), or it is currently experiencing a positive mental state (this can be due to a positive outlook on other domains, such as living arrangement (social, nutritional...)).
  • Whinny, unlike the above whinnies, can be used to communicate a negative or positive experience. It will therefore be necessary to take into consideration other circumstantial factors (stance, tail carriage...). Briefer et al. (2013) have concluded that whinnies take different forms according to the mental experience, for example, longer whinnies are produced in anticipation of events perceived to be positive or exciting (such as reunions with herd mates), unlike the whinny used as a response to an unfamiliar horse that is heard. Whinnies can also be produced as a response to current negative and stress-inducing experiences, such as separation from herd mates, transportation...

If you are interested in learning more about the different types of equine emotional states as part of welfare assessment and as a key factor within your training plan, and your relationship with your equine, we would highly recommend you to have a look at our newest course: 'Learning Theory: The effective use of learning theory within training, and management. '