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Abstract

The heart rates (HR) of horses and the people leading them (10 horses, 20 people), and riding them (17 horses, 17 people), were recorded in an indoor arena. The horses were Swedish leisure horses of mixed ages, sex and breed. All except two of the people were female and all were of mixed age and riding experience. Each horse-human pair walked or rode between points A and B (30 m) four times on each test occasion. However, just before the fourth pass, participants were told that an umbrella would be opened as they rode, or led, the horse past the assistant. The umbrella was not opened, so this pass was no different to the previous control occasions, but nevertheless there was an increase in HR for both the person (leading, P = 0.06; riding, P < 0.05) and the horse (being led, P < 0.05; being ridden, P < 0.05). The findings indicate that analysis of HR recorded simultaneously from people and horses under different experimental handling or riding conditions presents a useful tool to investigate horse-human interactions. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

Behaviour; Reactivity; Heart rate; Accidents; Equitation

Published in

Veterinary Journal
2009, volume: 181, number: 1, pages: 70-71
Publisher: Elsevier

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Veterinary Science

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2009.03.013

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/65453