Food can help your horse cope with vet visits
Research shows that non-confrontational handling techniques lead to calmer and safer veterinary procedures
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A visit to the vet can be a stressful experience for the horse, owner, and veterinarian. By the nature of things, vet visits often occur when the horse is ill or injured, and already in a state of discomfort. They frequently involve unpleasant or painful procedures, sometimes even leaving the safety of the social group to be trailered to an unfamiliar clinic.
As stress is cumulative (see this post for an explanation of cumulative stress and trigger stacking), it is no surprise that many horses are fearful during vet visits. This is both a welfare and a safety concern, because fearful horses can react suddenly and strongly, putting themselves and the people around them at risk.
Thankfully, there are ways to mitigate the stress and help horses cope with vet visits. Concepts such as Fear Free are becoming widespread among small animal practitioners, and the idea of non-confrontational handling techniques has recently started to spread to the horse world, too.
In a research paper from 20181, Watson and McDonnell explore the effect of three different handling techniques on stress-related behaviours in horses subjected to a mildly aversive sham veterinary procedure.
The handling techniques they tested were:
Providing a bucket of feed
Scratching the withers
Rubbing the eyes and forehead
The study featured 48 horses and ponies (42 mares and 6 geldings, so the sample was unfortunately not balanced for sex) of various ages that were already living at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine New Bolton Center. Some had been at the center since birth, while others had been there less than a month. All horses and ponies were living outside in herds.
The study was conducted over the course of four months. Every horse and pony was randomly assigned to one of the three handing techniques or to a control group. The experimental procedure consisted of bringing the horse or pony into an examination area, fitting it with a heart rate monitor, and exposing it to the sound of sheep shears for three minutes while the experimenter performed one of the three handling techniques or, if the horse or pony had been assigned to the control group, stood still.
After the procedure, heart rates, behavioural observations (on site as well as from video recordings), and subjective relaxation and movement scores were compared between all four groups, with the following results:
Heart rates were high at the start of the procedure (likely because the horses and ponies were already in a heightened state of stress after being brought into the examination room and being fitted with the heart rate monitor).
Heart rates did not differ significantly between the four groups.
Stress-related behaviours were significantly lower for the handling groups compared to the control group. The lowest mean scores were for horses and ponies provided with a bucket of feed.
The lowest median relaxation and movement scores were seen in the group given the bucket of feed (a lower score here indicates a more relaxed and quiet horse).
Of the three handling techniques, providing a bucket of feed was the most effective way of decreasing stress-related behaviours and increasing relaxation. However, scratching the withers and rubbing the eyes and forehead may be viable alternatives in cases where providing food may not be an option. Whether these techniques work by overshadowing the negative experience with a more pleasant one or through distraction is hard to say, but the results of the study strongly support feeding horses during potentially stressful veterinary procedures.
Interestingly, the authors note that “for feeding, while all appeared effectively distracted, some responded with anxious eating, aggressively “punching” their muzzle into the feed pan and bolting the feed, with head, neck and sometimes whole body movements that may complicate certain health care procedures”. This is a strong indication that they still found the sham procedure stressful, even when food was provided, but that food may have served as a sufficiently salient distraction.
The study also highlights the importance of allowing horses to relax between stressful events. All horses and ponies in the study had elevated heart rates from the start, which means they entered the experiment in a heightened state of stress. The authors believe this may have been a result of entering the examination area and being fitted with the heart rate monitor.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, veterinary visits are stressful for horses not just because they involve painful procedures, but also because they frequently mean separation from the herd, travelling, being in an unfamiliar environment, being handled by unfamiliar people and so on. All these stressors will accumulate, which means that by the time the horse is exposed to an examination or procedure, it will already be in a heightened state of stress.
By giving horses time to de-stress between these various stressful situations - for example give them time to graze after unloading, or walk a bit between examinations, their stress can be kept at a more manageable level. Perhaps the stress-lowering effect of the handling techniques in the study would have been even more pronounced if the horses and ponies had been allowed to settle down a bit before the experiment commenced.
One limitation of the study is the between-subject design, which means that each horse or pony was only exposed to one of the four handling protocols (feed, scratches, face rubs, or control). A within-subject design, where each individual is exposed to all four protocols in turn, would provide a better indication of how each handling technique compares to a baseline no-technique control situation in the same individual.
To sum up, the main takeaways from this study for safer veterinary visits are:
We should always provide horses with a positive experience of their choice (ideally food, but if that is not possible due to the nature of the intervention, scratches or face rubs may be an option too) during any stressful experience.
We should give horses adequate time to de-stress between stressful experiences. This will require re-thinking the way veterinary appointments are structured to allow for breaks between examinations/treatments, but the benefits to the horses’ well-being and the safety of vets and technicians will be worth it.
To this, I would also like to add:
We should try to examine horses in the company of a preferred herd mate or friend, because that will mitigate the stress of social isolation and an unfamiliar environment, which will help to keep stress levels down.
Finally, there will inevitably be certain veterinary procedures that your horse will encounter regularly, such as vaccinations. The best strategy here is to train your horse for them ahead of time, and to maintain that training during the year. This is also easily and efficiently done with food rewards - while food can distract from an unpleasant experience in the moment, using it strategically to prepare for the experience can actually help make it a positive one!
Here’s a short clip of me training my horse to accept vaccinations using a ‘start button’ protocol: he touches the blue target, which is my cue to give him the injection (here I am practicing with a sharp pencil to simulate the prick of the needle). Once I am finished with the ‘injection’, I reward him.
This protocol gives him complete control and predictability over the situation, which helps keep stress levels down, and the food reward helps make it a positive experience. It’s a very effective way of training horses to accept things they are scared of: as you can see, he immediately touches the target again to ask for another round!
Watson, J.C., McDonnell, S.M. 2018. Effects of three non-confrontational handling techniques on the behavior of horses during a simulated mildly aversive veterinary procedure. Applied Animal Behaviour Science (203), 19-23.