Would your horse approach something unfamiliar with greater confidence if they had more freedom, social contact and opportunities to explore in their everyday environment?
Active stables are designed around these principles, providing horses with increased freedom of movement, contact with other horses and access to resources distributed throughout their environment. But could this way of living also influence how horses respond when faced with something new or potentially frightening?
A new pilot study put this question to the test by comparing horses living in active stables with those housed more traditionally. Researchers assessed how the horses responded to unfamiliar objects and surfaces, as well as their willingness to interact with and follow people.
Putting horses to the test
The study involved 46 horses: 24 living in an active stable in the Czech Republic and 22 housed in traditional individual boxes at a university riding school in Poland.
The horses completed a series of behavioural tests involving an unfamiliar surface and a novel object. Researchers recorded whether the horses completed each task, how long they took and whether they positioned themselves behind their handler when approaching something potentially frightening.
The horses were also observed during an approach by an unfamiliar person. Owners or stable managers assessed their general behaviour towards people using descriptions including relaxed, friendly, curious, fearful and pushy.
Age, breed type, sex and weekly ridden workload were also considered in the analysis.
Active-stable horses showed less hesitation
Horses from the active stable were generally quicker to place a hoof on an unfamiliar surface and cross it. They also took less time to approach the novel object after it had moved.
The traditionally stabled horses spent longer positioned behind their handlers during parts of the test, a behaviour described by the researchers as “hiding”. The authors suggested this could indicate that horses sometimes use familiar people as a source of social support when faced with a challenging situation.
Despite these differences, housing type did not significantly affect the horses’ immediate startle response. This means the study does not demonstrate that active-stable horses were inherently less fearful.
Owners and stable managers generally rated the active-stable horses as more relaxed, friendly and interested in human contact. Unexpectedly, they were also rated more highly for some fear-related characteristics, highlighting the difficulty of describing a horse simply as either fearful or confident.
The researchers suggested that calmness may be more useful than perceived fearfulness when trying to predict how a horse will respond to an unfamiliar situation.
Age and workload may also matter
Housing was not the only factor associated with the horses’ responses.
Older horses were generally slower to approach or touch unfamiliar objects. Horses completing more ridden work each week also took longer to reapproach the novel object after it moved.
However, the researchers cautioned against interpreting this as evidence that ridden exercise itself caused greater avoidance.
Most horses in the traditionally housed group worked in a riding school and experienced a high turnover of riders with different levels of ability. The active-stable horses were generally ridden less frequently and were primarily handled by their owners.
These differences in workload, handling and previous experiences may all have influenced the results.
Findings require further investigation
The authors described the research as a pilot study and acknowledged several important limitations.
Only two equestrian centres were compared, meaning housing type could not be completely separated from other differences between the facilities. The groups varied in their workloads, handlers, management routines and previous experiences.
The assessments of the horses’ general behaviour were also completed by different owners or managers at each centre, introducing a subjective element.
Consequently, the results cannot prove that moving a horse into an active stable will make them calmer, more confident or easier to handle.
Nevertheless, the findings suggest that housing which provides greater movement, social contact and environmental variety may be associated with a greater willingness to investigate unfamiliar objects and cooperate with familiar handlers.
The researchers concluded that active stabling could support behavioural characteristics linked to manageability and positive horse-human interactions. Further research involving more horses, multiple facilities and greater control over management differences will be needed to establish how much of the effect is directly attributable to housing.
