Less stress with empathic training

12augustus2009
Source: wageningenuniversiteit.nl
A study by the Animal Science Group (Wageningen) and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Utrecht) has shown that young horses that are trained into riding horses in an empathic way have less stress than horses that are trained in a regular fashion.
The study was based on a group of fourteen horses who were broken in by a trainer for five weeks. During this training, the behaviour and individual development of the horse was taken into account. The horse was also carefully habituated to changes in the environment. A second group of fourteen horses was trained for five weeks in a more traditional, achievement-oriented way.

During the training, the behaviours of the two groups, including stress indicators (the positioning of the head and neck, ear movements and the degree of teeth grinding) was registered. Also physiological data were recorded, such as heart rate variation.

At the end of the study the 28 horses were subjected to a riding test. The behaviour of the horses was judged by ethologists and their achievements were judged by members of a jury. The conclusion was that the achievements of both groups were equal, but that the group of empathically trained horses showed less stress.

Various non-traditional training methods are on the increase. Traditional trainers gradually acknowledge more and more aspects of the empathic training.