Environmental conditions interfere with emotionality and cognitive abilities in horses. Example of riding schools

Clémence Lesimple (1) , Carole Fureix (1) , Nathalie Le Scolan (1) , Marie-Annick Richard-Yris (1) , Martine Hausberger (1)

1 EthoS - Ethologie animale et humaine

The role of management practices on animal welfare is a commonly raised but still unsolved issue. While bad welfare may have strong physiological effects, recent studies show that it can also have consequences on the emotional levels and impair cognitive abilities. In the present study, we compared emotional reactions of horses from different riding schools in a variety of behavioural tests, as well as their cognitive performance in an instrumental learning test. The results show large differences in both aspects according to the riding school, with a gradation between extremes (low emotionality/ good learning, high emotionality/high learning). Comparison of management practices between these schools reveals that different environmental factors are involved. These results are discussed in terms of management, welfare and their impact on cognitive abilities.

Keywords: horse; welfare; riding-school; emotionality; cognitive abilities

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Clémence Lesimple, Carole Fureix, Nathalie Le Scolan, Marie-Annick Richard-Yris, Martine Hausberger. Environmental conditions interfere with emotionality and cognitive abilities in horses. Example of riding schools. Behavior 2009 - 31st International Ethological Conference, Aug 2009, Rennes, France. ⟨hal-01355816⟩