Mental and Affective State

The Emotional State

If we can understand an equine’s emotions and the triggers, they can inform us of the changes required in our management systems to improve their welfare.

We can learn how to read their behaviour and body language, which will tell us how they are feeling with a particular task or in the environment they are currently in. Recognition of a horse being in distress by reading their behaviour supports good equine welfare, it also helps keep the handler safe. (See equine behaviour advice)

Negative and positive experiences can lead to a horse showing their emotions. For example, a negative experience may cause the horse to be worried, fearful or aggressive. A positive experience will show excitement or relaxed and content behaviours. Past experiences can make a horse show specific behaviours in an environment where they feel stressed or anxious, for example, stereotypical behaviours. Positive experiences can be demonstrated when the horse is calmer and more relaxed.

There are four domains that we have already looked at that relate to physical care of the horse, and the fifth domain is about how the equine feels, also referred to as their mental state.

Changes in each of the four physical domains can give rise to positive or negative emotions, which then influence the fifth domain, the mental state.

Positive emotion is welfare enhancing, negative emotion is welfare compromising. The focus should not just be on avoiding compromising welfare, but actually enhancing welfare, leading to improved Quality of Life (a life worth living).

How the four physical domains influence the fifth psychological domain

Nutrition

• If we have nutritional problems, we have negative emotions (unpleasant feelings). For example, if your pony has restricted water intake, they will feel thirsty. On the other hand, if your pony has the chance to drink correct quantities of water, they experience the pleasures relating to drinking (think of how nice it feels to drink when you are thirsty).
• Too much or too little water or food both creates discomfort and stress.
• Eating the correct quantity of food means they feel comfortable and relaxed.

Physical environment conditions

• Confinement and limited movement opportunities can lead to general physical stiffness and muscle tension.
• If the surface they are kept on is unsuitable/uncomfortable and they can’t comfortably lie down, this can lead to pain or skin irritation.
• A suitable, well drained surface on which they can move, rest and lie down, enables good quality sleep.
• Enhancing physical conditions will lead to positive feelings as a result of being comfortable.

Health conditions

• Negative conditions such as injury and disease can lead to a range of negative emotions.
• Being overweight or underweight may be uncomfortable or unpleasant, impacting on physical fitness and comfort.
• Being kept in good physical health, with no injury or disease, or immediately treated illness and injury, means the horse experiences good health and the ability to function well. Maintaining a healthy weight and appropriate level of physical fitness is an important part of this.

Behavioural interactions

• In terms of interactions with other animals, horses are a herd species that do not naturally choose social isolation. Restricting interactions with other equines can lead to loneliness and depression.
• If a horse is exposed to threats that they cannot escape, this can cause stress.
• If a social group is unstable or resources are inadequate, the horse may experience significant threats and may not be able to easily escape or avoid these threats leading to stress.
• The way in which humans interact with horses is very significant. Our behaviour and attitudes towards them will have an impact on how they feel. If we are fearful, indifferent, insensitive, impatient, rough, cruel towards horses, we cause stress and trigger the activation of the ‘fight or flight’ response. In some cases, if the ‘stressor’ is inescapable, we may cause the horse to go into learned helplessness, ‘shut down’ and even become depressed.
• If we are careful in our attitudes and remain calm, caring, confident, sensitive, patient and kind, we create a very different experience. Horses will be attracted to, approach and be relaxed around humans that treat them in this way. Training with positive reinforcement, taking care to minimise aversive stimuli, paying close attention to the pony’s body language and making use of food and scratches and strokes as rewards, will help the horse to feel safe, calm, confident and curious, including bonding with the handler in a very positive way.

Removing pain and suffering is simply not enough to provide a good quality of life, a life worth living.

It is the responsibility of horse’s owners/carers to provide the correct management for their positive mental wellbeing. Not just providing their basic needs but enriching their life to provide all of the Five Domains of equine welfare.

Here at Bransby Horses we recognise that a life worth living means time, commitment and financial costs above and beyond the basic welfare needs. We provide this by providing friends, in the form of companionship, (friends does not mean just another equine, they must get on and be happy in each other’s company) freedom, in the form of choice to express natural behaviours and forage, a natural instinct to be able to eat grass and chew as they are predominantly grazers.

Available for you to read are advice and information pages on different topics that fall under the Five Domains of equine welfare.

• Health – including a quiz on welfare concerns regarding horses hooves
• The environment – including a quiz on body condition scoring, how to recognise when a horse is underweight or overweight.
• Equine behaviour – including a quiz on understanding equine behaviour and body language.
• Nutrition – including a quiz on the horse’s digestive system.

All of the above are the physical domains to ensure good welfare but the fifth domain is the horse’s mental or affective state. This one can only be achieved when the other four are, meaning that we are holistically looking at the bigger picture of whether the horse is healthy and happy, living a life worth living.