Hartpury University Repository

Montrose, V. Tamara

Teacher’s Pet: The beneficial effects of guinea pigs

Lewis, Victoria

Dumbell, Lucy

Magnoni, Francesca

English

A preliminary study to investigate the prevalence of pain in competitive showjumping equestrian athletes

Greening, Linda

Hartman, Naomi

Auditory stimulation and equine nocturnal
behavioural profiles     
L. Greening1* and N. Hartman1
1Hartpury University, Hartpury, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, GL19 3BE, 
*Corresponding author: linda.greening@hartpury.ac.uk
INTRODUCTION
Practices promoting the display of biologically relevant
behaviours within hypo-/ hyper-stimulating environments
are sought after, especially where they can also aid in
reducing stress. Playing certain types of music is suggested
to achieve this relative to equine behaviour, but research
has only been carried out in the stimulus-rich daytime. This
study aimed to determine whether playing music at night
resulted in changes to the frequency of alert/ sleep-
related behaviour for horses stabled overnight.
METHOD
Focal continuous sampling recorded frequency of behaviour
across nine nights between 1900 and 0700 with an infrared
CCTV camera system and a predetermined ethogram. Seven
horses (mixed sex/breed/height, age range 6 to 16 years) were
observed on the same yard, undergoing the same daily
management routine. Ethical approval was granted by the
Hartpury Ethics Committee. Wilcoxon Signed Rank analyses
determined differences in frequency of behaviour between
phases 1, 2 & 3, whilst a Related-Samples t-test was used to
determine differences in frequency of behavioural switching
between the three phases (significance: P<0.05)
CONCLUSIONS
Music appears to have an influence on nocturnal behavioural profiles including longer behavioural bout
duration and reduced restlessness. Music does therefore seem to encourage more biologically significant
behaviours and might be considered useful in equine husbandry practices, for example to facilitate
seasonal changes such as overnight turnout to stabling during the winter. Curiosity appeared to increase
towards the music stimulus from nights 3 to 7, the impact of which may require further investigation.
RESULTS
1. Changes in frequency of behaviour:
• Ingestion = phase 2 > phase 1 (no significant difference) > phase 3 (Z = -2.46;  P = 0.019)
• Locomotion = phase 1 > phase 2 (Z = -3.06; P = 0.002) > phase 3 (Z = -2.98; P = 0.007)
• Standing = phase 2 > phase 1 > phase 3 (no significant differences)
• Sternal recumbency = phase 3 > phase 1 > phase 2 (no significant differences)
• Lateral recumbency = phase 3 > phase 2 > phase 1 (no significant differences)
2. Behavioural switching occurred less frequently while music was played in phase 2, and this was 
significantly different to both phase 1 (t=2.46; P=0.029) and phase 3 (t=-2.59; P=0.022).
NIGHTS 1 & 2              PHASE 1
No music
(baseline behavioural patterns established)
NIGHTS 3 TO 7             PHASE 2
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony played overnight
NIGHTS 8 & 9              PHASE 3
No music


The Impact Of Auditory Stimulation On Equine Nocturnal Behaviour

Jones, E. Kay

Tabor, Gillian

Williams, Jane

DOES TRAINING DEFINED BY SPEED ZONES 
ACCURATELY REFLECT RACEHORSE WORKLOAD?
E. Kay Jones, G. Tabor and J. Williams*
Hartpury University, Hartpury, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, GL19 3BE, 
*Corresponding author: jane.williams@hartpury.ac.uk
INTRODUCTION
Racehorse training remains largely based on anecdotal and traditional practices. Trainers aim to produce horses which are fit and can
perform to their best at the races. A common approach in training is to define workload during training by the speed the horses are
exercised at, for example: quarter speed (QS), half speed (HS), three quarter speed (TQS) and full speed (FS). Success is largely judged
via observation by the trainer and the work rider. This approach could potentially risk overtraining and injuring the horses involved, if
the speed or workload of the horses is different to that perceived to be undertaken by the trainer / rider.
Research objective: to evaluate if speed zones (SZ) and estimated workload varied in racehorses during mid-season training
METHOD
• Sample: 9 ‘race-fit’ TB racehorses, aged: 8.0±2.3 years, who had
raced: 14±11 times and of variable ability (official rating: 103±14)
• EquinITy™ heart rate (HR) monitoring systems collected HR and
speed data for each horse during all interval training for 6 weeks, in
the middle of the British National Hunt (NH) season 17/18 (Fig. 1)
• Workload levels were set and assessed by the same, experienced
NH trainer; typical week’s training regime:
• Workload (defined as age-adjusted mean percentage of HR
maximum(Vincent et al., 2009) and speed for each gallop run were recorded
and intended SZ were noted from the trainer
• Kruskal-wallis analyses and post-hoc Mann Whitney U tested if
differences occurred in workload and speed between SZ
REFERENCES: Vincent, TL, Newton, JR, Deaton, CM, Franklin, SH, Biddock, T, McKeever, KH, McDonough, P, Young, LE, Hodgson, DR and Marlin, DJ (2006) Retrospective study of predictive variables for maximal heart rate 
in horses undergoing strenuous treadmill exercise. Equine Veterinary Journal, 38 (s36), pp. 146-152.
Fig. 1: Racehorse completing gallop exercise (4 furlong, all-weather gallop: sand 
& carpet fibre mix, 8cm depth) wearing equinITy™ system (equinITy, 2018)
RESULTS
• Speed increased incrementally as SZ progressed (Fig.2)
• Racehorses’ speed varied between furlongs within SZ
(P = 0.0001)
• Post-hoc analyses found no difference between QS-HS
for all furlongs (P>0.05)
• However, significant increases occurred between all SZ
for F1, 2, 3 and 4 (P<0.01) between QS-TQS, QS-FS, HS-
TQS, HS-FS and TQS-FS, except for F4 (P>0.05)
• Racehorse workload only varied with SZ for F1(P=0.003)
• Increased workload occurred between HS-FS, TQS-FS
and QS-FS (P<0.02) but not between QS-HS, QS-TQS
and HS-TQS (P>0.05; Fig. 3)
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
2xQS 
gallops*
1xFS 
gallop*
road-work 3xQS 
gallops*
road-work 
OR 2xHS 
gallops*
2xTQS 
& 1xFS 
gallop*
Horse 
walker 
(30mins)
*including 400m warm up pre-gallop, 350m trot in-between intervals & 500m walk after galloping
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Speed did increase between the SZs but no difference was found between quarter and half speed work. Similarly, racehorse workload
only varied during the first furlong of work, regardless of the SZ they were working at. These results suggest racehorse workload was
not consistent across SZs for F2-4 and therefore these horses were not working as the trainer intended them to. Visual assessment of
workload by the trainer did not identify this. Accurately monitoring speed and workload during galloping using technology could
provide trainers with a more accurate approach to training than using speed zones and judging performance through observation.
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
40.00
45.00
50.00
Average all
furlongs
Furlong 1 Furlong 2 Furlong 3 Furlong 4
Sp
e
e
d
 (
k
m
/h
r)
QS HS TQS FS
Fig. 2:  Average speed (km/hour) of horses between furlongs for Trainer set speed zones.
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
Average all
furlongs
Furlong 1 Furlong 2 Furlong 3 Furlong 4
P
e
rc
e
n
ta
ge
 o
f 
H
e
ar
t 
R
at
e
 
M
ax
im
u
m
 
QS HS TQS FS
Fig. 3:  HRmax. (%) horses were working at between furlongs for Trainer set speed zones.


Does Training Defined By Speed Zones Accurately Reflect Racehorse Workload?

Moran, Jason

Ramírez-Campillo, Rodrigo

Granacher, Urs

Effects of jumping exercise on muscular power in older adults: a meta-analysis

Garrett, Lucy

Within-population genetic mixing strategies drive panmixia in a highly social seabird.

Brown, A. E.

Twigg-Flesner, Anke

Are we over-rugging? A preliminary research article into how rugging affects clipped, stabled horses using the Orscana© rug-monitoring device

Ijichi, Carrie

Griffin, Kym

Squibb, Keith

Favier, Becky

Stranger Danger? An investigation into the influence of human-horse bond on stress and behaviour

McLean, L.

Evans, Brian

An evaluation of the nutrient and metabolisable energy content between dry, wet and raw dog foods

Lefrancois, Kathryn

Nankervis, Kathryn

A comparison of protraction-retraction of the distal limb during treadmill and water treadmill walking in horses

Not a member yet