Equitation Science is the study of the interactions between horses and humans, focusing on the application of scientific principles to improve horse training, management, and welfare. This interdisciplinary field incorporates knowledge from areas such as ethology, biomechanics, and learning theory to better understand equine behavior and the effects of human practices on horses. Research in equitation science aims to develop evidence-based methods for training and handling that promote welfare and performance. Topics of study include the assessment of training techniques, the impact of equipment on horse physiology, and the evaluation of stress and learning in equine subjects. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the methodologies, findings, and implications of equitation science in the context of horse-human interactions.
König von Borstel U, Kienapfel K, McLean A, Wilkins C, McGreevy P.The article reports a meta-analysis of 58 peer-reviewed studies investigating on dorsoventral hyperflexion of the neck in horses, a practice under substantial public and scientific scrutiny for the past two decades. The following databases were last searched on 28.05.2023: CAB, Google Scholar, Web of Science, NAL/Agricola, PubMed and ScienceDirect. After evaluating the conclusions of each study, we performed statistical analyses to establish a consensus on welfare and performance (performance marks, kinematics and musculoskeletal) outcomes in horses performing with a hyperflexed head and neck ...
Biau S, Pycik E, Boichot L, Berg LC, Ruet A.Health and performance of vaulting horses cantering with reins might be affected by rein tensions. The primary aim of this present study was to measure rein and lunge line tensions in international-level vaulting horses with several types of reins adjusted in accordance with the requirements of the FEI Vaulting Rules and study the effect of reins types on it. The secondary aim was to evaluate behavioural signs of discomfort under the same conditions and study the effect of reins types on it. The relationship between tensions and behavioural signs of discomfort was then explored. Thirty-nine in...
Asti V, Ablondi M, Molle A, Zanotti A, Vasini M, Sabbioni A.The shift of the horse breeding sector from agricultural to leisure and sports purposes led to a decrease in local breeds' population size due to the loss of their original breeding purposes. Most of the Italian breeds must adapt to modern market demands, and gait traits are suitable phenotypes to help this process. Inertial measurement unit (IMU) technology can be used to objectively assess them. This work aims to investigate on IMU recorded data (i) the influence of environmental factors and biometric measurements, (ii) their repeatability, (iii) the correlation with judge evaluations, and (...
Hall C, Kay R.Quality of life is dependent upon the extent to which behavioural needs are met, and the balance between pleasant and unpleasant lifetime experiences. In Part II of this systematic review, articles (n = 109) relating to horse-human interactions were reviewed to identify behavioural evidence of their positive or negative impact on the horse. The number of articles (n = 22) relating to the recognition of pain in horses, indicated the importance of identifying health issues, which are also likely to increase the aversiveness of interactions. These and articles relating to emotional reactivity tes...
Matsubara T, Fukatsu R, Yamamoto M, Moriya M, Hano K, Nakamura K, Ohba Y, Takasu M.Including Internet of Things (IoT) technology in horse-rearing management can potentially mitigate problems such as human resource shortages and time limitations in performing daily behavior monitoring. In this study, a small and inexpensive activity meter used to monitor dogs and cats (PLUS CYCLE, JARMeC, Kanagawa, Japan) was used to monitor the daily behavior of horses. A study was performed to examine the suitability of the PLUS CYCLE device for monitoring horses and to determine whether it could estimate horse behavior. The device was equipped with an accelerometer and was used to monitor ...
Clayton HM, Murray R, Williams JM, Walker V, Fisher M, Fisher D, Nixon J, Mackechnie-Guire R.Noseband adjustment should avoid discomfort and allow some jaw movement. Objective: To determine pressure beneath a cavesson noseband at five tightness levels during standing and chewing. It was hypothesised that increased noseband tightness is associated with increases in nasal and mandibular pressures while standing and chewing, accompanied by increases in eye temperature and blink rate. Methods: Experimental. Methods: Eight highly-trained dressage horses wore a snaffle bridle with their own bit. Pressure mats over the nasal bones and beneath the mandibular rami recorded sub-noseband pressur...
Chodzinski A, Wissing S, Tipold A, Geburek F.The skills necessary to perform diagnostic perineural anesthesia in equids belongs to one of the Day One Competences of a veterinarian, so every veterinary graduate should be able to perform them correctly. For logistical, hygienic and ethical reasons, practical exercises on cadaver limbs are not accessible to all students. Two equine distal limb simulators were developed and evaluated as an additional instructional tool to train the required skills. Both simulators were designed and built with an integrated success control, with Simulator I (S1) designed to be a simplified anatomical model an...
MacKechnie-Guire R, Clayton H, Williams J, Marlin D, Fisher M, Fisher D, Walker V, Murray R.Measuring tools designed to objectively determine equine noseband tightness are inserted on the dorsal nasal planum in a rostro-caudal direction. The lateral aspect of the horse's head has several areas where minimal soft tissue intervenes between the skin and underlying bone, which makes them potentially useful sites for measuring noseband tightness. One hundred horses were fitted with a snaffle bridle with a cavesson, Swedish or dropped noseband in random order. The tightness of each noseband type was adjusted sequentially to 2.0, 1.5, 1.0, 0.5 and 0.0 finger-equivalents using an ISES Taper ...
Cetintav B, Yalcin A.Understanding equine behavior through advanced monitoring technologies is crucial for improving animal welfare, optimizing training strategies, and enabling early detection of health or stress-related issues. This study integrates wearable sensor data with Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques, particularly SHAP (Shapley Additive Explanations), to enhance interpretability in equine behavior classification. The data used in this study were sourced from an open-source dataset, ensuring transparency and reproducibility. Orginally, data were collected from 18 horses using sensor dev...
Martins NA, Fonseca BPA, Silvatti AP, Valente FL, Soares NL, Simonato SP, Rosa LP, Andrade MO, Barcelos KMDC.The Mangalarga Marchador (MM) breed naturally performs four-beat gaits known as "Marcha". Kinematic analysis can provide insights for optimizing training and competition performance in this breed while potentially mitigating welfare concerns associated with extreme head and neck positions (HNPs) applied without an adequate understanding of their impacts. We examined how different HNPs affect the MM horse's Marcha Batida gait. Four HNPs were evaluated: HPN1-loose reins, HPN2-the competition standard for MM, HPN3-an extremely elevated head and neck, and HPN4-a slightly behind-the-vertical positi...
Gueguen L, Palme R, Jego P, Henry S, Hausberger M.Many studies focus on animal welfare in terms of specific, either behavioural or physiological, indicators or on the impact of a particular management factor. However, an animal's welfare state results from the individual's perception of its general environment, which has consequences at both behavioural and physiological levels. Previous research on horses has shown that different riding schools could be characterised by different emotional/cognitive profiles of horses, in relation sometimes with one single management factor. In the present study, we aimed at determining if such facility-spec...
Jardat P, Yamamoto S, Ringhofer M, Tanguy-Guillo N, Parias C, Reigner F, Calandreau L, Lansade L.Emotional contagion, the emotional state-matching of two individuals, has been documented in various species. Recent findings suggest emotional contagion could also take place between humans and domestic mammals. However, the range of targeted animal species and human emotions that have been studied is still limited, and the methodology to investigate emotional contagion in this context is not fully established. This study examined emotional contagion of fear and joy from humans to horses by measuring physiological (heart rate, infrared thermography) and behavioral responses (posture, laterali...
Szczepek Reed B, Lundesjö Kvart S.In many types of embodied skills instruction, the learnables-that is, the local and jointly negotiated foci of instruction-emerge from a combination between a pre-existing lesson plan and the spontaneous interaction between teacher and student. Through the analytical lens of Conversation Analysis, this paper investigates the interspecies instruction setting of horse-riding lessons and shows how here, it is not only the human teachers and learners that determine the emergence of new learnables but also the horses. Horses' actions can initiate new courses of action in a lesson, and horses can th...
Faithfull R, Lewis K, Drury E, McBride S.Despite welfare concerns, conflict behaviours (indicative of momentary states of acute stress) are common in horses during dressage competitions. Identifying factors that affect conflict behaviours during competition therefore has the potential to improve equine welfare. The aim of this exploratory study was to assess the effect of bridle type (double versus snaffle) in relation to other potential affecting factors (e.g., average head angle, competition level and type, tack variation) on conflict behaviours during dressage competition. An ethogram was created to analyse the conflict behaviour ...
Hopkins E, Whitrod S, Marlin D, Blake R.Noseband tightness has received increasing attention within equitation science, however, there is little research into how this effects equine behaviour or performance. Objective: 1) determine the peak pressures under noseband in vivo at three different tightness; 2) assess limb and back kinematics at different noseband tightness. Methods: Noseband tightness (n = 8 horses) was set using an International Society for Equine Science (ISES) taper gauge with the three settings being; "two fingers (2F)", "one finger (1F)" and "zero fingers (0F)". Peak pressure under noseband was determined using pre...
Douglas M, Williams J, Randle H.Recent research has highlighted the detrimental impact of an ill-fitting saddle on equine health, welfare and performance. A correctly fitting saddle may not fit if positioned incorrectly. Objective: This study assessed riders' ability to visually evaluate saddle position and examine factors that influenced accuracy of assessment. Methods: Survey participants were provided with photographs of a series of saddles on horses obtained from the lateral aspect of the left side of the horse. Saddles were either correctly positioned (n = 5), too far forward (n = 5) or too far back (n = 2). This was in...
Doherty O, Conway R, McGreevy P.Pressures applied to horses via nosebands are of growing concern. The current study applied noseband pressure to the head of a dead horse. Pressure sensors were placed on the left nasal bone to record pressures as the noseband was progressively tightened. Tightness increased as predicated by holes in the strap of the noseband (as supplied) through eight steps from two fingers' space, assessed using the standard International Society for Equitation Science Taper Gauge through to zero space. Sensors were also placed at the midline frontal plane and intra-orally at the level of the second premola...
Becard B, Sapone M, Martin P, Hanne-Poujade S, Babu A, Hébert C, Joly P, Bertucci W, Houel N.The saddle's adaptability to the rider-horse pair's biomechanics is essential for equestrian comfort and performance. However, approaches to dynamic evaluation of saddle fitting are still limited in equestrian conditions. The purpose of this study is to propose a method of quantifying saddle adaptation to the rider-horse pair in motion. Eight rider-horse pairs were tested using four similar saddles with small modifications (seat depth, flap width, and front panel thickness). Seven inertial sensors were attached to the riders and horses to measure the active range of motion of the horses' forel...
Busechian S, Di Salvo A, Orvieto S, Rueca F, Villella C, Sollevanti G, Pieramati C, Nisi I, Della Rocca G.Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is a worldwide disease described in different categories of animals. A causal relationship between exercise and EGUS has been suggested, attributed to stress as well as physiological changes in the position of abdominal organs, especially during trot and gallop. EGUS can influence athletic fitness, as has been described in various papers on racehorses. The aim of this work was to determine if gastric ulcer healing is associated with changes in selected fitness parameters (i.e., speed, heart rate during exercise and recovery, stride length and frequency) in ...
