Group housing increases alertness and social interaction compared to traditional single stabling in two-year-old sport horse stallions during pretraining.

The research explores the impact of different stabling systems on two- and three-year-old Warmblood stallions during a 12-week pretraining period. The primary conclusion is that group housing led to higher alertness and social interaction compared to individual stabling, however, both methods were found to be acceptable overall without a significant advantage for one over the other.

Study Design and Methodology

• The researchers recruited a group of 29 Warmblood stallions, who were either 24 months old or 30 months old.
• These horses were then placed in three different living arrangements: group stabling (9 horses), individual stabling for 24-month-old horses (10 horses) and individual stabling for 30-month-old horses (10 horses).
• Over the course of 12 weeks, researchers made note of various measures including cortisol levels, heart rates, heart rate variability (HRV), physical development, injuries and behavior patterns.
• The observations were first recorded when the horses were transferred from pasture to stable, and then regularly throughout the pretraining period.

Study Findings

• The immediate effect of transfer from pasture to stable was an increase in salivary cortisol concentration and heart rate for around 3 hours. This reaction was most pronounced in the group-housed stallions.
• Body weight (BW) decreased transiently after the transfer.
• While most injuries were superficial skin abrasions, they were found to be more frequent in group-housed stallions compared to those stabled individually.
• The frequency of lying was higher for stabled stallions, while mutual grooming was only observed in the group setting.
• The group-housed stallions engaged in play predominantly in the mornings.
• Agonistic behaviour was more evident in individual stabling but also seen occasionally in group stables.
• Pawing the ground was observed primarily in individual stables in the morning before feeding, with a marked decline by the afternoon.

Conclusions

• Metrics like cortisol concentration, heart rate, HRV, and behaviours suggest that group-housed stallions experienced more challenges during the pretraining period compared to individually housed ones.
• However, the researchers concluded that both individual and group stabling models are acceptable for two- to three-year-old stallions. Neither method showed a significant advantage over the other, under the conditions of this study.