09/05/2023
For HOW DO HORSES FEEL ABOUT HAVING THEIR MANES PULLED?
A brilliant recent study by MSc student Louise Nicholls found that horses are unsurprisingly pretty stressed by the process. Louise compared the heart rates and behaviour of 20 horses having their manes pulled or touched.
The results showed that the horses mean heart rates were significantly higher when they had their manes pulled than when their manes were touched. The horses also had higher mean heart rates when the mane pulling was started at the poll working down, than at the withers working up.
The horses also moved far more when their manes were pulled compared to mane touching e.g. ears back, standing alert, licking and chewing, a high neck position, head tossing, mouth tight and tail swishing and clamping - indicating they experienced discomfort or pain at the process being performed.
While the horse's stress and discomfort may seem obvious to many horse owners, this appears to be the first time the effects of mane pulling has been studied - so a huge well done to Louise for raising awareness on this subject. I wouldn't like to have my hair pulled out forcibly either! Time to find another way to keep manes tidy - or just leave them as nature intended.
In light of the recent findings on horses having more pain receptors in their skin than humans, this topic is well worth revisiting. Huge thanks to Louise for sharing her study findings.
Pic courtesy: BK Images — with Louise Nicholls.
