On November 30, 2022, Stacie joined Jec Ballou on the Best Horse Practices podcast (season 3, episode 8) to talk about stress in horses: how it shows up, what it does physiologically, and how much of it we humans cause.
Best Horse Practices: Stress in Horses
Podcast conversation with Jec Ballou, November 30, 2022
The excerpts below are transcribed from the episode and lightly edited for clarity. The full episode is linked at the foot of this page.
On the kinds of stress, and how ulcers happen
Physiological stress could be that we have a really big rainstorm and the horse stays out in it all night. Emotional stress could be that we leave a horse in the field at his home, but we take away his best friend and put a new horse in his herd. Even if we haven’t done anything directly to that horse, anytime we disrupt their herd, it can cause emotional stress.
Stress increases cortisol, and cortisol causes a decrease in prostaglandins. Prostaglandins signal the body to increase mucus production within the stomach and protect it. So an increase in cortisol means a decrease in protective stomach mucus, and ulcers are the end result.
On the stoic horse who hides it
Horses don’t want to show that they’re hurt or stressed or worried; they keep those inside in order to not show those red flags to predators. An example from my daily practice: a person might unload three horses off the trailer for vaccines or something really basic. I take heart rates, and two of them are normal, 36 to 40. The third one is at 60. If you look really closely, the pupils are a little more dilated, the ears a little more stiff, the muscles a little more tense. There are subtle signs we can learn to look for and recognize.
Listen to the whole conversation at Best Horse Practices: Stacie Boswell and Stress in Horses. The Ultimate Guide for Horses in Need is available directly from Stacie or from Trafalgar Square Books.