Measuring the happiness of a horse

For our troubled times of woe and madness, a story about happy horsies.

In this study, researchers examined horses in riding schools and those kept in naturalistic conditions. The horses in the riding schools were kept in small stalls and were ridden for 4-12 hours a week under the supervision of a riding teacher. They were allowed out on grass for differing but limited amounts of time. In contrast the horses kept in natural conditions lived in small groups on pasture and were occasionally used for relaxed outdoor leisure riding.

The scientists stared at the horses for five minutes and recorded the snorting activities of all groups and also noted what they were doing and the position of their ears - backward pointing ears is associated with negative emotional states in horses while forward pointing are seen as an indication of positive feelings.

Horses snorted far more when they were out in pasture than when they were in a stall. Among riding school horses, snorts occurred at a rate of around five per hour which was about half of what the horses in naturalistic conditions produced. These were also correlated with positive behaviours such as ears pointing forward. When the researchers looked at other measures of welfare and stress they concluded that "the more snorts emitted the more they were in a good welfare state".
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44796915