What is it about?
We found that higher rein tension was associated with horse mouth openings. Three horses having bruises in the mouth after the drive walked more in a rushed manner. This indicates that horse trainers should take the horse's arousal level into account in training.
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Why is it important?
Our findings indicated that rein tensions in harness racing horses were high and horse's behaviour and arousal level should be taken into account in training to prevent mouth injuries and negative experiences for the horse.
Perspectives
One of the horses opened it's mouth over 300 times during 16 minute drive. It was eyeopening to see in slow motion videos how horses behave and what do they do during driving and how do they express themselves.
DVM PhD Kati Tuomola
University of Helsinki
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Is rein tension associated with horse behaviour and mouth injuries in harness racing trotters? – Pilot study, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, August 2024, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106356.
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