Effect of Stressful Situations on Horses’ Working Memory

Stress negatively affects horses’ working memory, used in training for associating commands with actions.
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According to new study results from French equine behavior scientists, stress affects horses’ working memory–the short-term memory used in training and in associating signals and commands with actions–especially if the horse already has a basic fearful nature.

"We observed that stress had a strong deleterious effect on working memory performance," said Mathilde Valenchon, MS, PhD candidate with the behavior, neurobiology, and adaptation team at the French national agricultural science institute in Tours. Valenchon presented her findings at the French Equine Research Day held March 1 in Paris. "From a practical point of view, this means that a horse under stress could have a compromised capacity to respond to the demands of his trainer, especially if working memory is required."

In her investigation Valenchon and colleagues tested 30 Welsh pony mares’ ability to remember in which of two buckets they would find a carrot. The researcher would stand with one bucket on each side of her. She would drop a carrot into one of the buckets randomly, and the horse would have to wait between zero and 20 seconds before going to the bucket to retrieve the carrot. The researchers tested the horses first in a calm, familiar environment, and then later in a more stressful environment with unfamiliar sights and sounds (including a barking dog and a waving white sheet, among other stressors). The horses also underwent temperament tests to determine their basic fear factors, to see what role a fearful temperament had in working memory.

The team found that in the calmer environment the horses had an average working memory of 16 seconds–meaning they could still find the carrot after a 16-second delay–but in the stressful environment the horses weren’t able to perform at all

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Passionate about horses and science from the time she was riding her first Shetland Pony in Texas, Christa Lesté-Lasserre writes about scientific research that contributes to a better understanding of all equids. After undergrad studies in science, journalism, and literature, she received a master’s degree in creative writing. Now based in France, she aims to present the most fascinating aspect of equine science: the story it creates. Follow Lesté-Lasserre on Twitter @christalestelas.

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