Equine Behavioural and Physiological Responses to Auditory Stimuli in the Presence and Absence of Noise-Damping Ear Covers.
Authors: Hole Clare, Murray Rachel, Marlin David, Freeman Paul
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
Horses regularly encounter diverse acoustic environments at competitions and in their home stables, yet research into how they process and respond to these sounds remains sparse despite widespread use of noise-damping ear covers in sport horses. Hole and colleagues examined 18 horses presented with five competition or stable-relevant sounds in randomised order, recording both behavioural responses and heart rate changes with and without ear covers in a crossover design. The findings revealed that horses discriminate between different complex auditory stimuli and mount physiologically distinct responses to each—notably, ear covers produced a significant reduction in heart rate response specifically to feed sounds, though overall dampening effects varied considerably across the different sound types tested. These results provide objective evidence that ear covers do modulate equine auditory responses, though their effectiveness is stimulus-dependent rather than uniform across all sounds. For practitioners, this suggests that whilst ear covers may usefully reduce reactivity to particular acoustic triggers in competition environments, their efficacy cannot be assumed for all auditory distractions, warranting individual assessment of whether a specific horse benefits from their use.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Noise-damping ear covers do reduce horse responses to external sounds, but effectiveness varies depending on the type of sound—they may not be equally effective for all noise sources in competition.
- •Consider individual horse responses to specific auditory stimuli when deciding whether to use ear covers, as some sounds (e.g. feed-related) show greater physiological response reduction than others.
- •Using ear covers as a management tool for noise-sensitive competition horses has evidence support, but should be paired with assessment of which specific sounds most distract your individual horse.
Key Findings
- •Horses demonstrated significantly different physiological and behavioural responses to different complex auditory stimuli in competition/stable environments.
- •Ear covers reduced overall physiological and behavioural responses to auditory stimuli, with feed sound being the only stimulus showing individually significant heart rate reduction.
- •The effectiveness of noise-damping ear covers varied by stimulus type, suggesting differential sound discrimination and response modulation by horses.
- •Horses can discriminate between individual sounds and alter their responses accordingly, indicating auditory perception and stimulus-specific behavioural adaptation.