Assessment of Welfare in Groups of Horses with Different Management, Environments and Activities by Measuring Cortisol in Horsehair, Using Liquid Chromatography Coupled to Hybrid Orbitrap High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.
Authors: Cerasoli Francesco, Podaliri Vulpiani Michele, Saluti Giorgio, Conte Annamaria, Ricci Matteo, Savini Giovanni, D'Alterio Nicola
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary Measuring stress hormones in horsehair offers a non-invasive way to assess welfare across different management systems, and researchers applied advanced analytical chemistry (liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry) to quantify cortisol in samples from three distinct horse populations: stabled horses in regular work, police horses performing public order duties, and free-ranging animals. All horses in the study met positive welfare criteria using the AWIN assessment protocol, allowing the researchers to isolate the effects of management and activity on physiological stress markers rather than confounding variables associated with poor welfare. Counterintuitively, free-ranging horses showed significantly elevated horsehair cortisol levels compared to both stabled and working horses, suggesting that unmanaged environments or specific behavioural challenges in extensive systems may impose greater chronic stress than structured routines. The findings warrant careful interpretation, as the researchers acknowledge that environmental, managerial, and behavioural factors interact complexly—meaning higher cortisol in free-ranging animals might reflect environmental exposure, social dynamics, or management practices rather than purely negative welfare outcomes. For practitioners, this work establishes a validated method for long-term stress assessment and challenges assumptions that intensive management automatically increases stress; however, distinguishing between adaptive and maladaptive stress responses in different systems requires further investigation before drawing firm conclusions about optimal management practices.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Free-ranging horses may experience chronic stress despite appearing to have good welfare on standard assessment protocols—consider multiple stress indicators when evaluating management systems
- •Hair cortisol analysis provides an objective, non-invasive method to assess long-term stress exposure across different management types
- •Standard welfare assessments (like AWIN) may not capture all physiological stress responses; use biomarker testing to complement behavioral and environmental evaluations
Key Findings
- •Cortisol levels in horsehair of free-ranging horses were significantly higher than in stabled and working horses
- •LC-HRMS/MS technique was successfully applied for the first time to quantify horsehair cortisol in equines
- •Three management groups (stabled ridden, police working, free-ranging) showed different stress biomarker profiles despite positive AWIN welfare assessment scores
- •Complex environmental, managerial, and behavioral factors beyond basic welfare indicators influence detectable cortisol levels in equine hair