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Attachment in Horses; How Separation Impacts Welfare

Aug 5 / Dr Teresa Tyler








Attachment in horses is complex and significantly influences their behaviour, welfare, and social structures.
Horses are highly social animals who form strong bonds with their conspecifics, which is very similar to the attachment seen in other social species, including humans.
These evolutionary patterns of bonding are critical for their psychological well-being and survival. So when these bonds are disrupted due to sale or other forms of separation, it can have a profound impact on their welfare, leading to stress, behavioural changes, and potential long-term psychological issues. Yet we rarely consider this in our everyday buying, selling and management of horses.


Understanding Equine Attachment  

Attachment theory was originally developed to describe human relationships and has been increasingly applied to help us to understand non-human animal social bonds. Horses have evolved with keen senses that enable them to detect predators and rely heavily on their social groups for safety and stability. These social bonds are not just superficial relationships to help keep them safe but involve intricate behavioural and emotional connections. Research tells us that horses exhibit signs of distress when separated from their bonded conspecifics, exhibiting behaviours such as increased vocalisation, restlessness, and changes in eating and drinking patterns (Hartmann et al., 2018).

These behaviours are tell-tale examples of the stress responses triggered by separation from bonded individuals, like attachment behaviours seen in humans, primates, dogs and other mammals. Attachment in horses is often characterised by mutual grooming, close physical proximity, vocalisation and matched activities, which demonstrates the depth of their social connections (Proops et al., 2019).


Buying, selling and relocating horses is commonplace.

Welfare Implications of Separation

 

Buying, selling and relocating horses is commonplace. For example, children outgrow ponies, adults may decide that they need a younger, fitter version for competition, or that they need a slower cob for safer hacking. It is a generally assumed process that happens, much like the buying and selling of cars.

The sale of horses, leading to them moving from an established social group, poses significant welfare challenges. When horses are moved to new environments without their bonded companions, they experience a disturbance in their social network, like the experience of grief. This process is rarely acknowledged in equine management practices, and represents a form of disenfranchised grief – grief that is not socially recognised or validated (McDonnell, 2018).

 

Disenfranchised grief in horses may be exhibited through behavioural changes such as depression, anxiety, and in some cases, the development of stereotypic behaviours such as cribbing or weaving. These behaviours are coping mechanisms in response to the stress and uncertainty of losing familiar social bonds (Visser et al., 2018). The lack of recognition of these emotional responses in horses demonstrates an anthropocentric bias in animal 

welfare practices, where human perspectives and needs often overshadow the intrinsic social and emotional needs of animals.

 

Anthropocentrism in Equine Management

 

Anthropocentrism, where we view animal needs and behaviours through a human-centric lens, regularly leads to inadequate consideration of the psychological and social complexities and needs of animals. In the context of equine management, this can result in practices that prioritise human convenience and economics over the emotional welfare of horses (McGreevy & McLean, 2019). For instance, the sale and subsequent separation of horses are frequently driven by financial incentives or competitive goals, with insufficient attention given to the resulting psychological impacts on the horses. This human-centred approach fails to acknowledge the depth of equine social bonds and the ensuing grief that accompanies their disruption. Recognising and addressing this bias is crucial for improving welfare standards and promoting more ethical treatment of horses.

 

Addressing the Welfare Challenges

 

To lessen the negative impacts of separating bonded horses, several measures can be implemented. These include gradual acclimatisation to new environments, ensuring the presence of familiar companions during transitions, and creating management practices that recognise and accommodate the social needs of horses (Fureix et al., 2020). Additionally, learning about equine social structures and behaviours among horse owners and caretakers is essential for promoting empathy and better welfare outcomes.

 

Education that emphasises the importance of maintaining social bonds can significantly improve the quality of life for horses. This includes promoting herd-based living arrangements and reducing the frequency of sales or relocations that disrupt established social groups. By integrating these practices, equine activities can move towards a more compassionate and scientifically informed approach to horse welfare.

 

 

References

Fureix, C., Beaulieu, C., Argaud, S., Rochais, C., & Hausberger, M. (2020). Investigating anhedonia in a non-conventional species: Do some riding horses Equus caballus display symptoms of depression? Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 113136.

Hartmann, E., Christensen, J. W., & McGreevy, P. D. (2018). Dominance and leadership: Useful concepts in human–horse interactions? Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 69, 50-57.

McDonnell, S. M. (2018). A practical field guide to horse behavior: The equid ethogram. Eclipse Press.

McGreevy, P., & McLean, A. (2019). Equitation science. John Wiley & Sons.

Proops, L., Grounds, K., Smith, A. V., & Wathan, J. (2019). Animal recognition of human attention: Horses, Equus caballus, adjust attention based on human head direction. Animal Cognition, 22(2), 99-107.

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