Behavioral signs of stress might include unwillingness to work, decreased appetite, flightiness, depression, or some other change in a horse's usual demeanor. | Photo: iStock

Q. What are the signs that my horse is stressed?

A. The word “stress” is a toughie for me, because it’s used so commonly for all sorts of conditions in horses (and people). If I’m really trying to identify stress, I like to break it down into signs and causal factors that can we can objectively identify, measure, and control.

Stress is actually a normal, adaptive response in an animal to cope with any kind of challenge from the environment. In a horse examples of such a challenge include a big change in training or management, parturition (birth), severe weather, or a strange dog in the pasture. Over the short term, we see increased heart rate, sweating, alarm or alertness, and locomotory behaviors (e.g., moving toward shelter or running) appropriate to deal with the stressor