According to a new study by European equitation scientists, horses might prefer to avoid rein tension rather than just get used to it. And beyond a certain force threshold, rein tension can cause conflict behavior. To make the most of training and to keep the horse’s mouth sensitive, riders need to know when to apply less rein tension, generally when the horse displays conflict behavior.

After a squabble in the field, horses might “kiss and make up”–at least in their own equine way. But even more often, post-conflict horses are visited by a “peacemaker,” probably to preserve the unity of the group, according to a new study by European researchers. Long-term pasturemates sometimes show reconciliatory behavior after a moment of conflict, and a t

The trace element selenium appears to reinforce sperm quality and thus maintain a stallion’s fertility. When selenium is lacking, motility drops, sperm membranes break down, and the sperm’s acrosome (which covers the head) can deform.

Horses might experience increased stress during equestrian events and competitions, but that stress appears relatively mild and might even be beneficial according to new research by Austrian, German, and French equitation scientists.

Stringhalt seems to make horses yank their legs up and halt them there momentarily before taking their next step. This is the outward sign of neurologic disease, sometimes caused by toxicity, sometimes of unknown origin. If time doesn’t cure it, the prognosis is poor. But today researchers are hard at work looking into ways to make horses with the condition safe, happy, and free of clinical signs.

For decades the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) has governed major international equestrian events with the objective of keeping the sport fair and drug-free–an initiative the FEI refers to as “Clean Sport.” Recently, however, the FEI revamped its system and put its new Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Regulations (EADCMR) into place. This overhaul occurred in response to

The most commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in equine medicine are relatively safe, effective, and short-lived at low doses, but their use could mask lameness or other ailments in competing horses, according to international scientists at the recent NSAIDs congress hosted by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). Whether NSAIDs should

Modern saddles provide new options for tree type, with the goal of sparing a horse pain from localized saddle pressure. But new Swiss research suggests that, at least when a horse trots, tree type makes little difference in pressure distribution along the horse’s back.

Some non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs at low therapeutic levels might be helpful for horses with inflammation between competitions, so clearer and more current information is needed about detection times for anti-doping testing, according to a Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) committee. This committee–the FEI List Group–maintains the official list of controlled and prohibit

There’s a new term that describes the actions of our horses in response to our unclear cues or handling: “conflict behavior.” Horses showing conflict behavior might buck, rear, toss their heads, gape their mouths, or try to escape their handlers, to name a few examples, and they might get labeled with adjectives such as “stubborn” or “naughty.”

The number of piroplasmosis-positive horses imported from Europe varies considerably from one country to another, according to new findings by Swiss researchers. With piroplasmosis steadily creeping across the globe in the 21st century, spreading out of its once traditional tropical/subtropical regions, these researchers have been looking into prevalence statistics to better under

Everybody loves a good back scratch, including your horse, right? Scratching of the withers has been scientifically proven to reduce a horse’s heart rate, but a good scratch might not be enough to communicate to your horse that you’re happy with what he’s just learned and that you want him to do it again next time. According to new research by French equitation scienti

When teaching young horses to accept separation from their pasturemates, it might seem like a good idea to train them in pairs first for a while before training them alone. However, new equitation science research suggests that pairing them up might just delay the anxiety of separation and, in the end, the results of this method don’t differ much from those of immediate individual separation.

Scientific, legal, and ethical points of view on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use in competition horses continued to stream Switzerland’s air even at the close of the two-day NSAIDs congress, hosted by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) in Lausanne. Although no consensus was reached,

Congratulations, your horse has learned a new trick! Now, start all over again–this time on the other side. That’s right; it turns out if you want your horse to learn a trick or skill correctly, you’re probably going to have to teach with cues that are visible to the horse from both sides of his head. According to new equitation science research, what a horse learns on hi