Krieber Julia, Nowak Aurelia C, Geissberger Jakob, Illichmann Oliver, Macho-Maschler Sabine, Palme Rupert, Dengler Franziska
Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Department of Biological Sciences and Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Biological Sciences and Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jun 7;15(12):1693. doi: 10.3390/ani15121693.
Sport horses are frequently exposed to situations that were identified as stressors, indicated by an increased cortisol release, which might impair animal welfare. However, while many studies deal with the impact of exercise, transport, and competition on stress in horses, little is known about the early phase of a horse's sports career and studies investigating the stress level of young horses during breaking-in are limited. To compare stress levels in unridden horses, horses during breaking-in, and horses in training we collected fecal samples of young, unridden horses ( = 28) and of horses in different training stages ( = 13) and measured fecal cortisol metabolite (FCM) concentrations. Our preliminary results showed that FCM concentrations of unridden horses were significantly lower than those of horses in training (Mann-Whitney rank sum test, < 0.001). Particularly in the first year under the saddle FCMs were significantly higher than in unridden horses (one way ANOVA + post hoc Holm-Sidak test, < 0.05), with a tendency for FCM levels to decrease with time in training. Furthermore, we observed that within the group of ridden horses there was a larger range of variability in FCM levels, suggesting individual variations regarding their ability to deal with (training-induced) stress. These results indicate that breaking-in is a stressful time for young horses, underlining the importance of carrying out the initial training as carefully as possible.
运动马经常会面临被认定为应激源的情况，表现为皮质醇释放增加，这可能会损害动物福利。然而，尽管许多研究探讨了运动、运输和比赛对马应激的影响，但对于马运动生涯的早期阶段却知之甚少，研究幼马在驯化过程中应激水平的研究也很有限。为了比较未骑乘马、驯化中的马和训练中的马的应激水平，我们收集了幼龄未骑乘马（n = 28）和处于不同训练阶段的马（n = 13）的粪便样本，并测量了粪便皮质醇代谢物（FCM）浓度。我们的初步结果表明，未骑乘马的FCM浓度显著低于训练中的马（曼-惠特尼秩和检验，P < 0.001）。特别是在开始骑乘的第一年，FCM显著高于未骑乘马（单因素方差分析+事后霍尔姆-西达克检验，P < 0.05），且FCM水平有随训练时间下降的趋势。此外，我们观察到在骑乘马组中，FCM水平的变异性范围更大，这表明它们应对（训练引起的）应激的能力存在个体差异。这些结果表明，驯化对幼马来说是一个压力较大的时期，凸显了尽可能谨慎地进行初始训练的重要性。
