Environmental conditions interfere with emotionality and cognitive abilities in horses. Example of riding schools
Résumé
The role of management practices on animal welfare is a commonly raised but still unsolved
issue. While bad welfare may have strong physiological effects, recent studies show that it
can also have consequences on the emotional levels and impair cognitive abilities. In the
present study, we compared emotional reactions of horses from different riding schools in a
variety of behavioural tests, as well as their cognitive performance in an instrumental learning
test. The results show large differences in both aspects according to the riding school, with a
gradation between extremes (low emotionality/ good learning, high emotionality/high
learning). Comparison of management practices between these schools reveals that different
environmental factors are involved. These results are discussed in terms of management,
welfare and their impact on cognitive abilities.