Fear Testing of Foals May Help Increase Safety

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A Piece of the Puzzle
The result is a step on the path to increased safety during riding and handling horses. As fearfulness is inheritable breeders could benefit from using a standardized fear test to avoid breeding the most fearful horses. There has been a tendency to breed dressage horses with extreme movements such as high front leg lifts during trot as this has been rewarded with high marks in dressage competitions. Unfortunately exaggerated movements are possibly connected to fearfulness as we also know from other prey species such as gazelles which display exaggerated movements when frightened. When breeding for horses with very big movements we can end up with fearful and stresssensitive horses which is unfortunate for horse welfare and safety.
Benefits from testing the fearfulness of horses can be found in other areas. For example an objective fear test can be developed and adjusted for use by veterinarians for horse prepurchase examinations. Should this be introduced a future horse owner will have more objective knowledge about a horses temperament and whether the horse will be an appropriate match for them before buying the horse.
Rearing Environment and Education are Important Factors
The environment in which the foal is raised also plays an important role in the animals level of fearfulness. Previous studies have shown that foals learn readily from their dams. If the mare is trained to react calmly towards a variety of objects she will influence her foal to also react more calmly towards novelty. It has also been shown that young horses display less fearfulness towards novel objects if they are grouped with a calm and experienced horse. General stimulation of the foal and habituation to a variety of objects early in life are important factors when training a safe riding horse.