While most of us know the impact of high stress levels on our own health, many people never stop and think about whether our animals are also suffering from similar stresses.
With a busy lifestyle you may get stressed out over traffic, work pressures, finances, world events or family problems and although animal’s lives are much more simplified, they can also be filled with everyday stress.
Many people still believe that animals do not have the same feelings and emotions as we do, because they don’t talk or cry, but this doesn’t mean they don’t suffer in silence.
To try and understand how your animal may be feeling is to imagine life through their eyes.
Horses and other herd animals will often have significant ongoing stress when kept isolated from loss of companionship with their own species. Even when they appear fine, they have no choice but to carry on with life regardless, but they will be suffering stress as a result of the isolation.
Horses can be affected by a variety of stresses in their everyday lives, some of the most common being:
- Boredom ~ If they are kept in small yards or paddock without stimulation. Especially if they have nothing to look forward to each day other than waiting to be fed!
- Loneliness ~ Lack of companionship is one of the worst stresses for many horses. Some cope okay with a paddock mate nearby but most horses are happiest when they are in with a herd in the same paddock rather than being separated by fences.
- Aggression ~ Horses that are being bullied by more aggressive paddock mates can live on edge due to constant aggression from some dominant horses.
- Fear or Nervousness ~Spooking and anxiety can be due to mineral imbalances and some horses are generally more nervous than others. Moving to a new home or environment can cause stress to some horses when they first arrive in unfamiliar surroundings.
- Grief ~ The loss of a companion can cause grieving for many animals. When a paddock mate has been sold on or passes away.
- Anxiety ~ Separation anxiety can cause stress when a companion horse is taken out from the paddock or is sold on.
- Frustration ~ Imagine your frustration at being left locked up for hours on end. Imagine not having the freedom to live your life as you would like to. This applies to all species, but especially to horses that are living in unpleasant environments.
- Love and affection ~ I would like to think that everyone that shares their lives with an animal loves them dearly, but sadly this is not always the reality.
- Being misunderstood ~ When your horse becomes girthy, spooky or aggressive for no apparent reason or they start misbehaving they are often trying to tell you something isn’t right, but you are not listening! The hard part may be to discover what that is but I don’t believe any animal is simply nasty or wants to be bad. So always look for ‘why’ if your horses behaviour or personality suddenly changes.
Negative emotions have physical effects on the body and animals are no exception to this. We have all experienced at some stage in our lives, that ‘lump in the throat’ before giving a speech or ‘butterflies in the stomach’ when nervous or scared. These emotions are having a very physical effect on body functions. The digestive tract shuts down, making it difficult to swallow. On a more general scale, when these negative emotions occur on a regular or continuous basis, then it can certainly affect the physical health and is often the root cause of chronic disease.
Emotional & behavioural conditions may be due to underlying reasons such as:
- Past Traumas – Physical or emotional abuse can have a devastating effect on wellbeing at any age. Negative experiences in early life can contribute to behavioural problems in later life.
- Inadequate nutrition – Nutritional imbalances and deficiencies can predispose animals to stresses more easily than those fed on a well-balanced natural diet.
- Poor breeding practices – Some breeders continue to breed from animals that have very nervous traits.
- Feed intolerances – Just as some children are affected by ADD and hyper-activity, some horses may also react to certain foods such as lucerne, grains, etc.
- Insufficient exercise – Too much energy to burn can cause tension and boredom creating horse that misbehave.
Some of the natural nutritional supplements for anxious horses:
For more advice, complete our complimentary Horse Questionnaire.
