Does music affect how stabled horses sleep at night?

There have been several studies looking at the effect of music on horse behaviour in various situations like daytime stabling and travelling, but none have looked at the effect on nocturnal behaviour or sleep. 

A team of researchers at Hartpury University have found that playing classical music to horses at night does have a significant effect on their behaviour. 

Seven horses were used for the study: 5 geldings, 2 mares; native mixed breeds; age range 6-16 years; height range 14hh-15.3hh with none displaying any stereotypic behaviours. At the time of the study they were all ridden for 2-3 non-consecutive hours a day and stabled for 24hrs due to lack of grazing at the time of year. They were all stabled within the same barn at Hartpury University, with the same routine management.

The horses were observed using an infrared camera system from 8.30pm to 6.30am over 9 nights. For the first two nights there was no music played, for the next five nights they were played Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at an average of 62.3 decibels and for the last two nights no music was played. 

The team found that the horses displayed more restful behaviour like eating and lying down when the music was played, and there was a significant decrease in the horses’ vigilant behaviour – standing alert and/or with their head over the door, moving around the stable and excreting. 

The findings suggest that classical music might induce a relaxed state that encourages more restful behaviour. Of course music will mask some environmental sounds so this could explain why horses may be less alert or interested in their surroundings, however I know many horses who become more anxious if music is played – perhaps as their ability to hear what’s going on in their environment is impaired. We need to remember that horses are all individuals with their own learning history and some may be worried by new stimuli in their environment. The researchers stated that further investigation is needed to understand longer term responses to auditory enrichment.

I hope that horse owners and managers do consider different types of enrichment to improve their horses’ welfare if they have to be stabled. Supplying a variety of ad-lib feeds, a big comfortable clean bed and friendly equine company they can touch will also improve welfare if a horse has to be stabled. Considering auditory enrichment is interesting – the relaxing nature of music may induce more positive emotions so perhaps classical music at night could help some horses relax.

You can read the full study here: 
A Preliminary Study Investigating the Influence of Auditory Stimulation on the Occurrence of Nocturnal Equine Sleep-Related Behavior in Stabled Horses. Hartman N, Greening LM. https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/a…/abs/pii/S0737080619303934#!