Can horses be affected by noise?

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Patchworkpony

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Given that horses are sensitive creatures anyway, with excellent hearing, I often wonder if they are affected by the noises generated by modern life. There is plenty of documentation to support the idea that long term exposure to heavy traffic noise can cause high blood pressure and autoimmune diseases in humans so could the same happen in horses? Horses in stables or fields, that they can't get away from, are often subjected to motorway noise, chain saws, quarry noise, heavy agricultural machinery, the whining sound from airports, repetitive gunfire from commercial shoots etc. etc. If we don't like a noise we can retreat inside but they can't. Is it possible that some of the behaviour problems seen in horses could be related to the stress of noise?
 
I have one who is noise sensitive, not sure if it is a factor but he also has cataracts, he makes it crystal clear if it has been noisy if I have not been there when it happened, shots from nearby is a pet hate of his, its as if it makes him on edge and he gets the male equivalent of PMT- the others aren't bothered really. I also had one who absolutely hated the sound of chain saws <even if they were in the distance> but other noises didn't bother him in the slightest
 
Cecile said:
I have one who is noise sensitive, not sure if it is a factor but he also has cataracts, he makes it crystal clear if it has been noisy if I have not been there when it happened, shots from nearby is a pet hate of his, its as if it makes him on edge and he gets the male equivalent of PMT- the others aren't bothered really. I also had one who absolutely hated the sound of chain saws <even if they were in the distance> but other noises didn't bother him in the slightest
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Interesting. We had a fell pony once that completely lost it the day after an illegal rave happened at a neighbouring farm the night before.
 
Some years ago, I moved my then horse to a new yard. Normally a placid easy going chap in the stable and to ride.

He seemed to settle well then after a couple of days became very agitated in his stable at times. We could not work out why as everything was the same, stable mates etc.

My YO was mucking out one day and noticed that he became agitated when the electric fly trap thing turned on, so we moved him into the bottom yard which did not have one and he settled immediately. Even noises we cannot hear upset their sensitive ears.
 
As prey animals they need to be aware of their surroundings, and I suppose excessive noise would make that too difficult, a bit like windy weather. So it makes sense that noise is something that stresses them
 
Patchworkpony said:
Given that horses are sensitive creatures anyway, with excellent hearing, I often wonder if they are affected by the noises generated by modern life. There is plenty of documentation to support the idea that long term exposure to heavy traffic noise can cause high blood pressure and autoimmune diseases in humans so could the same happen in horses? Horses in stables or fields, that they can't get away from, are often subjected to motorway noise, chain saws, quarry noise, heavy agricultural machinery, the whining sound from airports, repetitive gunfire from commercial shoots etc. etc. If we don't like a noise we can retreat inside but they can't. Is it possible that some of the behaviour problems seen in horses could be related to the stress of noise?
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My mare is totally reactive to noises and goes from 16.1hh to 18hh high when she is listening to it.
 
We have 2 blocks of stables on our yard, one near an industrial building. Had to move my mare away from that one because she started refusing to go into her stable, rearing, trying to kick etc.

In the other block she'll take herself into her stable. We think it must be related to the noise of the machinery at night because she's night blind so relies on her other senses a lot more.
 
They can certainly be trained to be completely unreactive - take drum horses, for example.

I drive one of my ponies to a 120 year old cart, which has iron tyres, as most roads were un-made then. It makes an apalling noise on certain surfaces (although on grass it's a delight). Pony care not one jot, although he has to listen pretty carefully to hear any verbal instruction above the din.

All of my ponies are totally OK with helicopters, chainsaws, gunfire and large motorbikes. Just depends what they are de-sensitised to.
 
I had a few driving lessons several years ago-with a view of eventually driving my Exmoor-the instructor told me horses were either sound or sight sensitive (not meaning if they were one, they were completely insensitive to the other).
She said that sound sensitive horses were not usually suitable for driving-least not without a lot of experience on the driver's part. My old horse was pretty bombproof with stuff he could see-but would react seemingly OTT with sudden noises that he couldn't see the origin of-he grew out of it to an extent. As for shooting-has never bothered any of my horses a jot but the beating upsets them a bit.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
I had a few driving lessons several years ago-with a view of eventually driving my Exmoor-the instructor told me horses were either sound or sight sensitive (not meaning if they were one, they were completely insensitive to the other).
She said that sound sensitive horses were not usually suitable for driving-least not without a lot of experience on the driver's part. My old horse was pretty bombproof with stuff he could see-but would react seemingly OTT with sudden noises that he couldn't see the origin of-he grew out of it to an extent. As for shooting-has never bothered any of my horses a jot but the beating upsets them a bit.
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I have a friend with a stud near a commercial shoot where the guns are now out five days a week in the winter. The noise is appalling and last year 70% of her mares aborted their foals - and there seems to be nothing she can do about it!
 
My own is certainly noise sensitive I suspect with him that there are certain tones that he for whatever reason finds problematic (given that he lives somewhere quite quiet!) He is 100% in a lot of situations, including low flying jets, high speed trains etc. BUT he really dislikes white noise, the electrical hum from cables when the air is damp etc.
Years ago we were unaffliated indoor SJ, stood at the sidelines, pony ordinarily dozing, under a speaker. All of a sudden pony dancing on spot (the music had changed).

I don't think it is to do with what he has been exposed to as I have his history from an 8 year old and he competed extensively etc, so well used to PA systems etc but they make him twitchy.

He's not unsafe or naughty about noises he just gets tense and anxious, they clay shoot every sunday near us and it is fairly continuous so not a shock from the noise but I have on occasion forgotten how much he hates it if too close and made the mistake of riding down the river near where they are and he just gets very upset by it, much more than he ever worries about fireworks.
 
flags remind me... world cup time flags attached to cars, and bunting for jubilees etc I'm pretty convinced the flapping doesn't bother him at all, it's the darn humming noise they make when they do :D
 
Reacting to sudden and unusual noise is pretty normal and it's amazing what they can get used to - we occasionally have shooters on the property where mine live, and I swear the shots startle me more than them!

However, I have often wondered about horses living close to busy roads etc as well. I know the relentless noise drives me nuts and horses need sleep and down time like any other animal. Would love to see some research around this.
 
We have shoots nearby & are on a flightpath to East Mids Airport. Those noises do not bother Dave at all, nor does he mind machinery. Rustling paper, plastic & a jetwash are the work of the devil.
 
We had the air ambulance land 100 metres away from ours, and they seemed to enjoy watching it, there was no charging around, just interest in this red flying thing, however a child rustling through fallen leaves may as well be an unleashed crocodile!

One thing is certain, they have the ability to de-sensitise completely. Our friends had a paddock close to a railway line, when their new pony moved there he went bananas every time a train came past, but within a few days he was grazing alongside the railway line hedge and didn't blink when one came by.
 
I agree horses can get used to noise and give no outward appearance of being affected by it but I wonder if like us humans constant background noise can wear down their health and happiness.
 
Definately get affected IMO. I had my warmblood PTS last year after the local landowner decided to fell the forest immediately opposite our field, huge machinery came in and the day they did right beside the field edge I put the wamblood in the stable as I knew he'd gallop about otherwise. That evening he was very quiet and didnt eat his supper which was odd, then during the night I heard a huge crash (my field is right by my house), went out to find he'd jumped out over the door (he was 17.1hh) and smashed the door to pieces. I put him in the other stable as I didnt want him out when he was so wound up, the next morning he'd tried to get out again but managed to somehow break the top door bolt and bend the wooden door wedging his knee in it. It was down to the bone in 3 places, an utter mess. After vet treatment etc. I ended up having to have him PTS a week later.

Now, this was a horse who was stabled 24/7 by his previous owners prior to me having him so he was perfectly used to being stabled. He had never behaved like this before, I can only blame it on the stress of the noise that day :( I definately think noise can mess with some horses, really depends on the horse and situation though I guess. With regards to long term noise, I personally would never run a radio for example, I know yards who have music blaring all the time and I just think it must wind the horses up.
 
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I know what you mean about long term effects of low key, not necessarily observable stress but I suspect it would be hard to single out 'noise' in a study.

I always wonder about dogs and their noses in a lot of places, I'm quite sensitive to smell as well as noise and wonder how they are coping!
 
MagicMelon said:
Definately get affected IMO. I had my warmblood PTS last year after the local landowner decided to fell the forest immediately opposite our field, huge machinery came in and the day they did right beside the field edge I put the wamblood in the stable as I knew he'd gallop about otherwise. That evening he was very quiet and didnt eat his supper which was odd, then during the night I heard a huge crash (my field is right by my house), went out to find he'd jumped out over the door (he was 17.1hh) and smashed the door to pieces. I put him in the other stable as I didnt want him out when he was so wound up, the next morning he'd tried to get out again but managed to somehow break the top door bolt and bend the wooden door wedging his knee in it. It was down to the bone in 3 places, an utter mess. After vet treatment etc. I ended up having to have him PTS a week later.

Now, this was a horse who was stabled 24/7 by his previous owners prior to me having him so he was perfectly used to being stabled. He had never behaved like this before, I can only blame it on the stress of the noise that day :( I definately think noise can mess with some horses, really depends on the horse and situation though I guess. With regards to long term noise, I personally would never run a radio for example, I know yards who have music blaring all the time and I just think it must wind the horses up.
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How very sad for you - especially when you were powerless to stop it. I am quite sure that horses are affected by 24/7 noise and it does take a toll - I know because I have seen it for myself.
 
This is about to be a concern for me. My horse has a stable right next to a road and she is currently fine, but the field opposite is about to be built on, and the machinery will be going in and out through the current gateway opposite her stable. Quite apart from the safety aspect when we are leading in and out, I do worry about the noise. She's out in the field well away from the site most of the time, but it's bound to have an impact when she's in.
 
Cowpony said:
This is about to be a concern for me. My horse has a stable right next to a road and she is currently fine, but the field opposite is about to be built on, and the machinery will be going in and out through the current gateway opposite her stable. Quite apart from the safety aspect when we are leading in and out, I do worry about the noise. She's out in the field well away from the site most of the time, but it's bound to have an impact when she's in.
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So sorry to hear that you will have that worry. It is getting harder and harder to find peace these days!
 
Patchworkpony said:
How very sad for you - especially when you were powerless to stop it. I am quite sure that horses are affected by 24/7 noise and it does take a toll - I know because I have seen it for myself.
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Thanks, yes it was awful and certainly not the way I wanted him to go (he was a retired veteran). I went nuts with the landowner about it, as I ended up with a £1,500 vets bill to try and find as well as the loss of my horse. They did pay half of it so I guess felt some guilt. I understand it wasnt their fault in that they couldnt have guessed the horse would have reacted that way but sadly he did :( My other 3 were fine.
 
ester said:
..... he really dislikes white noise,
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Oh your scientific knowledge doesn't stretch to accoustics then? Nothing hears "white noise" it's intensional anti sound - i.e. the inverse of the waveform making a noise you wish to mask. Did a huge amount of work with this in commercial buildings when the gadgets to do became available.

.... the electrical hum from cables when the air is damp...
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The crackle or hissing from high tension cables is lumped in with the hum or pulsating sounds from heavy duty switch gear and transformers and called "magneto striction." I've experienced horses throwing a wobbly going under cables if particularly loud but could guarrantee to find all our ponies in the turnout underneath them in wet weather where the 400Kv lines sounded like chipshop and could glow dimly like lcd's.

In general I think horses rely on their hearing far more than the average Horseyperson realises - they prick their ears directly at a point of concern or twitch until they centre on it and then look for the reason often altering their head position to focus. My mare once stopped mid trot to do this - for a hot air balloon on the distant horizon - getting a few pats for being so clever! So far away that I had difficulty noticing but she'd heard the burner.

It was a very good job that my Big Girl was otherwise quite laid back as I arrived on the yard at 04.30am to find the place filled with a film crew and a friggin' great generator outside her box. "I didn't realise" was the only remark made by the Y.O.! Spent an hour calming and turning out other folk's horses - many of whom did not want to come back in even after the razzmatazz had left - very upsetting for all concerned.
Can quite easily appreciate MM's appalling tragedy.
 
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OldFogie said:
In general I think horses rely on their hearing far more than the average Horseyperson realises - they prick their ears directly at a point of concern or twitch until they centre on it and then look for the reason often altering their head position to focus.
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You are so right!
 
Nope I’m a biologist ;) I mean to say fuzz though that is just as non technical. Noise cancelling headphones make me feel awful though :p
 
ester said:
Nope I&#8217;m a biologist ;) I mean to say fuzz though that is just as non technical. Noise cancelling headphones make me feel awful though :p
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Funnily enough we found that too! When a big headquarters was fitted out for an accountancy firm - a load of them kept feeling nauseous - difficult for me to tell because anything to do with accounts and tax makes me wanna throw up! Hahah.
 
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