The cluster’s research focuses on addressing sector priorities for equine wellbeing in line with the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) Equine Welfare Strategy and the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) Horse Welfare Board Strategy, with the aim of promoting quality of life and positive welfare for all horses.

Much focus has been directed towards improving gut and respiratory health by developing novel feeds and pre-feeding treatments that remove airborne particles from fodder to reduce respiratory diseases. There is a strong theme around the brain mechanisms that control behaviour in this research cluster, including those that mediate stereotypic behaviour (crib-biting) and other abnormal behavioural traits. More recently, studies of horse and rider performance have investigated tack and equipment, pressure distribution at the horse-rider interface, and the interrelationship of nutritional and behavioural factors linked to equine performance.

The equine cluster team work closely with a range of industry partners to develop and test new products as well as facilitating knowledge exchange with both equine industry professionals and the wider horse owning public.

Cluster members

Associate Professor Andrew Hemmings

Associate Professor Simon Daniels

Tracy Bye

Current doctoral and MRes research projects

Emma Briggs PhD

'Haylage for horses: A system for accurate on-farm assessment of quality and determining how ‘quality’ may reflect nutrient profile'

Emily Orchard PhD

‘Cognitive function and learning capabilities in the stereotypy performing horse’

Emma Taylor MScR

'The effect of Bentonite and Psyllium husk on the gut microbiome of horses who have displayed free faecal water'

Ella Scott MScR

'Determining energy requirements in  ponies'

Rebecca Brassington MScR

'A prospective study into the clinical signs, characteristics, and diagnosis of horses presenting with impinging dorsal spinous processes and facet joint arthritis'

Available doctoral and MRes research projects

We currently have the following self-funded projects available for application. If you are interested in one of these titles, please contact the indicated academic staff member in the first instance for an informal discussion.

Project title Description Type Contact details
Barriers to racehorse rehoming in the UK and Ireland This is a qualitative project which will involve survey and interview-based methods to ascertain the perceptions of rehoming and retraining racehorses from different sectors of the industry. The aim of this project is to identify areas for future research and/or education to better support horses and their new owners through the transition from racehorse to riding horse. MRes

Tracy Bye

tracy.bye@rau.ac.uk
Biomechanical effects of balance band training aids on horses of different body types This project will use kinematic analysis technologies to assess the locomotion of both sports horses and cob types with and without a balance band training aid. We aim to determine how this equipment interacts with the conformation and whether there are measurable differences in responses between the different body types. There is scope to investigate different exercises, both ridden and unridden, with the ultimate aim of providing recommendations for the use of these training aids in conditioning and/or rehabilitation programmes. MRes

Tracy Bye

tracy.bye@rau.ac.uk
Validating blink rate as a measure of dopamine function in the horse Blink rate has been used in recent years as a proxy measure of dopamine release in the horse. In other species such as rodents, the link between dopamine and blink rate has been confirmed by measuring the effects of drugs that release dopamine on the frequency of blinking. However, similar validation work has not occurred in the horse. The aim of this study is to measure the effects of two dopamine enhancing agents (tyrosine and Pergolide) on blink rate in this species. In addition, this study will also seek to ascertain the effects of variables such as feeding and time of day on spontaneous blinking. MRes

Andrew Hemmings

andrew.hemmings@rau.ac.uk
Developing operant systems to improve free choice and horse-human communication in restrictive setting

Wellbeing is improved in environments that offer improved control and an element of free choice. In stabled horses the potential for provision of free choice is however limited.

This project will involve the adaptation of commercially available devices designed for dogs and children, which allow for the recording of voice commands that are activated using a mechanical button. This way the animal can ‘ask’ for a commodity following a button press, and can choose between available commodities thereby providing an element of choice in an otherwise restrictive setting.
MRes

Andrew Hemmings

andrew.hemmings@rau.ac.uk

Please visit our PhD and MSc by Research pages for full details of these two programmes, including tuition fees. 

Highlight projects

Academic and industry collaborators: Professor Meriel Moore-Colyer, Haygain Ltd, Nottingham University

Funding source: Haygain Ltd

Equine respiratory disease is highly prevalent in our horse population with anything between 80- 95% occurrence in performance horses and thoroughbred racehorses. The most debilitating form of these is severe Equine Asthma (sEA) which manifests as loss of performance, coughing and respiratory distress at rest. Airborne respirable dust (ARD) in the stable is a well-known cause of this allergic condition, and for the last 10 years Prof Moore-Colyer has led the collaborative project with Haygain Ltd and University of Nottingham to elucidate the main allergens in stable dust and find effective and practical ways to reduce the dust: horse interaction. This work has led to the development of the Haygain range of high-temperature hay steamers which have been proven to reduce ARD by 99%, killing fungal spores and reducing bacteria by 90%.

The recent work supported by the Fred and Marjory Sainsbury Trust, by PhD student Sam White expanded current knowledge on allergens for sEA showing that larger ARD such as tree and grass pollen and latex rubber previously unknown to be problematic for stabled horses, are in fact very strong allergens. Maintaining gut and respiratory health while providing the necessary nutrients to keep horses healthy has also been a strong theme throughout this work and MScR projects carried out by Becky James, Jessica Taylor, Jacob Hepworth and Abby Hooky have examined a range of different aspects relating to nutrient and microbial contents of treated forage and management techniques to ensure horses have the best air quality and hygienic forage when stabled. Work is on-going in collaboration with research groups in Canada, USA and Europe supported by a vibrant knowledge exchange programme so horse owners can benefit from the latest research.​

Academic collaborators: Associate Professor Simon Daniels, RAU, Professor Jo-Anne Murray, University of Glasgow

Commercial partners: AB Vista and Mars Horsecare

Associate Professor Simon Daniels is currently working on three areas of equine nutrition and digestive health. The first is a range of digestibility experiments in collaboration with Professor Jo-Anne Murray from the University of Glasgow alongside commercial partners AB Vista and Mars Horsecare. These studies are focussed upon improving fibre digestibility and therefore focus on feeding differing fibre diets to ponies alongside probiotics or differing pre-feeding treatments to the feed to improve fibre degradability in the horse. Fibre is the most important element of a horse’s diet and improving our understanding on maximising digestibility of this substrate is paramount to horse health and welfare. Our work involves monitoring feed intake and feeding behaviour in the ponies and using free catch faeces to determine the nutrient apparent digestibility of the diets.

Alongside these nutrition studies, we are developing an improved in vitro digestibility system which is being validated alongside our involvement with in vivo digestibility trials. Whilst currently in vivo studies feeding ponies and measuring output are seen as the gold standard,  lab-based models are much more economic and time saving and reduce the use of animals in research. We are working with colleagues at Glasgow, Wageningen and Utrecht Universities to develop a total tract equine digestion in the laboratory which closely resembles that achieved when feeding horses.

The third area we are currently investigating is the links between a horse’s gut brain axis through the microbial community profile and metabolic profile of faecal samples as a proxy for the horse’s hindgut and using non-invasive probes of neurological activity. It appears the diet can influence gut health, overall health and behaviour and we are currently exploring this in horses to identify how diet may influence diet, behaviour and welfare.

Academic collaborators: Associate Professor Andrew Hemmings and Dr Sebastian McBride, Aberystwyth University

Associate Professor Andrew Hemmings and PhD student Emily Orchard, are currently working on the learning capabilities of the stereotypy performance horse using newly developed automated learning tasks. Stereotypies are characterised as repetitive and rigid behaviours with no apparent function or goal, these behaviours are deemed as abnormal and are often labelled as ‘vices’ (unwanted behaviour), with some owners choosing to focus on preventing the behaviour rather than discovering the underlying cause. The preventative methods can often be uncomfortable, painful and potentially cause stress to the horse.

This work is developing a system for accurately measuring spontaneous blink rate, which is a proven biomarker for dopamine production in horses, and combining this with the newly developed automated learning tasks equipment developed at RAU in 2019. Common assumptions held within the equine industry will also be addressed in order to improve current knowledge and understanding of stereotype.

The overall aim is to determine if learning in stereotypy performing horses is different to normal horses and how this might impact upon practical training advice and thus reduce the use of negative management techniques for these horses.