Stress and Disease

What is stress?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) “Stress can be defined as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation.  Stress is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives.  Everyone experiences stress to some degree.  The way we respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to our overall well-being”

While this definition relates to people, you can just as simply insert horse, cat, dog or any other sentient being and have the same meaning.

If you’ve ever experienced a fright, you’ll recognise the acute signs of stress, the “fight-or-flight” response of increased breathing and heart rate.  And no doubt, as horse owners, you’ll have experienced this with your horse.  This is a normal response to stress.

There are also more prolonged stresses such as moving house (or for our horses, moving paddock or stable) that extend over a longer period of time.  With this sort of stress there is often a period of adjustment and we adapt over time, albeit we can sometimes feel the effects on our health.

However, the chronic stress that occurs when the cortisol levels rise and then fail to decrease again are the types of stress that can lead to more serious health problems.

Just like people, horses will adapt to stress differently.  Something that causes long-term stress for one horse may be just a temporary stressor for another horse.

In order to avoid health issues from stress, it is important to recognise the potential triggers of stress, the signs in our horses that they are stressed, and most importantly find ways to reduce these stresses.  Given that our horses are prey animals who are engineered to hide their stress or pain, this can be a challenge for us.

 Why stress concerns me

Like many people I got on with my busy life, ignoring niggling symptoms affecting my health.  What I was actually ignoring was the impact that chronic stress was having on my health, which ended up leading to a serious medical condition and a “wake-up” call to change my diet and lifestyle to manage my stress and improve my health.

Unlike us, our horses do not have the ability to influence the stressors in their lives in the same way we do.  In fact it is likely that most of their stresses are induced by the lifestyle we subject them to, making it even more important for us to identify and manage these factors on their behalf.

When it comes to horses, it is obvious when a horse is seriously and acutely stressed by their extreme reactive “fight-or-flight” behaviour.  This is a normal and healthy reaction to immediate threats.  But when it comes to chronic stress, horses are very clever at hiding symptoms of weakness and pain, so signs of stress can be subtle and are often dismissed as “behavioural” problems.

With my arabian mare, Reena, she’d had a history of reactions to bites, certain grasses, topical sprays etc and these were treated at the time.  Individually these were simply signs of an acute stress reaction, with obvious cause and effect.  But over time, when you add them all you’d consider that she’s a “reactive” type of horse and this was also reflected in her behaviour.

It was when we tried putting Reena in foal (12 years ago) that I fully realised the extent of her chronic stress.   I’d commented to my vet (a bit tongue in cheek) that I was concerned about her reactiveness and whether she’d be able to hold a pregnancy.  As it turns out I was right and she resorbed four pregnancies before I abandoned the idea of a foal from my precious mare.

Shortly afterwards Reena suffered a laminitic episode and was diagnosed with Cushing’s disease (PPID) and I attribute this to her stress.  In hindsight the “reactiveness” to external factors and her behaviour were all signs of chronic stress and I believe that the attempted reproduction was the tipping point for her.

Medication for her Cushing’s, along with dietary changes have made a dramatic impact on her health and behaviour.  She’s now 26 and she has ongoing (but manageable) health issues, but is generally happy and healthy.

Being immune compromised, Reena also reacts very badly to fly bites making her legs bloody, swollen and scabby.  As a result she became lethargic, lost her appetite and lost weight, all signs of stress.  The source of the stress – biting flies:  The solution – covering her legs to avoid the biting flies:  The result – she now eats normally, moves around the paddock happily, interacts with her paddock mates and has regained weight, but most importantly has regained her bright eyes and happy disposition.

From what I’ve learned, and the help of professionals, I have also been able to significantly improve the behaviour of my horses, through diet, routine and training with a view to managing and reducing stress.  While this is no guarantee that they won’t develop future health problems, it at least should avoid adding to the potential risks of disease.  And in the meantime, I can enjoy the pleasure of calm, well-behaved horses (most of the time).

 Conclusion

Please don’t ignore the signs of chronic stress in your horses (and for yourself and your family).  While we can’t remove all stress, there are things we can do to reduce it with the aim of maintaining or improving health.

We don’t always recognise the stress impact on our health until it results in illness.  By dealing with the stress before there are medical symptoms we can help avoid long term health problems (and associated medical bills).

I recommend reading Jennie Eilerts article on the Causes and Effects of Stress in Horses, where she not only identifies triggers, but also strategies for managing stress.  The link is below in the Articles list.

I’ve also included the link to an article on Cushing’s disease along with a brief article on the stress response published by Harvard Medical.  If you’re still not convinced of the impact of chronic stress on health I suggest you google it and find many articles from reputable sources around the world.  But if you have specific concerns, please consult your veterinarian.

🐴Together - making our horses’ lives better – Yvette

 

Articles:  Here are just a few of the many articles I found that might be of interest.

“Causes and Effects of Stress in Horses” by Jennie Eilerts – 31 May 2019

 “Equine PPID (Cushing’s Disease)” by Dr. Tania Sundra – 17 Jul 2018 

“Understanding the stress response" – Harvard Medical School - 3 April 2024 

 

 Disclaimer:  These are my thoughts and opinions and should not be considered expert or medical advice.  I recommend that you seek professional advice in relation to your horse/s.