Classical Music Could Help Your Horse De-stress

By Leslie Potter

Researchers in France tested horses in stressful situations to see if music would soothe their mood.

What’s a road trip without music? The right tunes can make the miles fly by and turn a stressful commute into a more pleasant experience. Your horse might agree.

Research out of Université de Caen-Basse Normandie in France suggests that playing classical music has a stress-reducing effect on horses in some situations. According to an abstract published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, the relaxing effect of music has been shown in several other animal species, and the researchers sought to determine if it would work on horses.

The 24 horses used for the study were tested in two common and potentially stressful situations for horses: short-term transport in a trailer and farrier work. Each horse was tested three different ways: with classical music diffusion playing through an in-ear device; "sound attenuation,” where ear plugs were used to reduce all sound; and a control test with no sound alteration.