Behavioral Assessment of Equine Relaxation Following Manual Therapy: A Pilot Study

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the relaxation, stress reduction and behavioral changes observed after manual therapy applied to horses exposed to racing and physical training stimulus. This descriptive approach is aimed at veterinary clinicians to evaluate the therapy process more effectively with behavioral feedback. For this purpose, the study was conducted in two different equestrian clubs in Adana (Adana Mediterranean and Suvari Equestrian Clubs) between 2023 and 2024. A total of 32 racehorses (16 Thoroughbred, 16 Arabian; 16 female, 16 male) of different ages, genders and breeds were included in the study. Five minutes of manual therapy was applied for each of 7 different muscle groups. After the massage, behavioral observations were made for 10 min by moving 2 m away from the animals, and no separate baseline assessment was performed prior to the intervention. The application was carried out by a veterinarian with 15 years of experience. Importantly, no separate baseline assessment or control group was performed, and only behavioral responses were evaluated, which represents a major limitation of this pilot study. Among the observed behaviors in all horses, blinking, muscle twitching, respiratory changes, lip relaxation, licking and chewing were recorded for all horses. Relaxation signs such as head dropping (78.1%), yawning (34.4%), and ears falling to the side (62.5%) were frequently observed. Behaviors such as the appearance of the third eyelid (3.1%), grunting (12.5%) and sneezing (15.6%) were observed at a low percentage. Individual variables such as gender and breed did not have a statistically significant effect on the percentage of behavior (Chi-square test, p > 0.05). In conclusion, these preliminary findings suggest that manual therapy applications might be effective in reducing stress by triggering relaxation behaviors in riding horses, as these behaviors have been previously reported in the literature as reliable indicators of relaxation. Evaluation of behavioral responses after massage could be an important tool in determining physiotherapeutic effects. The fact that the application is performed by experienced people is an important factor that increases the success of the therapy and shows that manual therapy provides relaxation regardless of individual differences. Future controlled studies integrating physiological stress biomarkers are warranted to confirm these observations.