Behavioral and physiological indicators of stress in horses during an equine-assisted learning program for youth with a history of trauma

Abstract Equine-assisted learning (EAL) is gaining in popularity due to its demonstrated benefits to participants, including increased social-emotional competencies and self-efficacy, and decreased symptoms of depression. Accordingly, EAL is increasingly utilized as a method to build soft skills for people who have a history of trauma and/or who may struggle with emotional regulation. Within the context of equine-assisted services (EAS) broadly, there is some evidence that participants who have trauma and/or emotional dysregulation may cause increased stress to horses when compared to interactions with other types of EAS participants (e.g., participants with cognitive delays, physical disabilities, etc.). It is important to understand the impacts of EAL for individuals with a history of trauma on the well-being of the horse. The purpose of this pilot study was to identify and compare the presence of behavioral and physiological indicators of stress in horses integrated into an EAL program for youth with a history of trauma who struggle with emotional regulation (n = 11) compared to the control condition of an EAL program for young adults with developmental delays (n = 7). Indicators of stress included salivary cortisol, eye temperature, and equine behaviors indicative of stress. We did not find significant differences in the indicators of stress in the horses when interacting with the youth with a history of trauma compared to the control condition (salivary cortisol, p = 0.55; eye temperature, p = 0.39; behavioral indicators of stress, p = 0.81). Contrary to previous findings, we did not find evidence that EAL with youth with a history of trauma increased the stress of the participating horses in comparison to EAL for a different population (young adults with developmental disabilities). Furthermore, we also found that physiological measures of stress were within normal ranges for both the experimental condition and control condition, providing further evidence that EAL does not appear to increase physiological stress in horses beyond normal ranges.