Effects of playing classical music on behavior of stabled horses https://doi.org/10.12982/VIS.2021.023
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Abstract
The potential benefits of music on animals might be through auditory enrichment which modifies the behavior of animals. Our preliminary study focused on using classical music for stabled horses which had stereotypic behaviors. The study was to investigate the effects of playing classical music on the general behaviors of stabled horses (n=4, performed stereotypies) in 5 periods. The 1st period was a 3-day control period during which no music was played. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods were 3-day periods of music. The 5th period was for 3 days when no music was played. During the days the classical music was played from 9:00 to 14:00. The behavior of horses was observed from 9:00 to 19:00. The results showed that the frequency of ingestion (P=0.003) and standing alert (P=0.004) during 10 hours observation were affected when music was played. When the periods of music increased, the frequency of ingestion increased. Meanwhile, there was a tendency for the frequency of standing alert to decrease, however, there was no difference in (P>0.05) between the different phases of music. The frequency of standing alert before the period of music was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of the period after music. The frequencies of the total stereotypies (P=0.05) in 10-hours observation were affected by the periods of music. In conclusion, the classical music seems to keep the horse more relax according to the behavior results. The total number of stereotypies was reduced when classical music was played.
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