Leaving music on in the Barn

[SuzieQNutter]

[QUOTE=findeight;8802955]
Thats a rather sweeping claim, 100% of horses with music have ulcers therefore music causes ulcers…what’s his theory on the ones living without music with ulcers or those living with music that display no symptoms and scope clean?[/QUOTE]

I am going from memory.

The study was done with horses scoped at a training stable. No ulcers.

Nothing changed but radio turned on and then scoped again. 100% with ulcers.

A high percentage for stabled horses.

A high percentage for race horses.

A much much lower percentage for paddocked horses.

There was a percentage for dressage horses. Naturally horses do not lift their stomachs. Dressage hroses do which causes the acid in the stomach to move.

There was a high percentage for endurance horses. Told to give water with electrolyte paste. The endurance people where giving the paste half way then riding home. By the time they got back a hole had been eaten in the stomach.

Feed on the ground to let saliva run down.

Half a biscuit of lucerne hay (half a flake of alfalfa hay) before riding or floating (travelling) helps. It is a buffer for the acid.

Turn off radios.

[frisky]

My barn plays country music on an old radio 24/7. Drives me crazy and I unplug it when I’m the only one in the barn. I don’t understand why people even think that horses would enjoy listening to a radio in the quiet of the day or in the dark of night. I find it incredibly weird and puzzling. Although I could imagine listening to music while I rode on occasion, but I don’t think I’d like similar music to other people in my barn. I enjoy quiet, but maybe that’s just me.

[OverandOnward]

Just based on observation, I have no doubt that horses can and will adapt to barn music, depending on what music, how loud, how consistent, and how they are introduced to it. They are definitely instinctively spooky about wind and the sound of whitewater or faster-moving streams, because both obscure the sound of predators. In the wild, predators do stake out drinking places for prey. On the other hand, horses are also one of the most trainable and adaptable species. This is a flighty nomadic plains animal that trailers, clips, allows riding on its back, etc.

I was in a large board barn where the boarders regularly had their radios on when they were out (may have to show younger COTH’ers what a radio is ). Back then there was only one local station to listen to throughout the barns! :winkgrin: I noticed many times that the horses working in the arena would be putting their feet down in time to the tempo of the music. Once when longeing the horse I owned then, I noticed him change his trot tempo slightly to be exactly on the beat to Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark. Every time I hear it, I remember that horse trotting along right on the tempo.

Stalled horses who are accustomed to quiet background music seem to be soothed by it, if it is soft and regular in tone and style. But I would think that just periods of a couple of hours at a time is enough. They do appreciate quiet.

My dog thinks hard-rocking hiway-driving music while riding in the SUV is the best ever. He is grinning and excited when the music comes on as we hit the road. He is the cool dog riding shotgun, as far as he’s concerned.

[OverandOnward]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8802106]
short story, but one that coincides with your experience. I used to truck over to an indoor and ride my TB, ‘Spooky’ in their indoor to practice our dressage. He had about as much talent for dressage as a pig has for formal plate-setting, but he was an excellent jumper so made a decent eventer. Anyway, we used to go after hours or close to it (with permission from B/O) so it was always real quiet and lonesome, so I’d pop my iPod playlist into the speakers and have myself a nice, focused ride. Music helps me concentrate.

Anyway it was always the same playlist I called my ‘riding playlist’ which had mixed songs on it mostly R&B, not a lot of angsty stuff. Well I started noticing during one song especially, he’d get really ‘up’ - not spooky up, but moving out and forward up and just really ‘bopped along to the beat’. He didn’t do it with the other songs, so I added it a few more times to the playlist to see if it was just a fluke… it wasn’t. He’d find his little ‘metronome’ and just get very sashay-ish and strut his stuff, and he was not much of a dressage horse but he always seemed to try harder when that song was on. He’d just perk up and I got some of the best rides from him out of that song:

The song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x46GaoCodAQ[/QUOTE]

It has a definite, regular beat that isn’t too fast. I’ve noticed that horses pick up on that very readily. I would bet that he trots and canters in time to the tempo.

[yellowbritches]

I often leave music or NPR on for my pets. Not sure I would be as prone to do it in the barn as I rarely listen to commercial radio and most of my music is on my Spotify account, so my music is mostly where I am! That being said, I have NO DOUBT that horses do like music, and have tastes, just like us. I play a lot of music around my horse, and he definitely makes it known that he prefers certain genres and bands to others (as much as I love Wilco, he’s not much of a fan of some of their stuff, because they have a tendency toward rather harsh drum and guitar solos. He doesn’t mind their more folksy stuff…and the dude is ALL about Queen). Years ago, I had a horse in my barn who would bob his head in time to Lenny Kravitz, particularly “Fly Away.” Music is not just for humans. I do also agree that they probably react to their humans. That’s a no brainer to me.

As for it blocking background noise, playing music while I rode in the early mornings at my old barn was exactly for that reason. We were very close to a local hunt’s kennel and often had the hunt go through. Because I often rode so early, we could hear hounds either out exercising or being fed. My horse, knowing that hounds could mean a party coming through, found their voices distracting. Turning on some Queen or Rolling Stones or whatever dulled it enough to get him focused.

Also, he loves cantering to Bohemian Rhapsody…it would totally be his canter work in a freestyle