Lighting may play just a miniscule part in reducing stress on your horse during loading.
A study conducted at the University of Queensland, Australia, investigated the influence of lighting conditions on the horse’s response to loading.
The researchers studied eight yearlings, which had previously been trained to load calmly. Two 500-watt lights were used – one inside the trailer and one in the arena.
Although neither the time taken to load nor the heart-rate were affected by different lighting conditions, the horses were more likely to turn away from the trailer or sniff the ground than when loaded from a well-lit arena into a dark trailer.
