Does a self-loading positive reinforcement-based training improve loading procedures in meat horses?

Self-loading techniques are proven to reduce the likelihood of sport horses to show behavioural problems and the need of human intervention (e.g. using aids to load the horse) at loading, consequently reducing time needed and decreasing injuries occurrence both to horses and handlers. Horses kept for meat production are generally transported to the slaughterhouse without any training. It was hypothesized that self-loading training would reduce stress-related behaviours and human intervention needed during loading. Thirty-two meat horses (M=18; F=14; 6 months-old) were included in the study. Animals had limited interactions with the farmer and were not used to be restrained, conducted with a lead rope nor transported. Horses were randomly divided in two groups: Control Group (C; N=14) and Training Group (T; N=18). T horses were trained to self-load, applying a targeting training following a shaping process. Training sessions were performed three times a week (9:30-13:30 and 14:30-16:30), for six weeks; training was then repeated once a week to maintain the memory until the transport toward a slaughterhouse. The loading phase was video-recorded and loading time was directly recorded using a stopwatch. All horses were transported to the slaughterhouse in fourteen different days using the same tuck. Behaviour was then analysed, using Solomon Coder software, with a focal animal continuous recording method. T horses required a shorter loading time (mean 44.44±47.58 sec) than C horses (mean 463.09±918.19 sec) (T test; p<0.05) and needed less human intervention to load (T: mean 2.28±1.70; C: mean 11.86±23.45. T test; p<0.1); T horses also showed more forward locomotion towards the truck than C horses (T test; p<0.05). Although not statistically significant, stress-related behaviours (e.g. rear, kick, mount, paw, defecate) were showed mainly by C horses. Our preliminary results suggest that self-loading training may be useful to improve loading procedures in meat horses, mitigating stress behaviours, reducing time needed and decreasing the need of human intervention for loading.