This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Training, Behavior, & Conditioning Horses » Behavior and Training » Topics Not Covered Above »
  Discussion on Both natural sun and artificial lighting 24/7
Author Message
Member:
karent

Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008 - 1:12 pm:

My friend Pam Barker (who was a member of HA until recently, all her money is going towards her Natural Horsemanship Certification). She wanted to ask the following question to you training experts out there. I think I will surprise her and give her gift subscription so she can read your comments.

Thanks,

Karen


"I am currently working with a mare for "newbie horse owners". Between daily sunlight and bright yard lighting, the mare and her stablemate (a gelding), is under lights 24/7. I started working with this mare 21 days ago and she acted like the typical unbroke horse (easily excitable, pushy, hyper, etc.). I explained this away with the "this horse has never been handled" reasoning. This past week, I moved the mare to the facility I board at. After being at the new place for a couple of days, the mare settled down amazingly well, too well, I thought. My farrier asked me for assistance with the mare's barn buddy during his regular visit 2 days ago. The gelding (an 8yo 1/2 WB, 1/2 TB) acted the same way as the mare, wired as if on way too much caffeine. I asked if this horse acted like this when the family first adopted him and was told no, that a small child could ride him with no problems.



My question is: Does the 24/7 exposure to light (both daylight and artificial lighting) have a negative effect on a horse's system? I am familiar with manipulating a mare's reproduction cycle with artificial lighting, and would think all this daylight has this mare all screwed up. But what about the gelding? I looked through the Merck Veterinary Manual and did a Google search, but couldn't come up with anything.



I would like to advise the owners about this topic, and have a gut hunch they should reduce the amount of lighting in their yard. But, I couldn't find any hard evidence I could give them to read. Any input would be helpful.

Thanks!"
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 - 9:16 am:

I don't believe it does after all in the far north and far south the horses live in 24 hour light conditions for part of the year and I have not heard of such troubles. We do have members in the far north Alaska, Iceland, and Norway but they rarely post: guys do your mares cycle normally during the days of the midnight sun?
DrO
Member:
freshman

Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 - 11:23 pm:

I have experience with reseach and hospital blood donor horses that live under lights 24/7 without obvious ill-effects. I'm not sure if these would be considered bright--they are halogen--and they are dimmed occasionally, when something thinks to do so, but never turned off completely.

I am unsure how the 24/7 lights affect the mares' heat cycle; these reseach horses generally cycle in and out of the barn and are only inside for a consecutive period of a few weeks or a month or two at most. The blood donors, however, live in the barn 24/7 with turnout for an hour or two during daylight hours. These are geldings, so no way to tell what effect the lights have reproductively. Again, these horses do not seem to suffer an negative effects on their health or mental states. Even with the lights, climate control, and relatively limited exposure to natural light, these guys grow hair and shed appropriately with the seasons.
New Member:
pamb

Posted on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - 11:12 am:

Could you describe their disposition? Are they wired as if on too much caffeine?

One piece of the puzzle I neglected to post is the part that REALLY got me thinking. The owners were concerned the gelding would be "lonely" and asked if I would bring one of my mares to their barn for a couple of days. I agreed, and took my 2.5yo QH project mare over. She's the most easygoing mare of my bunch and is the type that just "goes with the flow". After the 2nd day of being at the "new" barn, she also exhibited the same characteristics as the other 2 horses, which is TOTALLY out of character for her. Again, no change in diet, as I provided my own hay for her feed. I brought her home after 2 days. She wouldn't load in the trailer, scrambled in the trailer on the way home and blew out of the back as soon as I opened the door. For a couple of days, I was back at square one with this mare before she mellowed out. She's still not quite right after 3 days at home, but well on her way to "recovery".

I've received some response from owners who compete at large events that also have lights turned on at night. Several have indicated their horses exhibit similar "wired" type of behaviors as what I've seen.
Member:
elzedor

Posted on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - 12:39 pm:

Hi,

I've been reading this post and remembered something happening in one of my friends barn. They had a problem related to high use of electricity. I don't know how to explain this the right way in english (I'm french) but It happens a lot in Milk farms cause of increase of technology in the farms. My friends horses were in the same barn as the cows and suffered from incoming electricity waves from the ground. All the animals (Horses and Cows)were acting up, during the whole day, they would be kicking, moving fast, reacting a lot and more. My friend told me it increased over the years but this year it was even worst. This problem occurs more during fall and spring when the ground is filled with water. For those who thinks rubber mats would be enough, your wrong they had insulated everything with rubber before moving toward the installation of a special insulator machine which cost them over 20,000$(it's a big farm)

They installed that special machine controlling those electricity waves and after all was installed the Cows and Horses started to behave after that. Every calmed down instantly. They told me the next day, every animal was lying down.

I don't know if this could be related with this issue, but I think it's worth investigating.

Hope this helps
Member:
lhenning

Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - 4:33 pm:

I hesitate to post this because it seems so simple. Have you tried turning off the lights to see if there is any change?
New Member:
pamb

Posted on Thursday, May 8, 2008 - 11:18 am:

The owner will be coming out to the facility where I board on Friday to see his mare's training progress. I plan to make the suggestion about turning off the lights to him at that point.
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC