{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T20:16:53Z","timestamp":1790799413074,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,6]],"date-time":"2020-01-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1578268800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010807","name":"Foreningen KUSTOS af 1881","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["No number"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No number"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010807","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010808","name":"Hesteafgiftsfonden","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["No number"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No number"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010808","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Dyrenes Beskyttelse","award":["No number"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No number"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Recent studies have reported significant alterations in horse physiological and gait parameters when exposed to increased rider weight during moderate to high intensity exercise. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of increased rider weight (+15% and +25% of the regular rider\u2019s bodyweight) on horse behavioral, physiological and gait symmetry parameters during a standard dressage test. Twenty rider-horse equipages performed the same test three times in a randomized, crossover design. Salivary cortisol (SC), heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), behavior and gait symmetry (GS) were measured. SC concentrations increased from baseline (p &lt; 0.001), but there was no significant treatment effect (difference from baseline (ng\/mL): Control: 0.21 \u00b1 0.1; +15%: 0.37 \u00b1 0.1; +25%: 0.45 \u00b1 0.2, p = 0.52). Similarly, there were no overall treatment effects on HR or HRV variables (avg HR across treatments (bpm): 105.3 \u00b1 1.3), nor on GS parameters. There was large individual variation in conflict behavior but no effect of weight treatment. We conclude that increasing the weight of the regular rider by 15% and 25% did not result in significant short-term alterations in the measured parameters. Maximum rider:horse weight ratios were 15\u201323% and the exercise intensity was relatively low; thus the results should not be extrapolated to other weight ratios and exercise intensities.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani10010095","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,6]],"date-time":"2020-01-06T10:34:46Z","timestamp":1578306886000},"page":"95","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Increased Rider Weight Did Not Induce Changes in Behavior and Physiological Parameters in Horses"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0227-0648","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Janne Winther","family":"Christensen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Blichers All\u00e9 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Suzie","family":"Bathellier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Agrocampus Ouest, 65 Rue de Saint-Brieuc, 35042 Rennes, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0575-2765","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marie","family":"Rhodin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7011, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9466-3662","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rupert","family":"Palme","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterin\u00e4rplatz 1, A-1210 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mette","family":"Uldahl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Vejle Hestepraksis, Fasanvej 12, 7120 Vejle Oest, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,1,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1773","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(18)30794-3","article-title":"Determining the worldwide prevalence of obesity","volume":"391","author":"Reilly","year":"2018","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1558","DOI":"10.1017\/S1751731117000568","article-title":"The effect of rider weight and additional weight in Icelandic horses in tolt: Part I. 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