ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Behavior and Welfare
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1647236
Road transportation is associated with decreased intestinal motility in horses
Provisionally accepted
- 1Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
- 2The University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- 3Charles Sturt University, Albury, Australia
- 4The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
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Transportation of horses has been associated with colic and changes to the gastrointestinal microbiome. Percutaneous abdominal ultrasonography using hand-held, point-of-care transducers can be used to assess gastrointestinal motility in field settings. The current study was designed to characterize intestinal motility and salivary cortisol responses of horses with diverse signalment and transport histories completing commercial transportation of 10-12h. Clinical parameters, including sonographic assessment of intestinal motility, were collected before departure (Tpre), after offloading (T1) and 2h after arrival (T2) in a prospective study of 30 horses. After transportation, intestinal motility grades were reduced (Tpre median (IQR) composite motility grade: 8 (7-10), T1: 6 (4-7), T2: 7 (6-7); P<0.001) and qualitative changes were observed in small intestinal sonographic appearance. High ambient temperatures during transport were associated with reduced intestinal motility at T1 (composite motility grade vs arrival temperature rs -0.45, P=0.017) and T2 (cecal motility grade vs arrival temperature rs -0.74, P<0.001). Horses with high heart rates, high sweat scores or abnormal demeanour on arrival demonstrated decreased intestinal motility. Salivary cortisol concentrations increased after transportation (mean difference, 95% CI, for T0 vs T1 was 1.66, 1.09-2.53 nmol/L) and were inversely associated with intestinal motility. Signalment and past travel history were not predictive of intestinal motility, but horses with no prior travel history or unknown (mean 12.8, nmol/L) had higher cortisol concentrations prior to departure than horses known to have travelled previously (7.9, 5.8-9.9 nmol/L, P=0.023). These findings suggest that transportation is associated with transient reductions in intestinal motility, particularly during hot ambient conditions and in horses with increased cortisol response. Possible effects of provision of water and food during transport warrant further investigation.
Keywords: transport, Equine, gastrointestinal physiology, Health, welfare, cortisol, stress, Ultrasonography
Received: 15 Jun 2025; Accepted: 22 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lee Raidal, Freccero, Carstens, Weaver and Padalino. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sharanne Lee Lee Raidal, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
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