Horses feel as much pain as humans when being whipped, study finds

‘These observations must refresh old assumptions made about the capacity of the ‘thick-skinned’ horse to experience pain in comparison to humans’

The study looked at the “capacity of horse skin to detect pain when directly compared to human skin” (PA)

There is no significant difference in the way humans and horses feel pain when being whipped, according to a landmark new study.

The study, published in the journal Animals and funded by RSPCA Australia, looked at the “capacity of horse skin to detect pain when directly compared to human skin”.

According to co-author Professor Paul McGreevy, it is the first study of its kind in the world. 

Prof McGreevy, a professor at the University of Sydney, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “We were interested in the thickness of the base layer [of the skin], which is called the dermis, and also the outer layer, called the epidermis, and what's important is what lies between those two areas and that's where the nerve endings are found.”

Skin from 10 humans and 20 thoroughbred or thoroughbred-type horses was used to examine the differences in skin structure and nerve supply.  

The study concentrated on the area of the skin on the rump of a horse that is struck most often with whips during a race.

Researchers led by veterinary pathologist Dr Lydia Tong of Australia’s Taronga Conservation Society found that, in the outer pain-detecting layer of skin known as the epidermis, there was “no significant difference between humans and horses in either the concentration of nerve endings … or in the thickness of this layer.”  

They found that while horse skin is thicker overall, this does not insulate them from pain.

The dermis of the horse, found below the epidermis, is significantly thicker than that of humans but while it “may withstand forceful impacts better than human dermis” its thickness “cannot be a significant factor in skin sensitivity”, the study said.

“The part of the skin that is thicker does not insulate [horses] from pain that is generated during a whip strike”, it added.

The study said this indicates horse skin is “virtually indistinguishable from human skin" with respect to pain detection.

“Humans and horses have the equivalent basic anatomic structures to detect pain in the skin”, it said.

“These observations must refresh old assumptions made about the capacity of the ‘thick-skinned’ horse to experience pain in comparison to humans”, researchers concluded.

The Independent has contact the RSPCA for comment.