Emotional health in working animals

Emotions are essential to help us navigate our world. Emotions impact learning and memory. They help us understand and predict the behaviour of others – fundamental for building the social relationships that are so important to us.  

Positive emotions encourage us to approach resources or people that can be beneficial for us, whilst negative emotions help us to avoid potentially dangerous situations. But if negative emotions are frequent and long-lasting, they can have damaging physical consequences.  

Experiencing positive emotions can have beneficial effects that are thought to ‘undo’ some of the damage.  Positive emotions can also create a wide range of thoughts and behaviours that can help us learn and build new skills, which in turn builds our individual resilience.

Good emotional health is critical, and this is true for animals as well as people. Brooke’s vision for good animal welfare emphasises quality of life, which considers the balance of positive and negative experiences over an animal’s lifetime.  

We see the essential need to have positive experiences and recognise that whilst negative experiences should be minimised, it’s impossible (and even unhealthy) to avoid them completely.  

Resilience describes the process of returning to a positive emotional and physical state when challenged by adversity. 

It requires skills such as problem solving and emotional regulation, and is influenced by factors like genetics, environment, past experiences, and emotional health.  

At Brooke, we work with horses, donkeys, and mules: animals who have rich social and emotional lives and can be extremely resilient. But the working animals we meet are often dysregulated, unable to cope with their environment, and experiencing long term trauma.

We use scientific frameworks to help us understand how different factors influence the emotional wellbeing of animals. 

One example is the Five Domains Model, which explores: 

1. Nutrition  

2. Physical environment 

3. Health 

4. Behavioural Interactions (which covers interactions with the environment, other animals, and people) 

5. Mental State 

We believe that animals feel good about life when they have good health, good nutrition, good housing and husbandry, good relationships with people and other animals, and live in an environment that meets their needs. 

This is not true for the animals Brooke works with. Their main life experience is of negative emotions and negative experiences.  

Many negative events over a lifetime can cause permanent damage to the neural and physiological systems that allow us to cope with stress.  

But the opposite is also true - many positive experiences over time help build resilience, and this is a powerful tool in creating change.  

When we look at a working animal’s daily and lifetime experience, we see that interacting with people – or handling – is one of the most frequent things they experience.  

From the morning routine of feeding and getting ready for work, throughout the working day pulling carts or carrying loads, to the evening rest time, people are a constant presence.  

Each time a horse, donkey, or mule is given an instruction when working, engages with their handler, or even encounters people in their environment, they are interacting.

When animals are handled in a way that causes fear, pain, or confusion, they also experience stress and anxiety.

Over time, this can lead to chronic fear and learned helplessness, a state where the animal feels powerless and unresponsive to their environment.

Inhumane handling can also result in physical injuries, behavioural issues, and a significant decline in overall health and quality of life. But compassionate handling avoids suffering and promotes wellbeing.

It recognises that animals are sentient, understanding their behaviour and how this relates to their emotional state. It builds a clear method of communication between people and animals, making handling interactions positive experiences.

Positive interactions build trust and lead to stronger bonds with people. They give animals choice and control, fostering a sense of security and wellbeing.

An animal that feels safe and understood is more likely to be healthy, cooperative, and content. This means fewer injuries, less anxiety, and a happier life overall – for animals and people.

Positive interactions lead to lasting positive memories, equipping animals with a positive outlook and the skills to make them resilient to future challenges.

Handling with compassion does not cost anything and it can be done anywhere in the world, making it a powerful way to generate good emotional health and improve quality of life for working animals.

Read Brooke’s Guiding Principles for Compassionate Handling (also available in French and Spanish).

Dr Jennifer Wathan has been with Brooke since 2017, with a Psychology PhD in studying the Production and Perception of Facial Expression in Horses, from the University of Sussex.

She leads Brooke's Compassionate Handling project, with expertise in equine behaviour, human-animal interactions and human behaviour change.

Jennifer has co-published a series of academic papers, including a study on the importance of facial expressions in assessing animal welfare.