Schematic representation of the protocol.

<p>Each horse (10 months old) was subjected to either the environmental enrichment (EE; <i>n</i> = 10) or control treatment (<i>n</i> = 9) for 12 consecutive weeks.</p

Illustration of the top gene network upregulated in the environmentally enriched (A) and control (B) groups.

<p>These data were generated by the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software using the 400 genes differentially expressed at <i>P</i><0.005. The genes marked with a red symbol are from the list of differentially expressed genes, whereas the genes marked with a white symbol are intermediary genes of the network added by the software.</p

Salivary cortisol concentrations in the environmentally enriched and control groups.

<p>Salivary samples were collected 0, 6, and 12 weeks after the beginning of the treatment, in the morning (1000 h) or in the afternoon (1530 h). ***intergroup comparison, Mann–Whitney test, P≤0.001; ⁺⁺intragroup comparison, Wilcoxon tests, P≤0.01.</p

TELiS and oPOSSUM analyses of the genes differentially expressed between the environmentally enriched (EE) and the control groups.

<p>In TELiS analyses, the ratio of transcription factor-binding motif (TFBM) representation (control to EE horses) is shown. In the oPOSSUM analysis, significant over-represented transcription factors in either control or EE animals is shown using the resulting z-score. Differences in transcription factors with a z-score >10 and a Fisher score <0.01 are highly significant.</p