By: Larissa Cox. Freedom from hunger, thirst, and malnutrition By ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour Freedom.

WELFARE OF THE HORSE IN THE STABLED

ENVIRONMENT

By: Larissa Cox

Farm Animal Welfare Council’s ‘Five Freedoms’ (FAWC, 1992)

Freedom from hunger, thirst, and malnutrition By ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health

and vigour Freedom from physical and thermal discomfort

By providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area

Freedom from pain, injury, and disease By prevention of rapid diagnosis and treatment

Freedom to express most normal behaviour By providing space, proper facilities and company of the

animal’s own kind Freedom from fear and distress

By ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering

Mills and Clarke (2003) suggest assessing housing and management strategies based on the Five Freedoms which encompass not only physical, but social and emotional welfare.

Freedom from hunger, thirst, and malnutrition

Krzak et al. in 1991 found that wood chewing primarily happens at night as a probable consequence of an empty stomachfrom restricted feeding in stabled environments. Changes in management can impact

water intake. A study by Welford et al. in 1999 found up to a 7% drop in Thoroughbreds as a consequence of changes to care schedule.

http://www.horsebabble.com/images/HorseChewing2.jpg

Freedom from physical and thermal discomfort

Morgan et al. in 1997 showed that horses could comfortably withstand temperatures from -3°C to 37.5°C

Morgan in 1998 found the horse’s thermoneutral zone (heat production = heat loss) was between 5°C and 25°C

Mills and Clarke (2003) emphasize that ventillation should not be compromised to keep a stable warmer in cold temperatures. They offer the solutions of rugging the horse more, or installing quartz heaters.

Freedom from pain, injury, and disease

Respiratory diseases caused by bedding and poor ventilation

Feige et al. in 2002 showed a random population of Swiss horses 54% suffered from a subclinical to moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) caused by hypersensitivity of the respiratory tract to spores of fungi and thermophil actinomyces. 

Causes (Webster et al. 1987; Vandenput et al. 2008):o Poorly maintained beddingo Poor ventilation in facility (American barns < individual stables)o Poor quality hay and straw bedding

Buechner-Maxwell et al. in 2007 examined six normal horses for evidence of airway mucosal inflammation after being stabled for a month, and found no signs of airway disorder.

Freedom to express most normal behaviour

Locomotory behaviour is key aspect of horse’s behaviour. If only exercised when ridden, horse may succumb to strain and related problems and diseases (Minero & Canali, 2008)

Restrained movement and social contact may increase likelihood for developing abnormal behaviours and stereotypies (McGreevy et al., 1995)

Freedom from fear and distress Beerda et al. in 1999 evaluated hormonal and immunological

responses in dogs subjected to social and spatial restriction.o Increased response of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)and

cortisol to corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)o Increased responsiveness of pituitary–adrenal axis to a sudden sound

blast o To investigate: increased urinary catecholamines, increased

lymphocyte proliferation.

Visser et al. in 2008 compared,over 12 weeks, invidual housing for horses (10.5 m2) vs paired housing (48 m2 for two horses) on young horses stabled for the first time. o Depression caused by desensitisation of hypothalamic-pituitary-

adrenal (HPA) axis o Increase in stress-related behaviours like neighing, pawing, nibbling

and snortingo Sudden isolated stabling is stressful to young and naïve horses,

resulting in a high prevalence of stereotypies and abnormal behaviours.

Behavioural Problems Caused by Stress

Lesimple et al. in 2011 looked at the emotional and cognitive abilities in riding school horses correlated with housing conditions.

Horses in boxed housing exhibited “high locomotary patterns” when turned out in an arena, which could correlate to nervousness or flightiness undersaddle. These horses are more likely to behave in an unpredictable and exaserbated manner.

Odber and Bouissou in 1999 discovered that 66.4% of horses sent to slaughter in Italy were because of “behavioural problems”.

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Environmental Enrichment

Involves the practice of increasing the physical, social and temporal complexity of captive environments

Encourages normal behaviour May help animals to cope by increasing

sensory stimulation, muscular and skeletal activity and sense of control.

Usually try to increase complexity of stimuli available from environment

Turn horse out

Locomotory behaviour in horses has positive physical and mental effects and should be taken into consideration when managed. (Mills & Clarke, 2002; Minero & Canali, 2008)

Horses develop less abnormal behaviours and stereotypies when turned out (McGreevy et al., 1995).

Horses in group housing are easier to break in (Rivera et al., 1999).

Foraging enrichment

Enriching the stable environment through the provision of multiple forages to the horse decreased foraging on straw bedding and increased foraging motivation behaviour, which points to increased welfare (Goodwin et al. 2002)

Horses managed on enriched forage diets kept increased foraging behaviour for 7-day trial (Thorne et al. 2005)

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Visual Horizons

Cooper et al. (2000) found that stable design incorporating two or more visual horizons (eg: front and rear views to stable and fields) decreased stereotypic behaviour. It was hypothesized this could increase environmental monitoring or social interaction that are denied by the conventional stable that only has one panal open to the horse.

McAfee et al. (2002) found that the provision of a mirror significantly reduced the incidence of both stereotypic weaving (P<0.001) and nodding (P<0.05) for the 5 weeks of treatment.

Mills and Riezebos (2005) found that a life-size poster of a horse’s head in the stable decreased weaving and nodding. The horse also spent more time alert (p < 0.001), and looking at the poster (p < 0.05).

Stable toys

Henderson and Warant (2001) investigated the foraging device/stable toy, 'The Equiball™’ on effects to abmormal behaviour. They found that the Equiball could contribute to an environment less likely to lead to stereotypic behaviours.

http://www.link.vet.ed.ac.uk/equinescience/images/equiball.jpg

ConclusionsThe stabled environment can have potential to be detrimental to a

horse’s welfare.

Expose animal to a wide variety of stressors Reduces behaviour diversity May increase diseases associated with strain or respiratory

function Animals may use only a limited amount of space in poorly

designed environments Causes increase in abnormal behaviours

To help alleviate stress associated with stabled environment,

Turn horses out, or stable in paired or group housing Provide multiple forages Provide several visual horizons, or mirrors/pictures of conspecifics Provide stable toys

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