The other 23 hours

and
The other 23 hours
What does your horse do when you are not
riding? How is he or she housed, inside or outside?
Individually or in a group? Is your horse’s risk of
injury greater from standing in a stall than living
outside with others?
Lisa Ashton, Director of EquiSci, looks at how our
management choices enrich our horses and affect
their welfare.
Reporting from the 9th International Society for
Equitation Science (ISES) conference in Delaware,
USA, where plenary speaker Professor Jan Ladewig,
a Fellow of the International Society for Equitation
Science, focused delegates’ attention on the time
horses spend away from the training arena.
Quality time
Equitation science is not just about studying the welfare of
horses during training. Having healthy, safe and obedient
riding or driving horses means considering and managing the
quality of all the hours of their day and night.
If your horse stands in a yard or stable most, if not all, of the
day while you are not riding or training, he may show play
behaviours when you turn him out and become difficult to
handle. Similarly, if you keep your horse in a non-stimulating
environment, they are much more likely to be frightened when
you ride them or turn them out in a stimulating area, than if
they spend most of their time in a stimulating environment.
“If we expect horses to perform, either at a high competitive
level or just during leisure riding, and if we expect them to be
safe and easy to handle and ride, we must consider the quality
of all those hours of the day when they are left by themselves,”
remarked Professor Ladewig.
So, is it possible to enrich our horses’ existence during the
other 23 hours of the day?
Page 36 • HORSES and PEOPLE • Phone: 07 5467 9796 • admin@horsesandpeople.com.au
and
SCIENCE CORNER
“If we are really concerned about the welfare
of riding horses, getting away from individual
housing and over to group housing is
essential,” explained Professor Ladewig.
Photo by Elke Hartmann, courtesy of ISES
Although we are all taught that horses
are highly social animals that evolved to
wander and graze over vast open spaces,
the domestic environment is often one of
confinement, isolation and intermittent
meals, all of which go against their
psychological and physiological nature.
A modern problem
The unfortunate truth, however, is that
the effects of ridden exercise followed by
the reduced locomotion of 23 hours of
confinement in a small stable or yard, are not
fully understood.
A training arena or an automated horsewalking machine are poor substitutes to the
freedom of moving around in large pastures.
An important question, therefore, is how
much are riding horses actually moving?
While one study recorded that on average,
riding sessions lasted 41 minutes, 6 days a
week, Professor Ladewig urged delegates to
conduct many more studies to help establish
a much clearer picture of how sport and
leisure horses are managed worldwide.
“
If we are really concerned about
the welfare of riding horses, getting
away from individual housing and
over to group housing is essential.
shutterstock.com
continues next page...
It is not enough for horses to see, hear and smell other
horses. Horses need full, unlimited, physical body contact
to be satisfied, as well as the freedom to move, forage and
graze for long periods. Image source: http://homepage.usask.ca
The domestic reality
In a study of over 2,000 Swiss
horses, almost 84% were
individually housed, of which just
36% received daily turnout.
In another study of 445 Danish
horses at 12 riding schools, 25%
were turned out less than three
times a week. Of those regularly
turned out, over 50% were
outside for less than five hours.
Fast Fact
Out of 254 animal-related
human deaths in Australia since
the year 2000, horse-related
activities accounted for 77 deaths
compared to 16 shark-related
deaths, 14 snake-related deaths
and 9 crocodile-related deaths!
www.horsesandpeople.com.au • HORSES and PEOPLE • Page 37
and
“
We know horses
evolved to move
around at a slow
walk while grazing
for twelve or more
hours a day. It cannot
be good for them to
stand still so much.
A recent study compared the locomotion
behaviour patterns of domestic horses
at pasture with feral horses, highlighting
just how wrong today’s predominate
housing systems are, even for horses that
live in fenced pastures.
Feral horses travelled 10 kilometres
more than horses at pasture. Interestingly,
the behaviour repertoires of domestic
horses were the same as those displayed
by the feral horses, the only difference
being the intensity of the behaviours.
Is it any wonder horses, like humans,
are suffering more from obesity? “Too
many horses move around too little,”
remarked Professor Ladewig.
A strong bond
Studies have also shown that it is not
enough for horses to see, hear and smell
other horses, and that horses need full,
unlimited, physical body contact to be
satisfied.
Horses need physical contact for
grooming each other, playing, or just
having a buddy nearby while they are
grazing or resting.
For horses, allo-grooming (the mutual
scratching with their teeth) is not just
about having their backs scratched. Allogrooming is known to have a calming
effect, possibly strengthening the bond
between two individuals. Professor
Ladewig asked why we don’t see it more
often. Is it because today many horses
wear rugs?
Fast Fact
shutterstock.com
Comparison in locomotion of feral vs.
riding horses:
•
•
Feral horses - 17.9kms per day
Riding horses - 7.5kms per day
(Hampson et al., 2010)
Page 38 • HORSES and PEOPLE • Phone: 07 5467 9796 • admin@horsesandpeople.com.au
and
Kerri Afford Photography
SCIENCE CORNER
This makes sense since the preferred
grooming sites are around the
withers, exactly the area that is
covered by rugs and blankets. “We
need some systematic observations
of horse grooming with and without
blankets,” urged Professor Ladewig.
Time saving and convenience,
but at what cost?
However, it is not just keeping
horses warm and dry that drives
owners to keep their horses covered.
“Many horse owners put on blankets
not so much to protect their horse
from the elements, but so they don’t
get dirty and they don’t have to
spend so much time cleaning!” said
Professor Ladewig, as he pressed
delegates to research the effects rugs
have on grooming, rolling and other
natural behaviours.
“
shutterstock.com
We do not even know why horses
roll. Is it to scratch bites from
insects? Get rid of loose hair? Or roll
when wet from sweat or rain? We all
have our theories, but they are yet to
be tested. A Japanese study showed
horses prefer to roll in dirt rather
than sand and straw. But, if the dirt
is wet and muddy...!
Allo-grooming is
not just about back
scratching, it is known
to have a calming effect,
possibly strengthening
the bond between
two individuals.
Want to enrich your horse’s life the other 23 hours but don’t know where to start? Go online now to read the article series
‘A horse is a horse’ by Mariette van den Berg at: http://www.horsesandpeople.com.au/article/horse-horse
www.horsesandpeople.com.au • HORSES and PEOPLE • Page 39
and
Equitation Science international
Australian researchers studying
the importance of a varied diet
Understand the
science, application and
ethics of horse training
Online and residential courses
for owners, riders, coaches, trainers, parents and anyone
interested in horses and optimising horse training and welfare
Discover more at www.aebc.com.au
or phone (03) 5787 1374
Equine nutrition consultant, PhD candidate and regular
contributor to Horses and People Magazine, Mariette van den
Berg, is aiming to improve our understanding of the effect of
forage variety in the diet of horses.
“Although we know horses evolved as grazing and browsing
herbivores spending up to 18 hours per day selectively foraging
on a wide range of vegetation, the supplementation of a variety
of forages is generally overlooked,” says Mariette. “Modern horses
commonly receive infrequent, cereal-based concentrate diets
with limited forage and little, if any, variation. It is not known
how this is impacting their foraging behaviour and welfare.”
“Only limited research has been done that investigated forage
variety to support adaptive behaviour in horses (behaviour that
helps the animal successfully adapt to its situation). Forage
enrichment has been primarily studied in stabled horses, and
this allows for more research in those managed on pastured
paddocks. In addition, little work has been done to investigate
the effect of forage variety on food intake, and the time budget
of domesticated horses.”
“My PhD project is focussing on the preferences of a varied diet
(multiple choice and novel foods), and how this is affected by
the nutritional and physiological status of horses,” says Mariette.
The project, which is being conducted at the University of New
England, New South Wales, includes a series of investigations to
specifically address the following objectives:
• A literature study will focus on adaptive foraging behaviour,
biological bases of varied diet and post-ingestive feedback
mechanisms, as well as diet selection and preferences in
horses. It will highlight forage enrichment, as an aid to
promote adaptive behaviour and address welfare concerns in
domesticated horses.
•STRESS
•ITCH
•NON
TOXIC
FREE
•CHEMICAL
Keeps your horses, ponies and foals... Happily Grazing
• An industry survey will identify current management
practices and foraging behaviour of pastured horses in
Australia. Browsing behaviour has been predominantly
recorded in free-roaming horse populations and the results
of this survey will provide more insight into foraging and
browsing behaviour in domestic horses (focussing on
Australian vegetation).
• A preliminary animal study will look at how energy intake
levels influence selection of familiar versus novel forages.
The aim being to review if the nutritional and physiological
conditions of the animal will reflect their motivation to ingest
novel forages.
“The preliminary results,” explains Mariette, “highlight that food
variety and its effect on diet selection is rather complex, and
that learning plays an important role in foraging habits. The
future direction of this PhD project could lead to investigating
cognitive experiences or physiological (post-ingestive feedback)
mechanisms.” Page 40 • HORSES and PEOPLE • Phone: 07 5467 9796 • admin@horsesandpeople.com.au
shutterstock.com
Being socially successful
and
SCIENCE CORNER
We know horse’s are sociable and we also know horses
need to be with other horses. Despite this fact, and as
Professor Ladewig explained, many aspects of living
together peacefully must be learned.
“Learning about social communication occurs during
the process known as socialisation, but how it actually
comes about we know surprisingly little. What
conditions stimulate the best results?” asked Professor
Ladewig.
One thing we do know is you need to start early.
Raising young horses in homogenous peer groups often
separated by age and sex, as practiced in most large
breeding stud farms, does not stimulate the kind of
socialisation that is needed for horses to easily adapt to a
loose group housing system.
Playing is learning
An important part of socialisation is learning to deal with
unfriendly and competitive situations. Whether it is play
or serious aggression, Professor Ladewig explained a lot
of learning happens in these interactions. s
A video of two stallions was played during the plenary,
with Professor Ladewig quizzing delegates: “Were they
playing or fighting?” Maybe they started by playing and
it turned into fighting or it was the other way around.
Either way, both horses were learning. Learning not to
get kicked by the opponent, and learning to deal with
the competitive aspect.
“
Horses of all ages (and
especially young ones),
should be exposed to
competition and conflict
situations so they can
learn to solve problems
in a non-aggressive way.
continues next page...
Socialisation is a learned process.
Foals and young horses must be
kept in mixed groups to learn all
aspects of social communication.
shutterstock.com
“
www.horsesandpeople.com.au • HORSES and PEOPLE • Page 41
and
Facing up to the challenge
Problems with individual housing:
•
•
•
•
•
No possibility for social contact
No possibility for grooming
Poor air quality
Un-physiological patterns of locomotion
Un-physiological eating pattern
Alternatives to individual housing:
•
•
•
•
Loose housing
Group housing
Access to the outside (the larger the group the bigger
the area required).
Environmental enrichment:
Foraging enrichment
Dry soil for rolling
Trees, branches, or wood to chew
Loose and group housing requires horse owners to have a
better understanding of horse behaviour and knowledge
of each individual horse.
We Want
YOU!
Have you embraced a group housing
philosophy for your horses, whether it is
outdoors 24/7 or part-time indoors and
outdoors?
Horses and People want to hear from you and your experiences
in moving horses away from stables and individual paddocks to
creating groups - whether it worked or it didn’t!
Please email the editor@horsesandpeople.com.au
Notably, whilst the stallions were ‘socialising’, curiosity was
stimulated in the nearby young horses. Professor Ladewig
clarified, even though we don’t know what type of learning
is happening all of the time, we should focus horse owners
on how to enrich their horse’s environment, and how to
encourage learning to resolve conflict in a non-aggressive way.
Reduced aggression
Studies on pigs, egg-laying hens and cattle have shown that,
contrary to expectation, keeping animals in large groups
reduces aggression between group members.
In a recent study that was also presented at this conference, a
Dutch team of equitation scientists assessed the welfare effects
of increasing roughage-feeding frequency from 3 to 6 times a
day amongst 47 group-housed riding school horses.
A large automatic feeding system moved in between the horses
and distributed roughage over large feeding troughs. The bites
and total aggression frequency before feeding time decreased
significantly, compared with feeding three times a day.
Interestingly, horses spent more time resting and less time
feeding, whilst each horse’s body condition score remained
the same. This new automatic feeding system made it possible
to increase roughage frequency in group-housed horses,
providing horses with more control over their environment.
Stress and controllability
If you have control over your situation, you are much more
resistant to stressors. Professor Ladewig explained a very
important aspect of group housing - horses deciding for
themselves. Animals which have a much better chance to
decide for themselves have much more controllability.
“
Image courtesy of HIT Hinrichs Innovation & Technik GmbH
We need more studies to show the
effect rugs have on behaviours like
rolling and allo-grooming.
Page 42 • HORSES and PEOPLE • Phone: 07 5467 9796 • admin@horsesandpeople.com.au
Solving problems
Equitation science needs to investigate and identify the best
environments for horses. Maybe we need to teach horses to
eat peacefully together? Or gradually train them to be close
together for short periods in small enclosures, just as we
progressively train them to be separated.
“One thing is clear - we need more studies,” said Professor
Ladewig. “Keeping your horse in a barren paddock or in a
paddock with nothing but grass is just not good enough. Horses
need environmental enrichment - social contact, trees to stand
under, bushes to hide behind and places to roll, besides food.”
Horse-centred housing
Understanding the effects of group housing is a challenge
for equitation science. Some of the questions that deserve
evidence-based answers are:
•
•
•
What is the optimal group composition?
What about the costs of building a group housing system,
compared to building and running a conventional system?
What are the challenges facing horse owners?
and
Professor Ladewig’s thought-provoking plenary got me
questioning why horse owners would measure their love
by the number of layers and grams of rug filling. Have
we forgotten horses know how to be horses? What is
fuelling such unnatural husbandry practices? In the UK, as
in Australia, we go as far as promoting and celebrating
establishments who offer isolated stabling and individual
turnout for our animals. Are we one step away from fitting
radiators in stables?
Amidst the deluge of ‘armchair experts’ that stalk internet
forums, it seems difficult to access evidence and welfarebased knowledge. Can the click of a button result in horses
experiencing less than optimal practices? And should pony
clubs, riding clubs and federations be placing the spotlight
on evidence-based education?
The International Society for Equitation Science has launched
a new initiative to provide owners with an online hub of
easy-to-access educational and evidence-based resources.
Just like nutrition and training, environmental enrichment
should be an essential part of responsible horse management.
As Professor Ladewig so frankly put it: “Equitation science is
not just about sitting on the back of the horse.”
shutterstock.com
It seems success of a horse-centred housing system demands
more of us, the horses’ caretakers. Professor Ladewig explained
group housing demands better knowledge of horse behaviour
and knowledge of each individual horse. As Professor Ladewig
remarked: “Changing to group housing may solve some of the
problems we have with horses, but it will probably result in
other problems arising.”
“
Keeping your horse in a barren
paddock or in a paddock with
nothing but grass is also not
good enough. Horses need
environmental enrichment.
and
With the prevalence of stomach ulcers in horses increasing,
Professor Ladewig questioned how much is due to stress and
housing: “We need further studies to tell us what current
housing systems are doing to our horses”.
SCIENCE CORNER
About the Author: Lisa Ashton, BA (Hons), PGCE, MBA, ESI Associate Diploma, BHS II, Pony Club A’ Test holds the
Equitation Science International Certificate and tutors students from around the world studying Equitation Science
International Qualifications, awarded by the Australian Equine Behaviour Centre. In 2011, she developed EquiSci to help
horses by educating riders, trainers, coaches and veterinarians in understanding and correctly applying the science of how
horses learn and its impact on horse training. For more information, visit www.equitationscience.co.uk
www.horsesandpeople.com.au • HORSES and PEOPLE • Page 43
and
WIN GIDGEE EYES SUNGLASSES
The best for your horse
December 2013
January 2014
3!
T
R
PA
PILATES
for horses
TRAKEHNERS
Training tips for
A Good Stop
HEAT STRESS
Protect your horse this summer
Ocular Diseases
Plus, how your horse sees the world
shutterstock.com/anakondasp
23 HOURS
What does your horse do
when you are not riding?
more inside..