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While great emphasis is put on what happens during training and riding the horse, of equal importance, according to Professor Jan Ladewig of Copenhagen University, Denmark, is the quality of ‘the other 23 hours a day. Ladewig stated that “If we expect horses to perform at a high level, either during competitions, or during general leisure riding…and if we expect them to be safe and easy going to handle and to ride, we must consider the quality of all those hours of the day and night when they are left by themselves, when we are not around”. Ladewig’s presentation focussed on current husbandry methods, the problems associated with them and suggested how changes could be implemented for the betterment of the horse’s welfare.
Current equine
management practices may arise from erroneous information people have about
horses, the horses social structure, and particularly the horse’s needs. Citing
a Swiss study that found 83.5% of horses from 12 different riding schools were
housed individually, Ladewig reported that some horse owners do not allow their
horse to have group turnout, believing that injury is more likely in such
settings. This belief is incongruent with the results of a study showing that
horses in group turnout on pasture suffered no more injuries than horses housed
individually in stalls.
Presenting a photo
of a single horse, rugged and stabled, with the caption ‘Housing horses in this
way is not right!’ Ladewig noted that “Domestication has not removed the basic
social, physiological and psychological needs of the horse, and some management
and living conditions fail to meet these needs for horses. If we are really
concerned about the welfare of riding horses we must get away from individual
housing and change over to group housing”.
Some horse owners
may also think that turnout is unnecessary, believing that horses get all the
exercise they need from being ridden. A 30-year-old research paper stated that
the riding school horses studied received on average 41 minutes of exercise,
six days per week; this contrasts with the results of a more recent (2010)
study showing feral horses travelled an average of 17.9 km per day. Ladewig
suggested that the difference in distances travelled by the horses in those two
studies could explain why many modern horses suffer from health issues such as
obesity.
Studies have shown that
the domesticated horse does not differ substantially from the wild horse, such
as Przewalski's horse - either physically or psychologically. Referring to a
slide showing a band of Przewalski's horses out on the open pusta, Ladewig
commented “Obviously, if we compare this scene with the horse standing in his
box that I showed earlier, and we know that the horses in these two scenes are
pretty much alike, I think we get a strong indication of how wrong our
predominant housing system is”. Horses need physical contact with other horses,
and social isolation prohibits the horse from engaging in mutual grooming,
play, and simply just being near other horses they are bonded with. “Most
domestic animals are social animals. That is almost a requirement for being
domesticated” states Ladewig.
Ladewig also
discussed ways horse owners and managers can meet the species-specific needs of
the horse in a modern world, including: group housing alternatives, paddock and
pasture enrichments (e.g. dirt to roll in, trees and branches to forage on) and
early socialization in mixed sex/age herds.
“I hope I’ve made
it pretty clear that what we need is much more information on how horses are
housed, how much they get out either alone, and with other horses and how much
they are ridden” Ladewig stated, as he implored those attending the ISES
conference to send research students out to acquire much needed data in this
area. http://www.equitationscience.com/announcements/media-release-3
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