NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY ARCHIVED FILE Archived files are provided for reference purposes only. This file was current when produced, but is no longer maintained and may now be outdated. Content may not appear in full or in its original format. All links external to the document have been deactivated. For additional information, see http://pubs.nal.usda.gov. United States Information Resources on the Care and Department of Agriculture Welfare of Horses AWIC Resource Series No. 36 Agricultural Research November 2006 Service Updates Housing, Husbandry, and Welfare of Horses, 1994 National Agricultural Library Animal Welfare Information Center Compiled and edited by: Cristin Swords Animal Welfare Information Center National Agricultural Library U.S. Department of Agriculture Published by: U. S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service National Agricultural Library Animal Welfare Information Center Beltsville, Maryland 20705 Web site: http://awic.nal.usda.gov Published in cooperation with the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine Web Policies and Important Links Contents Forward About this Document Request Library Materials Horse Welfare by D. Mills, University of Lincoln Equine Welfare Issues in the United States: An Introduction by C.L. Stull, University of California, Davis Bibliography Anesthesia and Analgesia Behavior Environmental Enrichment Housing Law and Legislation Nutrition and Feeding Feeding Methods Feeding Restrictions Age Specific Nutrition Concentrates Roughages Vitamins and Supplements Pasture PMU Ranching Safety Training Transportation Web Resources Forward This information resource came to fruition through the diligence of a student employee at the Animal Welfare Information Center. The document contains a comprehensive bibliography and extensive selection of web site resources. Two papers introducing horse care and welfare issues are also included. Dr. C. Stull of the University of California at Davis presents an overview of equine issues in the United States and Dr. D. Mills of the University of Lincoln gives an introduction to worldwide equine ethics and concerns. Horse welfare issues are coming increasingly to the forefront of animal issues. An economic impact study conduced by Deloitte Consulting LLP for the American Horse Council Foundation in 2005 indicated that there are over 9.2 million horses in the United States with over 4.6 million people involved as horse owners, service providers, employees and volunteers. Over the past few years, the US Congress ha s discussed bills related to the transportation and slaughter of horses as well as the sale of wild free-roaming horses and burros. Additionally, concerns over the production of pregnant mare's urine for hormone replacement therapy (PMU ranching) led to the establishment of groups who placed animals in new homes after ranches were closed. For an overview of the equine ranching industry, see the article PMU Ranching Demonstrates Benefits of Self-Regulation by Norman Luba in the Animal Welfare Information Center Bulletin Vol 10., No. 1-2 (1999). In the United States, the federal Horse Protection Act was first passed in 1972 in order to prohibit painful soring practices and continues to be enforced today. Under the Animal Welfare Act, only horses used in biomedical research, teaching or testing are regulated. The Animal Legal and Historical Center at the Michigan State University College of Law provides a list of federal and state horse related statutes in the United States. Worldwide, many countries perceive horses as pets rather than farm animals. In the United Kingdom (UK), DEFRA provides a gateway to horse issues in government, including links to information on health, breeding, and passports for travel. An overview of international anti-cruelty laws is also provided by the Animal Legal and Historical Center at the Michigan State University College of Law. This document will continue to evolve as new research is conducted and published. It is hoped that this information resource is a starting point for all people who care and work with horses. About this Document This publication updates and expands AWIC's Housing, Husbandry and Welfare of Horses, 1994. The bibliographic chapters are divided into subject areas that cover anesthesia and analgesia, behavior, environmental enrichment, housing, law and legislation, nutrition and feeding, pasture, equine ranching, safety , training and transportation. Citations included in these chapters were published between 1994 and December 2006 and selected from searches conducted using a variety of agricultural, medical and life science databases. In each chapter, the citations are arranged alphabetically according to the last name of the primary author. Web sites specific to each topic area are included at the end of the chapters. Each citation in the bibliographies contains descriptor terms, an abstract when available, and the NAL call number if the particular source is available at the National Agricultural Library (NAL). Visit the NAL web site for information on how to request library materials. Readers are cautioned as to the dynamic nature of the internet and the fact that web addresses and content are subject to change. All sites are current as of April 2008. Return to Contents Return to Top Contact the Animal Welfare Information Center http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/horses/horses.htm April 24, 2008 Animal Welfare Information Center Information Resources on the Care and Welfare of Horses Return to Contents Horse Welfare by Daniel Mills, PhD Department of Biological Sciences University of Lincoln Riseholme Park The scientific assessment of equine welfare has grown markedly over the last decade, but welfare assessment is not an easy task as it is by its very nature multidisciplinary. It is therefore timely for a review of available resources to help all of us interested in improving horse welfare. It is particularly important as there is still no complete consensus on what “welfare” really is, even among welfare scientists. Some will emphasise the importance of health, others, feelings and yet others the ability for an animal to fulfil its natural potential. For some, the feelings of an individual at a given time should be referred to as its well-being, with welfare considering not just the animal’s current feelings but also the threats to its well-being. Thus it might be argued that horses whose work puts them at risk of particular injury, such as limb injury in race horses, have worse welfare than those whose work does not pose such risks. This approach can be useful when considering welfare within the context of populations, but it is important not to forget the individual. Even if the risk is 1 in 10000 for a catastrophic injury, the consequences for that one individual that is injured are disastrous. Some also consider the effort required by an animal to maintain its state of well-being. Thus Broom (1986) defines welfare as the state of an animal with regards to its attempts to cope with its environment. This would imply that a horse kept in an optimal ambient temperature may be thought to have better welfare than one who must devote additional resources to the maintenance of such a temperature. It is therefore important to clarify what an individual means by the term “welfare” especially when one animal’s welfare is said to be better for another. However, a publication like this makes no judgement and allows individuals and groups to access the latest information they need for their purposes. It is sad truth that well-meaning intentions do not always translate into well-being of our charges, and horses are particularly a victim of this. Being kept in quarters that look comfortable to carers may not be most appropriate for horses, who have strong social tendencies and a physiology and psychology adapted to a life feeding on open grasslands. A common criticism of those seeking to assess animal welfare objectively is that we cannot know the mind of another; but this criticism reflects a failure to understand the fundamental principles of the scientific method. Science makes progress through hypotheses which can be tested but which can never be shown to be completely true. In this respect welfare is no different to any other scientific pursuit. All scientific evidence carries with it a degree of uncertainty and we decide what level we are prepared to accept (often a 5% chance level). However these principles are often forgotten by sceptics who, for whatever reason, appear not to want to contemplate what might be happening in the minds of other animals. There is a need for those interested in animal welfare to make clear and defend the scientific basis of their work in order to propose what is possible, realistic and reasonably justifiable. There are many reasons to be interested in horse welfare. From an ethical perspective it might be argued that we have a responsibility to minimise the suffering we cause to other animals with whom we interact either directly or indirectly. From a practical point of view, animals with good welfare might be expected to perform their work more efficiently. From an academic perspective the assessment of animal welfare is also a challenging intellectual task. However, it is not the aim of this publication to argue why we should measure horse welfare or the ethics of what we do to horses, rather it is hoped that to bring together information to help increase awareness of the methods at our disposal for the assessment and management of the welfare of the horse in a broad range of contexts. A practical problem for advances in equine welfare concerns the need for funding in this field. Horses are expensive animals to keep and study; and although they are of enormous economic importance, the industry is fragmented and often poorly represented to governments and other funding bodies as a significant concern, except perhaps for the case of the equine athlete. The welfare research field has largely been driven by concern over whether what we do to animals is acceptable and not purely by the intellectual issues involved.