Management of horses showing stereotypic behaviour, owner perception and the implications for welfare

Abstract

A telephone survey was conducted of 100 racing stables, 100 riding schools and 100 competition establishments (8,427 horses in total) to determine what management practices were being applied to horses showing stereotypic behaviour, and to determine the underlying reasons for them by assessing the perceptions and opinions of the people working with the horses. The results indicated that horse owners are concerned about stereotypic behaviour, first, because it reduces the performance of the animal (31, 30 and 27 per cent of the owners of racing stables, riding schools and competition establishments respectively), secondly, because it has adverse clinical effects on the horse (52, 55 and 56 per cent), and thirdly, because it reduces the monetary value of the animal (45, 59 and 31 per cent). The belief that these behaviours are learnt or copied also affects the management of affected horses: they are not allowed on to the premises by 4, 32 and 17 per cent of owners of racing stables, riding schools and competition establishments, respectively; attempts are made to remove the causal factors of the stereotypy by 35, 43 and 36 per cent; the behaviours are physically prevented by 77, 67 and 79 per cent, and the affected horses are kept separate from other horses by 39, 30 and 48 per cent.

Effects of environmental factors on cribbing activity by horses

“…Ninguna de estas conductas se ha observado en caballos de vida libre (3), por lo que su presencia se considera indicativa de un problema de bienestar (4). Entre las consecuencias asociadas a las estereotipias clásicas están algunos problemas de salud (2,5-9), la disminución del peso o de la condición corporal (2,9) y la del valor comercial de los caballos afectados (7,10,11). En caballos fina sangre de carrera (FSC) se han realizado varios estudios de prevalencia y factores de riesgo asociados a estas estereotipias (5,(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18); sin embargo, dentro de los factores de riesgo, el género y la edad han mostrado resultados contradictorios en los estudios realizados en FSC (14,17).…”

Differences in social behaviour between late pregnant, post-partum and barren mares in a herd of Icelandic horses

“…In principle, abnormal behaviours could be prevented or ameliorated by the adoption of more ''natural'' husbandry systems, such as keeping mares and geldings in groups rather than individually. However, while group housing systems provide extensive opportunities for social contact and free locomotion (McGreevy, 1997;Lebelt, 1998;Mcbride and Long, 2001), imposed and unstable social grouping can lead to problems such as extreme submission and/or aggression possibly leading to injury (Kolter, 1984;Zeitlerfeicht, 1996;Zeitler-Feicht and Prantner, 2000;Bachmann and Stauffacher, 2002;Mills and Clark, 2002). However, these domesticated groups still differ markedly from the natural forms of social organisation, namely harems, multiple male bands or bachelor bands, described in the literature (Klingel, 1975, Linklater, 2000.…”

A preliminary investigation into the effect of ad libitum or restricted hay with or without Horslyx on the intake and switching behaviour of normal and crib biting horses

“…The negative health aspects of stereotypies is further demonstrated by the fact that equine veterinary examinations class stereotypic behaviours as vices, leading to financial depreciation of the animal by up to 50% (McBride and Long, 2001). From the perspective of training and performance (Parker et al, 2009) reported that cribbiting horses demonstrated a bias towards habitual responding in a two choice Tolmans maze.…”