Newsdate: Fri 12 June 2015 - 07:25 am
Location: NOTTINGHAM, England

A cozy and safe stall, packed with hay might seem like an ideal equine home, but researchers have found that horses do not like being on their own and become stressed when kept in isolation.

Satisfying a horse's need for company

Inadequate housing design potentially causes stress and negative consequences on the health and well being of horses, but it can be easily addressed by introducing more windows or shared areas where horses can see each other.

Traditionally stables are divided into single units of around 25ft to 42ft squared where animals often cannot see their neighbours in adjacent stalls. Scientists discovered that horses who were housed individually with little or no contact with other animals showed significant signs of stress.

Kelly Yarnell, an expert in equine welfare at Nottingham Trent University notes that “To the human eye the stable appears safe and inviting and is based on the belief of what the horse finds comfortable.

“However, for a social animal that spends most of its time in close contact with other horses, the isolation brought about by single housing could activate an equine stress response."

“Inadequate housing design potentially causes stress and negative consequences on the health and well being of horses – despite the fact it can be easily addressed by introducing more windows or shared areas for instance."

“Group housing provides horses with an environment where they are able to display natural behavior, and contact with other horses improves overall welfare.”

In the closing chapters of Black Beauty, the titular horse reminisces about being back in the ‘orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old friends under the apple-trees, and it appears that Anna Sewell was right to realize that horses need company and space as much as humans.

Researchers measured levels of the animal stress hormone corticosterone in horses who were kept in a variety of different environments, ranging from traditional single stalls to communal paddocks.

They found that the animals became more stressed and increasingly difficult to handle the more isolated they became. Significant levels of stress has been shown to lead to disease.

In the wild, horses form harem bands that are typically comprised of mares and their foals, yearlings and one stallion. They roam areas of up to 30 square miles.

But most domestic horses are confined to box stalls where they are kept for large parts of the day. Stable owners claim that the traditional design prevents injury and protects animals from the dangers faced by wild horses such as predators predation, hunger, thirst and some diseases.

But the new study argues that horses are healthiest and happiest in the paddock, and stables are a reflection of what humans would find comfortable, not animals.

Housing for horses should provide sufficient opportunity for movement and a variety of stimulating activities. Social contact between horses should be maximized, with horses being kept in groups whenever possible.

In fact, horses develop stereotypies also known as stable vices when confined for long periods of time. These repetitive behaviors involving locomotion are seen as abnormal and indicative of welfare problems for the horse displaying them.

These stereotypic behaviors are often seen as safety valves that allow the horse to survive stressful conditions. Horses that live in circumstances similar to those of animals in the wild seldom, if ever, develop stereotypies.

“Group housing provides horses with an environment where they are able to display natural behavior and allows contact, improving overall welfare,” added Ms Yarnell.

“The behavioral and physiological findings during this study imply that the social housing designs were less aversive than the single housing design and provided an improved standard of equine welfare.”