TY - JOUR
T1 - Stable design influences relaxation and affiliative behavior in horses during short isolation bouts
AU - Borthwick, Emily J.
AU - Preshaw, Liane
AU - Wheeler-Launder, Charlotte
AU - Challinor, Chloe
AU - Housby-Skeggs, Nicola
AU - Boalch, Esther
AU - Brown, Sarah
AU - Pearson, Gemma
N1 - Funding Information:
SMB gratefully acknowledges the Roslin Institute strategic grant funding from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/P013759/1). The Horse Trust kindly provided access to their herd and staff time to allow this research to be conducted. For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a CC-BY public copyright license to any author accepted manuscript version arising from this submission.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
PY - 2023/11
Y1 - 2023/11
N2 - Domesticated horses are often housed in individual stables for long periods where physical contact with conspecifics is not possible. Although common, this form of stable design is known to be detrimental to horse welfare. This study investigated the impact of short-term stabling (1-hour bouts) on behavioral expression using three stable conditions: a full wall, a barred window wall, and a half wall between paired horses in a within-subjects design study (N = 18). A mixed model (restricted maximum likelihood) was used to account for both stable condition and individual horse within the model. Behaviors influenced by stable design were those relating to vigilance and social affiliation. Horses spent a greater proportion of the observation time standing alert when in the full wall stable compared to the half wall stable (P = 0.009). The opposite is true of time spent standing and resting (P < 0.001). Compared to the window wall alone, horses in the half wall stable performed significantly more contact-seeking behaviors (P = 0.021). Horse owners often perceive stable design unimportant if only used for short periods of time, with the majority of their time budget spent at pasture with conspecifics. These results indicate that, even during short bouts of stabling, horses were more relaxed when stable design allowed them to engage in social behaviors with conspecifics and more vigilant when stable design left them physically isolated from conspecifics.
AB - Domesticated horses are often housed in individual stables for long periods where physical contact with conspecifics is not possible. Although common, this form of stable design is known to be detrimental to horse welfare. This study investigated the impact of short-term stabling (1-hour bouts) on behavioral expression using three stable conditions: a full wall, a barred window wall, and a half wall between paired horses in a within-subjects design study (N = 18). A mixed model (restricted maximum likelihood) was used to account for both stable condition and individual horse within the model. Behaviors influenced by stable design were those relating to vigilance and social affiliation. Horses spent a greater proportion of the observation time standing alert when in the full wall stable compared to the half wall stable (P = 0.009). The opposite is true of time spent standing and resting (P < 0.001). Compared to the window wall alone, horses in the half wall stable performed significantly more contact-seeking behaviors (P = 0.021). Horse owners often perceive stable design unimportant if only used for short periods of time, with the majority of their time budget spent at pasture with conspecifics. These results indicate that, even during short bouts of stabling, horses were more relaxed when stable design allowed them to engage in social behaviors with conspecifics and more vigilant when stable design left them physically isolated from conspecifics.
KW - Horse
KW - Behavior
KW - Social
KW - Housing
KW - Stable
KW - Management
U2 - 10.1016/j.jveb.2023.10.003
DO - 10.1016/j.jveb.2023.10.003
M3 - Article
SN - 1558-7878
VL - 69-70
SP - 1
EP - 7
JO - Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research
JF - Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research
ER -