Good Horse Keeping

Today I want to write about a topic which is close to my heart: Good horse keeping. Unfortunately, I see a lot of bad horse keeping in India but also in Germany at times. So, today I will talk a little bit about a horse’s needs and wants and how we human beings quite often tend to have an anthropomorphic view on horses and give them things we like and want, feeling our needs and comforts are the the same as theirs.

In nature, horses are designed to move with a herd over grassy steps and eating continuously for 16-20 hours a day. Wild horses are part of family groups of different sizes, depending a bit on the availability of food and terrain. In some areas you can see herds of thirty and more horses together, in other parts of the world herds comprise only of five to ten heads. There is usually one stallion with mares and foals. Once male foals reach a certain age, they are driven away by the stallion to form bachelor bands. So being alone is definitely not natural for horses and you will not encounter many single horses in the wild. The only exception are some older stallions who lost their mares to a rival and who might prefer to run solo rather than banding together with other stallions.

In nature, horses don’t have stables, they are outside in the elements, without blankets and they are usually quite well adapted to withstand rain, wind and cold.

In the herd, horses have a highly sophisticated social structure where each horse has a place. Dominant members will put the once lower in the hierarchy firmly into place by body language or even aggression if necessary. Still, horses find safety and comfort in their herd. Being social and sensory animals, they need social interaction with other horses for their physical and mental well-being. And with social interaction I don’t mean being stabled next to each other, but the opportunity to touch and interact with each other. Horses in the wild play with each other and groom each other. Sensory communication is a big part of horses interacting with each other and this cannot be done satisfactory through the bars of a stall.

Same holds true for movement. Horses are animals which are constantly moving and which need movement for self-defense, expression and digestion. 

So, taking locomotion away from horses by confining them to a small stable goes against their nature just as much as isolating them from other horses.

Still, you see so many horses kept in small, confined stalls and spaces for many hours every day or kept isolated from other horses. Some horses, especially in India, never have the opportunity of interacting freely with other horses but are confined alone, maybe in sight of other horses, their entire life. This will make them autistic, unable to communicate with other horses and unable to live the way they naturally would with all problems associated with it. It basically means denying the horse a life as a horse.

Today there is no longer the question whether keeping horses in environments unlike their natural habitat is harmful or not. We have firm evidence based on scientific research, that confining horses and restricting their feeding to a few large meals every day causes neurosis, digestive problems and severe stress in horses.

Horses require the bonding and interaction with other herd members just as they require a more or less constant availability of roughage in order to stay physically and mentally healthy.

Simply housing horses together in separate stalls is not enough same as feeding them three times a day and keeping them without food for hours in-between. It is a way of horse keeping directly opposed to their needs and body structure. Although humans have domesticated the horse thousands of years ago and have selectively bred the horse over almost as long, to suit our needs, the horse today still functions the same way as their wild ancestor. Their digestion and body functions have not changed.

What consequences can we expect if we keep horses confined without enough space to move and without the possibility of interacting with other horses and denying them access to full-time grazing or roughage?

Most horses will sooner or later develop a neurosis and show repetitive and stereotypical behavior such as weaving, pacing or cribbing.

Weaving is a locomotor stereotype in captive animals which have been kept under unnatural circumstances. The animal is tossing his head back and forth or shifts his weight from one leg to the other, swinging his body from side to side. We see this behavior in zoo animals as well as in horses. I was able to observe it among rescued but traumatised sloth bears in a rescue center. No need to explain that it sooner or later damages the hooves and legs of the horse.

Weaving has been connected with high levels of stress and anxiety and a decrease in serotonin levels in the brain. We can deduct that horses who weave, are unhappy and uncomfortable.

Same goes for pacing or cribbing. We know the tiger-in-the-cage-syndrome from zoo animals who live in old-fashioned zoos, not designed with the needs of the animals in mind. Fortunately, modern zoos are usually much better in keeping their animals more naturally than before. Unlike some stables which still keep horses confined in small stalls surrounded by metal bars so that they cannot even touch the horse in the next, let alone interact with him. Also pacing will result in an increased wear and tear of hooves and joints and will in the long run create damage to the horse skeleton structure. For horses it is usually a compensatory behaviour if they don’t have access to a larger space and suffer from lack of movement which is essential to the horse’s digestion.

Another problem is the feeding. We often feed horses like we feed ourselves. Three meals a day and in-between long breaks. As I have already written, in nature, horses feed almost constantly without any longer breaks. As a result, their digestive system has adapted and they produce stomach acid incessantly. Their lower part of the stomach has a protective lining but not the upper part and it is vulnerable to be damaged by the strong acid produced to break up the food which normally is always coming into the stomach in small portions all day long as the horse grazes continuously with only small breaks.

The horse’s stomach is actually fairly small, so it is designed for a steady supply of food but in smaller quantities. When a horse eats grass or hay, it will chew each bit for quite some time, so the eating process is slow and plant material will enter the stomach steadily but never in one big portion. The chewing process also creates saliva which helps in predigesting the food so when it reaches the stomach, it is processed quickly as it is already broken into small bits and pieces and thoroughly mixed with saliva. When the horse grazes it also moves along slowly. This movement stimulates the bowels and helps in moving the food from the stomach through the intestines.

All this means the digestive system is working almost non-stop but it is dealing with a steady intake of small amounts of food.

Chewing and lip movement have a relaxing affect on the horse, so a horse kept in pasture for the best part of the day is normally healthy, comfortable and has little or no stress.

If we look at traditional horse keeping, we quickly come to realize that it is in most cases less than ideal. We keep horses in an anthropomorphic way, believing that the horse’s needs are similar to ours.

We provide horses with stables, confining them in individual rooms with a roof and doors, disregarding their need to socialize and getting their comfort from their interaction with herd members.

We give them a human equivalent of breakfast, lunch and dinner, disregarding their need for constant feeding and grazing. Rather we feed them large meals of grain which are consumed in a short time and put a lot of load on the stomach.

Research has shown that hay takes four times longer to chew than grain. So, a big meal of grain is consumed much faster and it produces a lot less saliva as the horse does not chew it as thoroughly. It reaches the stomach without a thorough pre-digestion through salivation.

Of course, feeding grain may provide nutritional benefits, but it also results in reduced chewing time and a more rapid passage into and through the stomach. It denies the horse the opportunity to slowly graze at leisure or eat roughage to maintain a constant gut fill.

Horses which are kept on a grain diet with very little access to roughage or grazing will often suffer from stomach ulcers or start cribbing. Cribbing is another stable vice and neurotic behavior seen in horses which are confined. The horse bites on a hard object like the stall door or the feeding trough with its incisors, then arches its neck and sucks in air. 

This behavior often is started as an attempt of the horse to produce more salivation in response to increased acidity in the stomach.

Like all stable vices, it quickly turns into obsessive-compulsive behaviour that releases endorphins which gives the horses a pleasurable experience. So, like drugs in people, stable vices are highly addictive and once a horse has started with one, it is difficult to put a stop to it. The horse will develop a dopaminergic super sensitivity and cribbing and other compensatory behaviours will become a way to deal with stress. As releasing dopamine is actually a neurological reward for any animal or human being, horses will eventually derive pleasure from it and it will become an addiction.

The only way of curing stable vices is to completely change of the horse keeping and give the horse a 24-hour turnout and even then the horse might actually fall back on their neurotic behaviour pattern in case of stress. Some of the traumatised bears at the rescue center are showing their neurotic behaviour of weaving even years after their rescue, even though they are kept in large enclosures as close to their natural environment as possible. Same goes for horses. They might keep swallowing air or resume pacing or weaving the minute they are confined in a stall or small enclosure.

Research has shown that confined horses show a much higher rate of behavioral problems and also that their learning is impaired. Horses which have a more natural way of life, which means being pastured with a herd, learn faster and retain things they have learned once, better. They are definitely more comfortable and have less stress than horses which are denied the same.

Another example of anthropomorphism is patting or slapping of a horse on its neck as a reward. Horses might learn to bear this, but they definitely do not perceive it the way it is meant by the rider. Much better is to rub the horse on the mane or on the withers which are the sensitive parts where they “groom” each other in nature.

Horses also have whiskers, the so-called vibrissae on its head, mainly around their eyes and mouth. These are sensatory organs, you could say they are the horse’s finger tips with which they can feel objects around them. They help them decide which stalk of grass or herb they will eat and they also protect their eyes and lips. Cutting or shaving off these whiskers in the name of beauty, takes away a vital organ of our horses and leave them without protection.

We also dress our horses in blankets, sometimes we shave off their winter coat so that they sweat less, reducing the time they need to dry after work. This is purely for our own convenience and does not take the horses’ well-being into consideration.

Blanketing horses inhibits their natural hair growth and is often unnecessary as the horse might not even feel cold. But we do and put a blanket on our horses just because we take our own discomfort as measuring stick and believe if we feel cold, so do our horses.

So, what do all these things have in common? None of them are based on the needs of the horse but on our needs.

And all of them will keep the horse in a state of discomfort and will lead to health problems such as stomach ulcers, neurological problems, soundness issues, skin problems and higher risk of injury.

Sometimes caring too much is the best way to harm our horses as their needs are fundamentally opposite to ours.

If we realize this and use the original environment of the horse and its natural state as a guideline for our horse keeping, always asking ourselves, how do horses live in the wild, we go a long way towards making and keeping our horses happy.

Of course, it is not always possible to create the ideal and original environmental for the horse in our modern world. But we should strive to come as close a possible and even though we might need to compromise on some issues, we should monitor our horses and make sure they are comfortable and can satisfy their needs and wants as much as possible.

The key is education, scientific research and love for the animal. We should continue to gather information and study horses in the wild. We should strive to find and read unbiased studies and look at different ways of horse keeping. The worst argument is “we have always done it like that”. That is usually an excuse to hang on to old and traditional ways of horse keeping which are non-conductive to the horse’s well-being but are based on what is easy and convenient for us.

Today we are in the lucky position that most of us keep horses for leisure and pleasure. Horses are no longer kept as working animals and used very little in essential transportation.

So, while we can afford to build luxurious stables for our horses and have the time to wash them every day, afford expensive hoof and veterinary care, why can’t we keep horses in a more natural and horse friendly way? Horses don’t care for the most beautiful and well-built stable. They would much more prefer a 24-hour turnout with other horses on a big pasture with grass and maybe a place to shelter in case of rain or cold. 

We should always keep that in mind if we have a horse or if we plan to have a horse in the future. After all, only a happy horse is a healthy and relaxed companion.