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Ruet A, Lemarchand J, Parias C, et al. Housing Horses in Individual Boxes Is a Challenge with Regard to Welfare. Animals (Basel). 2019;9(9)doi: 10.3390/ani9090621.
Ruet, A., Lemarchand, J., Parias, C., Mach, N., Moisan, M. P., Foury, A., Briant, C., & Lansade, L. (2019). Housing Horses in Individual Boxes Is a Challenge with Regard to Welfare. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 9(9), . https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9090621
Ruet, Alice, et al. "Housing Horses in Individual Boxes Is a Challenge with Regard to Welfare." Animals : an open access journal from MDPI vol. 9,9 (2019). doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9090621
Ruet A, Lemarchand J, Parias C, Mach N, Moisan MP, Foury A, Briant C, Lansade L. Housing Horses in Individual Boxes Is a Challenge with Regard to Welfare. Animals (Basel). 2019 Aug 28;9(9). doi: 10.3390/ani9090621. PMID: 31466327; PMCID: PMC6770668.
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Animals (Basel). 2019 Aug 28;9(9). doi: 10.3390/ani9090621.

Housing Horses in Individual Boxes Is a Challenge with Regard to Welfare.

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI

Alice Ruet, Julie Lemarchand, Céline Parias, Núria Mach, Marie-Pierre Moisan, Aline Foury, Christine Briant, Léa Lansade

Affiliations

  1. INRA, UMR 85 Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, 37380 Nouzilly, CNRS, UMR 7247, 37380 Nouzilly, Université François Rabelais, 37041 Tours, IFCE, 49411 Saumur, France. [email protected].
  2. INRA, UMR 85 Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, 37380 Nouzilly, CNRS, UMR 7247, 37380 Nouzilly, Université François Rabelais, 37041 Tours, IFCE, 49411 Saumur, France.
  3. INRA, UMR 1313 Génétique Animale et Biologie Intégrative, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas, AgroParisTech, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, Université Paris-Saclay, 91190 Saint-Aubin, France.
  4. INRA, UMR 1286 NutriNeurO, 33076 Bordeaux, Université Bordeaux, 33076 Bordeaux, France.

PMID: 31466327 PMCID: PMC6770668 DOI: 10.3390/ani9090621

Abstract

Horses are mainly housed in individual boxes. This housing system is reported to be highly detrimental with regard to welfare and could trigger the expression of four behavioural indicators of a compromised welfare state: stereotypies, aggressiveness toward humans, unresponsiveness to the environment, and stress-related behaviours. The aim of this study was to identify housing and management factors that could alleviate the detrimental effects of individual boxes on welfare. A total of 187 horses were observed over 50 days by scan sampling. The impact of 12 factors was investigated on the expression of the four behavioural indicators in three different analyses. The results show that the majority of factors tested did not influence the expression of the behavioural indicators. Only three (straw bedding, a window opening onto the external environment, and a reduced quantity of concentrated feed) would have beneficial, although limited, effects. Furthermore, the longer the horses spent in individual boxes, the more likely they were to express unresponsiveness to the environment. To preserve the welfare of horses, it seems necessary to allow free exercise, interactions with conspecifics, and fibre consumption as often as possible, to ensure the satisfaction of the species' behavioural and physiological needs.

Keywords: aggressive behaviour; animal welfare; horse welfare; housing system; individual boxes; stereotypies; stress; unresponsiveness

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