Hi All,
Welcome to topic 1 for 624EHS - Contemporary Issues in Equine Science.
This topic is all about the welfare of the performance horse and the issues associated with it. You are required to contribute to blogs as part of your CW3 assessment (DL students), however this first one will be used as a mock to ensure you understand fully, what is expected. All students have from now until 09:00 am on Friday 21st of October 2022 to contribute to this blog, to debate the issues surrounding the welfare of the performance horse. Ensure you can also evidence your opinions and remember that you are also required to submit a reference list (word document emailed to module leader) by 09:00 am on Friday 21st of October 2022. You will be graded on the quality and quantity of both your blog contributions and your reference list. Remember, the point of this is to debate the issues, so you should be replying to each other's posts. I will be keeping an eye on the blog, but if you have any issues, you should email me. Please remember to register your name with your comments so that I know who has contributed with which comment.
Rosa
Jaymee : Hello
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ReplyDeleteNot sure if we are starting this now but thought I would add a few things to get started.
I think one of the main issues within the industry is the increasing amount of horses being overweight / obese.
There also seems to be an acceptance to have ‘show’ horses on the more ‘well conditioned side’ which is in turn getting the ribbons out and about.
I think there is an issue with owners being able to identify issues with body condition and recognise when a horse is overweight.
Morrison et al, 2017 carried out a survey which found that leisure horse owners have an inability to correctly identify obese / overweight horses and that they considered it appropriate that horses intended for the show ring should carry more weight. These respondents also found it difficult to distinguish between breeds and types.
There are health implications for the horse with their growing size, Laminitis, equine metabolic syndrome, Insulin dis-regulation etc... Which are mainly caused by an inappropriate diet and lack of exercise (Marycz et al, 2019).
It is concerning for the leisure horse welfare, usually ‘good doers’ who are more likely to be obese (Robin et al, 2014), they get exercised less compared to competition horses (Dittmann et al, 2020) and seem to be kept for pleasure rather than for their physical ability to work or compete (Furtado et al, 2021). One issue that is linked is that the ease and use of commercial environments and livery yards that cater for the leisure owner can have inflexible rules for the owners to do as they see fit, too much rich grass and a lack of exercise options (Furtado et al, 2021).
Rendle et al., (2018) explain that rates of obesity are now around 70% in equine populations and are seen to be more like the 'norm' for most horse owners. Obesity is a risk factor for insulin dysregulation and is therefore implicated in laminitis risk. In addition to laminitis, adverse consequences of obesity include orthopaedic disease, hyperlipaemia, hyperthermia, infertility and poor performance (Rendle et al., 2018). .
DeleteFrom an alternative prospective, Munjizun and Phillips (2021), found that when asked 91% of showing judges considered equines with "faint outline of ribs showing", thin, and concluded that judges were more accepting of overweight horses. Therefore meaning that from a competitors prospective, chances of winning are increased if equines are overweight. This could then have an economical effect on riders/ owners that showing is there profession.
DeleteStereotypical behaviour
ReplyDeleteThere are issues with the care and husbandry of the competition horse in relation to turn out, companionship, the ability to trickle feed, ability to mirror a natural lifestyle which are limited and can be linked to equine stereotypical behaviour (ESB). ESB has been linked to the intensive domestication and sub-optimal living conditions of the horse (Plato, 2022 ; Sarrafchi and Blokhuis, 2013).
There is also a relation between ESB and stress in early life, (Plato, 2022). It is difficult to record this but could ESB be related to the weaning process?
Adapting from this, McMeeking, (2019) found increased stress-related behaviours present from the beginning of weaning processes. This study was completed to understand whether one weaning process was more detrimental than the other. McMeeking (2019) found all weaning processes to be stressful, however there was a significant difference between the abrupt group and gradual group following the weaning procedure. Stress behaviours increase when the fear response is stimulated, therefore, linking this with the removal of mum makes it easy to understand this is a scary process of life for equines. There is a large amount of literature backing this information up over many years; McCall et al., (1985); Moons et al., (2005); Waran et al., (2008); Henry et al., (2012); Xiao et al., (2015); McMeeking, (2019).
DeleteIn relation to weaning being a mental trauma at a young age causing the ESB’s – this is similar in that found in humans who have a traumatic experience in childhood which is then linked to obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD) in later life. Persons with childhood trauma were associated with an increased number of OCD symptoms and the severity (Carpenter and Chung, 2011)
DeleteAnother interesting comparison could be made between horse's lack of social interaction and being stabled for long periods could be made with the affect the Covid-19 pandemic had on children’s mental health and OCD’s. Henein et al, (2022) found that during lock down with social distancing, lack of schooling, repetitive hand washing that mental health was affected. There was a significant increase in the proportion of OCD cases and those with OCD’s were found to show symptoms worsening (Henein et al, 2022).
DeleteA counter argument for this could be that equines are more likely to encounter injuries when out in the field, compared to being stables 24/7 during the winter (Owen etal, 2011). Therefore increasing the risk to the equines risk in an alternative way.
DeleteESB can be linked to the number of hours worked, number of feeds given a day including amount of concentrate and the amount of hay given. ESB Increased with a diet consisting of increased concentrate feeds and less hay (Hanis et al, 2020).
ReplyDeleteStereotypical behaviours are commonly seen in domesticated, captive horses in contrast to being absent in the feral or free roaming population therefore, considered abnormal or undesirable (Hanis et al., 2020) hence our understanding of them being due to poor welfare or sub-optimal conditions. They are categorised into two groups; locomotory such as weaving and box walking and oral such as crib biting (Hanis et al., 2020; Ruet et al., 2019; Hanis et al., 2021). Redirected behaviours are those displayed towards other stimuli in response to the original stimulus being absent. Coprophagy and bed eating are examples of redirected behaviours (Hanis et al., 2020; Hanis et al., 2021). It is understood that oral stereotypies begin as early as one month post weaning due to nutritional imbalances, boredom and social changes (Nicol, 1999; Hanis et al., 2020). Others derive from frustration, stress, high concentrate, low forage diet (Hanis et al., 2020). Hanis et al (2020) state that once stereotypical behaviours are developed, equines will then persist in repeatedly performing these behaviours out of habit. Therefore, low frequency repetition could be warning signs, detecting the underlying cause may prevent progression from occurring (Ruet et al., 2019; Nicol, 1999).
DeleteDefinitely agree that weaning has a important link to stereotypies, how they are weaned and when is an important factor too, weaning by confinement of a stable increases the development of abnormal behaviour compared with paddock weaning (Waters et al, 2010). Again the feeding of concentrates after weaning increased the development of crib biting (Waters et al, 2010). I think changes in feeding, housing and weaning practices could lower the incidence of abnormal behaviour.
DeleteThoroughbred race horses show a high prevalence of classic stereotypies such as cribbing, weaving but especially box walking. This is found to be linked to stressful handing, confinement, thus reducing the ability to display normal social and nutritional behaviours (Munoz et al, 2014). Confinement has a strong association as does a lower intake of forage (McGreevy et al, 1995).
I think it is important how stereotypical behaviours are managed, there is suggestion that the behaviours are a coping mechanism thus preventing the horse carrying out the behaviour will cause further stress (Riley et al, 2022). i.e. not using crib collars and anti-weaving bars etc…
DeleteThis again indicates how much the importance of the management of young and all horses is and with an aim to try and mirror a natural lifestyle within domestication as close as possible.
Natural behaviours such as social relationships, mutual grooming and play have been found to have self rewarding properties in the brain and are important for the main coping mechanisms of the domesticated horse (VanDierendonck and Spruijt, 2012).
DeleteBacking this up, sports horses are usually stabled for long periods of time and Ruet et al., (2019) found that confinement in individual boxes imposes spatial and social deprivations that prevent equines from satisfying their natural movement and social needs. This may be reduced by allowing performance horses periods of turnout, however it is known this is reduced due to an attempt to minimise injuries.
DeleteHanis et al., (2020) found that performance horses are fed high amounts of concentrates to fulfil their energy requirements due to the high workloads they are completing and horses in this study were fed minimal hay on a daily basis. This affects horse welfare as high concentrate feeds should be fed only in small quantities due to health risks linking with gastrointestinal dysfunction and ulcers, lameness through laminitis and abnormal oral behaviours (Hanis et al., 2020). They also found that these horses offered higher concentrates than forage ate faster with a lower mastication rate. Mastication is vital for saliva production and saliva is the main way for the stomach acid to be buffered. Reducing this process therefore means these horses are at greater risk of gastric ulceration, leading them to stereotypic behaviours such as wood chewing and crib-biting (Hanis et al., 2020). Also potentially turning them sour in the box which could lead to further injuries to themselves and humans from biting or kicking.
ReplyDeleteSupporting this Harris etal (2016) stated that replacing forage intake for high energy feeds not only contributed to poor health but decreased some performance levels. This could be due to 17-58% of performance horses are estimated to have EGUS (Ward et al 2015) and therefore the high sugar and starch feed and lack of forage, aggravating possible ulcerations.
DeleteFurther to that, there is a potential risk of Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) with low forage high starch meals, Galinelli et al, 2019 found from their study that forage intake below the recommended absolute minimum value as well as high sugars and starch intake were most commonly associated with EGUS. Non Ulcer sufferers were fed significantly higher amounts of forage intake than the ESGS group. Sugars and starch intake per meal for the Non EGUS group was significantly lower than in the EGUS group (Galinelli et al, 2019)
ReplyDeleteAs did Luthersson et al, (2022) who found that feeding forage at least 3 times a day reduced the likelihood of EGUS thus again reiterating the importance of feeding management for the equine (Luthersson et al, 2022).
ReplyDeleteMach et al. (2020) investigated the correlation between gut microbiota and behavior in the athlete horse (equine gut-brain axis): although the variation in the gut microbiota composition and functions in healthy equine athletes is not yet clear, strong evidence exists that diet is the major environmental factor contributing to gut microbial variation in horses and this suggests that physical exertion and stress may have a significant yet temporal effect on the gut microbiota composition and host metabolism. This study found that the relative abundances of single gut bacteria were significantly associated with the expression of four behavioral indicators of a compromised welfare state, including oral and locomotion stereotypies, aggressiveness and unresponsiveness to the environment.
ReplyDeleteAnother major factor that influence the competition horse welfare is the human-horse dyad. In a domesticated enviroment, humans are the sole responsible for equine welfare and managment which in turn influence different aspects such as temperament and behaviour. This was investigated by Fenner et al. (2020) in order to develop a questionnaire : the Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ), was developed to gather information on the training, management, and behaviour of domestic horses. Their preliminary investigation showed the validity of the questionnaire to be a suitable intstument to create a representation of relevant features of horse training and management and the objective reporting of horse behaviour.
ReplyDeleteImportant to the welfare of the competition horse and leisure horses as well is understanding pain and how horses express discomfort and pain. The “Ridden Horse pain Ethogram” (RHpE) (Dyson et al., 2018) seeks to identify pain in horses based on their behavior while ridden as behavior-based pain scales hold promise as a means to improve the welfare of the ridden horse. It was later reviewed by Ladewig et al. (2022) which highlited a number of areas where behavior-based pain assessment can be improved by refining objective indicators, before it can be used to categorize horses as fit or unfit for work either from a veterinary or equitation poit of view. Ladewig et al (2022) suggested that because many other aspects of riding can contribute to suboptimal welfare in the ridden horse, further double-blinded studies that addresses the validity of the pain indicators must be carried out.
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