“The perfect stable” may be elusive in real life, but that’s no reason not to aim high. Kieran O’Brien MRCVS outlines the ideal for equine lodgings
THE confinement of horses in stables has evolved over centuries to allow our animals to receive individual attention – for example, for the feeding of hard feed and forage without competition, for training, grooming and tacking up. In the case of illness or injury, it provides a safe space for nursing care and the administration of medications.
But horses are a normally free-ranging and highly social species. Confinement in a small space, often for up to 23 hours a day, could be perceived by them as a form of imprisonment. Unsurprisingly, many horses adapt poorly to this situation, and their maladaptation is reflected in various stress responses, such as restlessness, stereotypic behaviour (stable vices), aggression, gastric ulceration and colic.
Much recent research has focused on improving the stable environment for the horse’s physical health and psychological wellbeing. We now know many ways to modify this environment, but it must be accepted that for a normally free-ranging animal, confinement will never replicate the freedom to graze and interact with other members of the herd. Maximising turnout time must always be the ultimate aim.
Crucial companionship
CURRENT research suggests that preventing physical (essentially touching) and visual contact between horses in adjacent stables inevitably compromises horse welfare, although the signs may be subtle and unrecognised.
A recent study compared three sorts of divisions between pairs of horses in stables: a full wall, a wall with a barred “window” and a half-height wall. Horses in the full-wall stables spent more time standing alert (that is, they were less relaxed) and less time resting than their peers. Compared to those with the barred window partition, horses with the half-wall partition spent more time in “contact-seeking” behaviours. Other studies have shown that horses in adjacent stables benefit from being able to touch each other, by touching noses or mutual grooming.
A recent study showed the benefit of “social housing”, with gaps created in partitions running from floor to ceiling. These allow horses to touch each other, and importantly to see each other both when standing and lying down. Further studies are needed to determine if this system is safe enough for general use.
It follows that – assuming that there are no biosecurity concerns (such as a new arrival) and that the safety of lower-ranking horses (who should be paired with friends) is not compromised – we should accept that horses are highly social animals, and move away from solid partitions between stables.
We should provide some sort of opening – at least a barred partition or ideally a true opening (appropriately called a “talk hole”;
