Welfare and management Flashcards
Five freedoms
From hunger, thirst, and malnutrition
From discomfort
From pain, injury, and disease
From fear and distress
To express normal behaviour
Five domains
Nutrition
Physical environment
Health
Behavioural interactions
Mental state
Average turn out for UK horses
13-16 hrs/day in summer and 9-12hr in winter
What management is associated with reduced stereotypic behaviours?
Increased social contact
Increased time at pasture
Stereotypical behaviour
Repetitive, relatively unvaried action without an obvious function
Crib biting, box walking, door banging, weaving most common
Self mutilation syndrome documented mainly in stallions
Coping response to environment - change environment, dont punish behaviour
Low incidence in feral horses
Crib biting
Often associated with frustration and boredom
High concentrate feed, lack of forage
Check incisors at vetting
Can lead to, or be caused by, gastric ulcers - thought to increase pH of digestive tract by producing more saliva
Crib biting shown to release dopamine - brain of crib biters thought to be structurally similar to that of cocaine users
Treatment and management of crib biting
Crib collars prevent horse from crib biting but do not address the primary cause
Other “treatments” include surgery or punishment
Preventing cribbing can lead to increased cortisol and frustration
Enrichment of the environment may reduce crib biting
- stable with mate
- toys
- mirror
- more human interaction
Turn out to pasture
Ad-lib forage/hay net with fine weave to increase time spent eating
Social interaction
Increased visual contact shown to reduce weaving
What other health issues are linked to obesity?
Laminitis, Metabolic syndrome, hyperinsulinaemia, osteochondrosis, osteoarthritis
How much more likely is it that an obese horse with insulin resistance will suffer from laminitis?
10x
Pre-disposing factors to obesity
Breed: native ponies
Inappropriate feeding
Overnutrition for level of work
Management: keeping horses rugged/stabled
Owner perception
Factors involved in weight loss
Zero grazing while providing forage
Support from professionals
Increasing exercise most important if horse capable (not laminitic)
Increasing time taken to eat forage
Where can a twitch never be used?
Ears
Pain recognition
Posture - front foot pointing with pain, hindlimbs often tucked in
Weight bearing
Reduced locomotion
Blepharospasm
Depression
Increased HR and RR
Colic rolling, kicking at abdomen
Bruxism (teeth grinding)
Increased masseter muscle tension
Etc.
How to make loading onto horse box less stressful
Less steep loading ramps
Companion
More likely to go onto bright trailer
Lunge ropes
Calm environment
Sedatives (ideally before first attempt)
Practice sessions
Mirror?
Habituation
Exposure to full stimulus until less frightened
Desensitisation
Introduced gradually to stimulus
Counter-conditioning
Trained to associate frightening stimulus with positive experience
Pain recognition in donkeys
Can be very stoic
HR surprisingly low in comparison in painful conditions like colic
More likely to be dull or inappetant than overtly painful
Dosage of NSAIDs is higher than in horses
UK fatality rate for racing
1 in 1000 for flat racing
5.2 in 1000 for hurdling
7.1 in 1000 for steeplechase
What force is put through the limbs during racing?
500kg horse galloping at speeds greater than 25mph will put forces of almost 1 tonne on a single limb
Common racing injuries
Bucked shins
Stress fractures (humerus, tibia, pelvis)
Osteochondral chip fractures (carpus/fetlock)
Positive correlation between whip use and injury rate over jumps (tired)
Fall risk increases with decreasing position in race
Common problems in dressage horses
Back pain
SDF tendonitis
Proximal suspensory ligament desmitis
(Back and neck problems due to hyperextension of neck?)
Running martingale
used to prevent horse from raising head above the angle of control
Used to encourage the horse to stretch forward and down during lunging.
Can be fitted too tightly
Standing martingale
Acts directly on the noseband to pull horses head down.
Quite severe and not suitable for jumping in.
