L’évaluation du bien-être du cheval et de l’âne

Equines are peculiar species: they can be owned for several reasons, ranging from companionship to food production; thus, the assessment of their welfare poses several challenges. Following the increased public awareness and demand for improved equine welfare, the AWIN (Animal Welfare Indicators) project, funded by the European Commission, addressed the development, integration and dissemination of animal-based welfare indicators, with an emphasis on pain assessment and pain recognition. Based on the Welfare Quality® principles and criteria, five welfare assessment protocols for different species, including horses and donkeys, were developed and tested on-farm to evaluate their validity, reliability and feasibility. The present work aims to present the approach followed in the selection and validation of animal-based indicator, as well as the main outcomes of the AWIN project. The AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses, that includes 22 measures, was applied in 40 facilities located in Italy and Germany. A total of 355 sport and leisure horses, stabled in single boxes, were assessed. Whilst, 20 donkey facilities in Italy and in United Kingdom were visited and 278 donkeys were evaluated using the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for donkeys. In both species, data was collected using digitalized systems. The most common welfare issues identified for horses were obesity (BCS>4), unsatisfactory box dimensions, long period of confinement (more than 22 hour per day) and lack of social interaction. Being moderately overweight was a recurrent issue also for donkeys (BCS=4), together with signs of hoof neglect (such as overgrowth and/or incorrect trimming). Both welfare assessment protocols have proven to be applicable in different management conditions and for equines of different attitudes. Innovative digitalized systems (smartphone applications) were developed to improve data collection on farm. These apps provide the user with immediate and clear outcomes of the welfare status of the assessed animals and allow comparison with similar farms across Europe. They might help in creating a common database of the general welfare status of equines in different countries. The results highlight that the AWIN welfare assessment protocols were useful to evaluate the welfare status of both sport and leisure horses and donkeys. Future work is needed to enlarge the number of countries involved in the assessment, as well as the sample of facilities and animals. It is forecast that the protocol will be updated for use in different conditions.