Improving horse welfare and behaviour : recent advances and open challenges in equine science

There are approximately 5 million horses in Europe (FAOSTAT, 2018): thanks to their adaptability they can be raised for several reasons, ranging from companionship to leisure and sport activities, and even food production. This aspect greatly influences their management, their relationship with humans, their behaviour and, thus, their welfare. Horses are large prey animals for which domestication has dampened, but not extinguished, innate biological flight responses (Brubaker and Udell, 2016). For this reason, several stimuli can be perceived as dangerous, inducing a flight reaction, thus playing an important role in the development of problematic behaviours (e.g. aggression, fear, phobias). Many behaviour problems in horses are associated with confinement in single boxes, the most common housing system in different Countries (Hotchkiss, Reid and Christley, 2007; Visser et al., 2014; Hockenhull and Creighton, 2015; Larsson and Müller, 2018). Indeed, confinement prevents horses from satisfying highly motivated behaviours such as free movement and social interactions with conspecifics (Dalla Costa et al., 2016). Another important issue concerns pain assessment: it is reported that lameness and back pain are the most common problems in horse athletes with an estimated prevalence varying from 27% to 100% of “healthy” ridden horse population (Landman et al., 2004; Fonseca et al., 2006; Visser et al., 2014). Although in the past decade the scientific research in horse pain assessment has increased and many different tools were developed (Dalla Costa et al., 2014; van Loon et al., 2014; Gleerup et al., 2015), a reliable pain recognition is still difficult. Especially for horse owners pain recognition is still very difficult, as no gold standard is available. Therefore, horses often continue to be used in athletic activities despite the discomfort/pain felt. Pain condition affects the development of behavioural problems, such as escape attempts and aggressions, that are very dangerous for both the horses and the riders. On the other hand, the reduced sport performance could lead to the use of “too-severe” training aids causing other pain and worsen the problem (Hockenhull and Creighton, 2012). A review of the recent scientific studies, emphasising the link between horse management, behaviour and welfare will be presented, highlighting the conceptual and methodological issues scientists have faced, as well as discussing the advantages and future challenges in equine science.