Keeping horses outside is probably the most natural, but welfare problems can arise when horses do not have adequate shelter from the sun and when there is no dry place for them to stand. Except in the most extreme cold conditions, the horse should be able to thermoregulate either behaviorally or physiologically. Perhaps the best housing environment for horses is a run-out situation in which the horse can choose to be inside or out. This may be predator avoidance behavior or vigilance behavior when the horse is protected on three sides by a barrier.
#Jj hightail race car driver windows#
No one has actually measured how often horses turn 360°, but they usually face forward in their stalls when no windows are available. Horses restrained in straight stalls for long periods - weeks - do not develop stereotypic behavior or physiological signs of stress, although they do exhibit compensatory locomotion when released. Although one might suppose that horses would prefer the larger box stalls, straight or tie stalls may be more acceptable if the horse has another horse on one or both sides. Because mirrors can substitute for windows in decreasing weaving, the views should be of another horse.
Based on the decrease in stereotypic weaving that occurs in proportion to the number of sides with windows - a multi-directional view is the most important aspect. Whether or not a box stall is acceptable depends on its walls more than its size. The traditional box stall may not actually be the best accommodation even though it is the largest. There are several acceptable methods of housing horses. In this article, we shall consider welfare issues of housing, transport, performance enhancing drugs and physical manipulations. Instead of eliminating horses, we should try to create an optimal environment in which the horse is content, healthy and comfortable, but in which we can use the animal.
Not only would elimination of horses result in hardship to those veterinarians, feed manufacturers, jockeys, and drug companies who depend on horses for their livelihood, but the world would be a poorer place. If we did not use horses for recreation and, in some parts of the world, for power and transport, horses would exist only as feral animals in a few locations or in zoos. The only way that all risks to a horse's welfare can be eliminated is to not use horses.
0 kommentar(er)
