Maximising collaboration for equine health: working with livery yard owners and managers

Literature shows that there are many cases of livery yards promoting equine management which is problematic in various ways: for example, inadequate biosecurity practices (Schemann et al, 2012; Furtado et al, 2021), interval deworming (Tzelos et al, 2019), not offering modified grazing for sufferers of common issues such as laminitis and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (Furtado et al, 2020), and promoting practices such as reduced turnout, which may not meet horses' ethological needs. While there are schemes that promote the importance of meeting certain standards, these are voluntary and are taken up by only a subset of yards (British Horse Society, 2022). Working with livery yard owners and managers to assist managers in implementing best practice approaches to common issues, and promoting those who already meet the highest standards, could therefore improve equine wellbeing at a community level. This article describes a behavioural analysis of livery yard management following an indepth study based at the University of Liverpool and funded by the Horse Trust, and seeks to help veterinarians to collaborate with livery yard owners and managers. The study involved semi-structured interviews with the owners and managers of 45 diverse yards (ranging from ‘do it yourself’ to ‘full livery’, and including retirement yards), and focus groups with a further seven yard managers. More information about the methodology is reported elsewhere (Furtado et al, 2021).