Potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on horse behaviour in the UK between March and October 2020

Once the COVID-19 pandemic started and the UK went into lockdown on 17 March 2020, horse keeping practices changed for many horse owners. Key concerns potentially impacting on horse behaviour included owner anxiety, routine care of horses and changes in exercise/turn out regimen (Williams et al, 2020). As spring and summer progressed, largely with dry and sunny weather, and as lockdown restrictions eased, there was also an increase in public footfall on rural and semi-rural rights of way and roads adjacent to horse pastures as people accessed the countryside in increasing numbers (Table 1) (Natural England, 2020). Anecdotally, this led to increased interaction between horses and the public. Articles in the equestrian and national press about the adverse effects on horses of feeding by members of the public supported this anecdotal evidence (British Horse Society, 2020; Radford, 2020). In the months following the lockdown in March 2020, there was an increase in online equestrian activities, with some people entering into riding and buying a horse in order to be able to do so, making up a small part of the author's clinical caseload, as well as being reported in the equestrian press (Redrup, 2020). There has not yet been any empirical research published on the effect of the COVID-19 lockdowns on horse purchasing behaviour but some of the rehoming organisations report an increase in rehoming. For example, Redwings Horse Sanctuary saw a 75% increase in their annual rehoming figures (Redwings, 2020).