The significance of chewing in horses

The mouth and teeth have two main functions: to chew food and to lubricate food with saliva. While no enzymatic digestion or absorption occurs at this time, mastication still represents the initial...

Equine glandular gastric disease in adult horses

The prevalence of equine glandular gastric disease has anecdotally increased over the last 15 years; in clinical and abattoir studies of various horse types worldwide, prevalence is between 47% and...

Optimising the welfare of equids on box rest: thinking outside the box

Ruet (2019) considers there to be four behavioural indicators of poor welfare state in horses: stereotypic behaviour, aggression toward humans, withdrawn state and the expression of stress...

The developmental behaviour of foals and its relevance to husbandry, part 2: weaning

Free-ranging domesticated horses that have become feral or are kept under naturalistic free-range conditions stop being suckled by the age of approximately 10 months, unless their dam is not pregnant...

Optimising the welfare of equids on box rest: thinking outside the box

Ruet (2019) considers there to be four behavioural indicators of poor welfare state in horses: stereotypic behaviour, aggression toward humans, withdrawn state and the expression of stress...

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

When horses are handled by nervous humans their heart rate increases (Keeling et al, 2009). Horses also react differently to odours from nervous humans, they touch people more and spend more time with...