Health and Body Conditions of Riding School Horses Housed in Groups or Kept in Conventional Tie-Stall/Box Housing
Health and Body Conditions of Riding School Horses Housed in Groups or Kept in Conventional Tie-Stall/Box Housing
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We compared welfare measures of horses among Swedish riding argan oil pure purple schools (RS) during winter where horses were kept either in group housing (n = 8) or in tie-stalls/boxes (n = 8), Health data for six previous months were obtained for all horses at each RS from their records.Ten horses per RS were examined, with the exception of one where only 8 horses were examined.Health conditions and body condition score (BCS) using the Henneke scale were recorded and management factors were quantified (health check routines, feeding, housing-related risk factors, time outside).
RS-recorded health data (for 327 horses in total) revealed that lameness was the most common issue in both systems.Respiratory problems and colic were significantly more common in tie-stall/box horses.The percentage of horses with respiratory problems (mean ± SEM) was 5.
8 ± 1.4 in tie-stall/box systems and 1.1 ± 0.
8 in group housing (F = 8.65, p = 0.01).
The percentage with colic was 2.38 click here ± 0.62 in tie-stall/box systems and 0.
38 ± 0.26 in group housing (F = 8.62, p = 0.
01).Clinical examination of 158 horses revealed 207 conditions in these horses, the most common being minor skin injuries in areas affected by tack (i.e.
, saddle and bridle, including bit).Such injuries tended to be more prevalent in horses housed in tie-stalls/boxes (1.8 ± 0.
6) than in group housing (0.5 ± 0.3) (F=3.
14, p = 0.01).BCS was similar between systems (tie-stall/box 6.
2 ± 0.1, group 6.3 ± 0.
1), but the average BCS exceeded the level that is considered optimal (BCS 4⁻6).In conclusion, we found that Swedish RS horses are generally in good health, particularly when group-housed.However, 25%⁻32% were overweight.
Riding schools would thus benefit from having an independent feeding expert performing regular body condition scoring of all horses and advising on feeding regimens.