Lifestyle of the Domesticated Horse in Light of Our Circumstances, Priorities and Perspective

A few years ago, a wrote a somewhat biased post on the various side effects of stabling horses and having recently re-read it, I would now like to re-write it. I'll put it out there, I still don't believe stabling horses for more than a few hours a day is ideal for their mental welfare. However, it would seem that instead of there being a right or wrong in these situations, circumstance, priorities and perspective tend to be the defining factors when it comes to how our horses live. 

Circumstances 

I could write all day about the effects of circumstance, for a lot of people, how they keep their horses is down to financial circumstance and what they can afford. In these cases they may ask themselves, 'Should we even own a horse if we don't have the money to provide everything we'd like him to have? But then would he be worse off if I had left him with that owner or if I sold him on to those owners?' etc. Health is a huge one too, our own and the horse's. A leg injury in a horse could lead on to months of box rest, or laminitis to restricted grazing or illness to the necessity of various medications. Finance and health are only a few, also think about time limitations, location and other commitments. This leads on to priorities... 

Priorities 

When people ask me whether or not I approve of racing, I can't give a flat yes or no because there are so many considerations. Racing is not just for horse people, in fact it is the second most attended sport after football which means it generates more money than any other equestrian sport. This in turn helps pump more money into the equestrian industry, funding research etc. which in the long run benefits horses around the world, including yours and mine. On the other hand, the individual horses involved in racing are often broken very young (while their bones are still developing), run hard and retired early because their bodies can no longer cope with the strain or they just didn't make the cut. They are either put to sleep or taken on by other owners or charities who may retrain them, but in a country already overloaded with horses and not enough owners, which of these is the kinder option is, in itself, another controversial topic. 

If our priority was to buy a horse who we could ride 5 times a week and take competing, it could just be plain impractical to have him living in a out in a muddy field 24/7, acquiring injuries from the other horses which will later turn into point-reducing scars in the show ring, getting so dirty that he takes a good hour to clean and dry and get ready, an hour which perhaps you can't afford within your schedule or with another 5 horses with whom you will have to repeat the process... Let's face it, there is a lot of money in the equestrian industry. We sometimes buy a horse to do a job and whether his lifestyle factors contribute toward his 'ideal' mental state may, within reason, not be our highest priority, in the same way that we personally work hard to achieve our goals often forfeiting that perfect diet or fitness regime in favour of other resources. Additionally, there are always comparisons to consider. The high-drive competition horse may not be living the 'ideal natural lifestyle', but he is obviously far better off than those hundreds of horses living in neglect, emaciated, permanently confined or in pain and this leads me on to perspective... 

Perspective 

At the end of the day, the horse in an animal whose fate is at the discretion of his owner and he could not be more helpless as to decide where or with whom he ends up. Everything is comparable and everyone has opinions as to what standard is 'correct'. Horses who are kept at grass 24/7 are still usually surrounded by an electric fence, however wide it may be. If we believed in horses living a truly natural life then surely we shouldn't really even be riding them? Instead, we should be appealing for the conservation of feral mustangs or for no interventions in the lives of the native herds we have running free in the UK, but of course, even here, there are too many impracticalities for us not to interfere. They would eventually over-populate the space allotted to them, which is in neither their nor our interest. Perhaps intervention in this case could be referred to as the lesser of two evils, and as so with the lifestyles of many domesticated horses today. 

Here are two perspectives of a single situation: 

1. My two ponies live a natural lifestyle because they are never stabled, but live at grass in a 2.5 acre field. I don't compete them, but only hack them out occasionally and practice natural horsemanship with them on the ground. I use body language and a good knowledge of their instincts instead of numerous gadgets so that I can communicate with them in a more natural way. I use them for equine assisted learning activities so all they have to do is be themselves! 
2. My two ponies live in a muddy 2.5 acre field surrounded by electric tape which prevents them from seeking dry ground. I expect them to allow me to ride them wherever I choose, including through unnatural surroundings (roads, bikes, trains etc.). They will submit to the training techniques I use and learn to perform unnatural movements in response to whatever aids I have taught them to respond to. I also expect them to behave quietly with any visitors I bring to meet or work with them. The visitors can give the ponies various commands in order to practice horsemanship, but because they are not very experienced, they could end up confusing the ponies. 

There are truths in each, but they sound like they were written by different people with very different opinions because they are written from two different perspectives. There is never harm in stepping back and looking at a situation through your horse's perspective as well as your own. 

Lifestyle of the Domesticated Horse 

With the principles of circumstance, priorities and perspective in the back of my mind I can now re-write what I was trying to construe two years ago when I wrote about the effects of the lifestyle of typically domesticated horses in the UK and around the world today. Having established that the ideal lifestyle for a horse is to be wild and free with his herd, roaming on an everlasting stretch of grassland and having also established that this is impossible, my aim is to provide the best lifestyle for my two ponies that I can, given my circumstances, priorities and perspective and hopefully to encourage others to do the same for their horses, by increasing awareness of some of the possible effects of stabling (one of the most impactive factors of equine domestication) on the horse's mental welfare. 

Many horses are kept in stables (usually a 12x12' box) for the majority of their day, particularly through winter. They have little to occupy themselves with for most of the time spent confined other than eating and in most cases have very limited social interaction. Horses are very sociable creatures and can form strong attachments to other horses in the herd. It is key to their survival in the wild that they constantly to maintain their social structure within the herd to ensure a safe and reliable communication system should they need to flee from danger.  Horses have a strong 'fight or flight instinct' and are naturally claustrophobic because to them, a small space means they can't run away from danger if they need to. Being confined to a stable inhibits a horse's opportunities to socialise and flee from danger. 

Horses who spend most of their time confined to a stable are reported to be more prone to developing what equestrian folk term as 'stable vices', otherwise known as stereotypical behaviours. These may include crib-biting, box-walking, door-kicking and weaving (to name a few). That is not to say these occur in every stabled horse, but it is important for each horse to get the balance that he personally needs. Through my own experience, I would say that the horses most likely to develop these habits are those who spend extended periods of times in the stable and do not get enough mental stimulation or exercise. When exercised properly, they can use more time to rest, but if not exercised enough, they will have an overload of forcibly contained energy, and this often results in what most people call 'bad behaviour', although I would refer to as 'totally-undesirable-but-understandable-given-the-circumstances-behaviour'.  When deprived of their natural habitat and lifestyle, horses develop these habits (they don't copy other horses) as an 'outlet', a way to channel their stress or energy into an activity. Denied the stimulation of their natural surroundings, horses look to these habits for stimulations because they often result in the release of endorphins. 

Above: Horse 'crib-biting' and Right: Cribbing collar

Instead of identifying and resolving the cause of the problem, many horse owners simply try to prevent the behaviour through such means as a cribbing collar (pictured above) or anti-weave bars. It is understandable the owners try to inhibit or prevent the growth of these habits, since they can damage the horse's health (eg, wind-sucking and cribbing can cause stomach ulcers and damage teeth) as well as become very annoying (noisy door-kicking). These habits should certainly try to be prevented, but putting a cribbing collar on a horse to stop him from acquiring the stress-release he needs (which he isn't able to acquire any other way) through a habit which he has already developed isn't going to benefit the horse's mental health.  

I believe more horse owners could think about how to get to the root of the problem and how to resolve that, instead of problems stemming from that problem. By checking the horse's lifestyle and time management in light of 'the ideal', giving him the opportunity to behave as naturally as possible and keeping him mentally engaged by allowing him to socialise and use his intelligence, they should be able to hugely benefit his mental health and consequently have a happier, healthier horse.