Enrichment, in all its forms, is a fantastic tool to stimulate our horses and add variety to their lives. However, it’s crucial to understand its role within the broader picture of equine welfare.
Enrichment can benefit any environment for short periods – for example, when your horse is stabled for brushing, drying off, tacking up, or training. Having something fun planned for these moments can make them more enjoyable for your horse. Enrichment truly has many benefits; it’s just not a substitute for continuous turnout and natural living.
A study conducted on 187 sport horses indicated that permanently stabled horses displayed facial expressions “likely to be similar to depression in human beings” (1). Alarmingly, enrichment alone didn’t affect or change this outcome. This research highlights a profound truth: horses are not designed to live in a box environment. Their very evolution is predicated on movement, socialisation, and constant access to forage.
The Pillars of Equine Wellbeing: The Five Freedoms
To truly understand what our horses need, we can look to the widely accepted Five Freedoms, a framework for animal welfare that applies powerfully to horses:
- Freedom from Hunger and Thirst: By ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.
- Freedom from Discomfort: By providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
- Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease: By prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
- Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour: By providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.
- Freedom from Fear and Distress: By ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
When a horse is permanently stabled, regardless of how many toys or slow feeders are provided, their ability to express normal behaviour (Freedom 4) is severely limited. The importance of movement for the horse cannot be overstated – it is VITAL! Horses are also animals that require socialisation; they feel safe and secure in a herd, not isolated in a stall. A lack of movement and/or safety are likely contributing factors to modern stereotypies such as cribbing or box walking, behaviours rarely, if ever, displayed by wild horses.
Track Living: An Alternative Perspective
So, if stable enrichment isn’t enough, what are the alternatives? This is where the concept of a track living situation offers a compelling solution. A track system, often implemented in a pasture or paddock, involves creating a perimeter pathway that encourages continuous movement. Horses are motivated to travel the track to access different resources – hay stations, water troughs, shelter, and even enrichment zones – mimicking their natural foraging and travelling behaviours.
In a track system, enrichment isn’t just about providing novel objects; it’s about enriching the entire environment in a way that promotes natural instincts. This might include:
- Scattered forage: Encouraging continuous movement and natural grazing patterns.
- Diverse terrain: Introducing different surfaces like sand, gravel, or even small inclines to build physical strength and provide sensory stimulation.
- Strategically placed resources: Locating water, hay, and shelter at different points to encourage travel.
- Natural obstacles: Using logs, branches, or other safe elements to provide interest and encourage problem-solving.
- Socialisation opportunities: Enabling horses to live in a herd environment, fulfilling their fundamental need for social interaction and safety.
Within a track system, enrichment becomes part of a larger, more holistic approach to welfare, directly supporting Freedom 4 (to express normal behaviour) and Freedom 2 (from discomfort) by providing an environment that aligns with their natural design.
Avoiding Guilt, Fostering Change
We understand that not every horse owner has the luxury of extensive turnout or the ability to implement a full track system. The intent here is not to create guilt, but to foster awareness and encourage a critical look at what constitutes “minimum standards” for equine well-being.
If you are on a livery yard with limited turnout options, perhaps it’s about opening a dialogue with the yard owner or looking at what alternatives might be available. Could a small group of horses have access to a larger communal area for part of the day? Are there opportunities for social turnout, even if it’s for a few hours?
For BHS approved facilities, and indeed all equestrian establishments, we should be questioning if permanent stabling, even with daily enrichment, truly meets the spirit of the Five Freedoms. The message is clear: horses should have as much access to turnout as possible, preferably 24/7. This could be in traditional large pastures or innovative track systems that promote movement and natural behaviour.
Enrichment: Part of the Puzzle, Not the Whole Picture
So, should you use enrichment? YES! I highly recommend enrichment for the short periods you bring your horse into the stable for brushing, drying off, tacking up, or training. Have something fun planned that they can enjoy. Enrichment still has lots of benefits; it’s just not a substitute for turnout.
Even enriching the turnout pasture is still a “short-term solution” while the enrichment lasts (or the horse loses interest). However, in this situation, your horse hopefully has freedom of movement, socialisation, and access to forage such as hay at all or most times, which are the fundamental building blocks of their well-being. There are also long-term enrichment benefits for the pasture to consider, and we’ll be writing more about that soon.
I recommend The Equine Academy course Equine Enrichment for anyone looking for ideas and wanting to take part a challenge.
Let’s continue to advocate for environments that truly allow our horses to thrive, not just survive.
References
(1) Minero, M.; Monti, F.; D’Eath, R.B.; Dalla Costa, E.; Contalbrigo, F.; Canali, E.; Faustini, M.; Palme, R.; Murray, L.M. Stable Environment and Equine Welfare: Facial Expressions of Permanently Stabled Sport Horses. Animals 2019, 9, 621. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/9/621/htm
