Horses Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare.pdfVIP

Horses: Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Introduction The relationship between humans and horses has developed over thousands of years. The earliest record of human use of horses comes from cave paintings in France and Spain from around 15000 years ago, when horses were hunted for food and hides (Goodwin, 2002). Archaeological evidence for the domestication of horses dates back to around 6000 years ago in the Ukraine, Egypt and Western Asia (Ibid.). Through breeding and training, horses have been persuaded to assist in diverse fields of human endeavour. Horses have played a major role in human history, from providing draught power in agriculture and transport to influencing the outcomes of war. Today, they are valued for their use in recreation, competition and sport, whilst in many parts of the world they continue to provide an important source of draught power, meat and milk. Whilst horses are undoubtedly one of the species most highly valued by humans, all too often the way in which we keep, train and use them can have serious detrimental consequences for their welfare. How much do we actually know about their natural behaviour and the inner workings of the horse’s mind and how can this knowledge be used to improve their welfare? Natural Behaviour Horses are adapted for life on open grasslands and will range up to 80km per day (Davidson and Harris, 2002). Horses prefer to graze, although they will also browse on a wide variety of vegetation (Ibid.). Feral and free-ranging horses spend around 16 to 18 hours a day foraging (Ibid.), consuming over 50 varieties of forage daily (Goodwin et al, 2005). Studies of feral horses indicate that they organise themselves into two different types of herd: the family or harem band and the bachelor band (Crowell-Davis, 1993; Waran, 1997). The family band typically consists of a single stallion, several mature mares and their foals and juvenile offspring. In some cases there may be mo