They’re all horses, yes. But that doesn’t mean that little horses act like big horses when they’re in pain. According to Dutch scientists, foals express pain differently from the way adult horses do. And because of that, they need their own pain-related facial expression scale that’s unique to baby horses.Read More →
Depending on their connection with horse racing, different people have different views about what’s “natural.” And that, according to one researcher, is having a major impact on the future of the sport. While racing industry leaders might consider it “natural” for a horse to gape its mouth open under tightRead More →
Hot or hot and humid environmental conditions are a serious risk to health and performance unless properly managed. Research into the effects of heat and humidity on horses during competition has been ongoing since the Atlanta Olympic Games. Here is some practical information on effective horse cooling, as recommended byRead More →
There’s a sense of peace that comes with standing in a pasture of grazing horses. There’s something that feels incredibly safe about surrounding ourselves with dozens of animals each weighing 10 times our own weight and seeing that they have no intention of hurting us. There’s something compelling about theirRead More →
There has been much in the press over the last year about the welfare of horses leaving the racing industry, raising questions about the sustainability and ethics of the current situation. In this article, Kate Fenner explains how we can all help to protect the welfare of off-the-track horses byRead More →
Five million horses live in Brazil. Nearly three-quarters of them work as ranch horses on beef cattle farms, spending long days driving, cutting, and transporting, sometimes across difficult terrains and in extreme weather. Researchers are helping ranchers recognise the signs of physical tiredness to prevent exhaustion. It can be aRead More →
You know your horse best andthat’s why researchers need you to help advance horse welfare You read the articles about how scientists study horse behaviour, and you think, Why did they need to study that? I could have told them that. Or maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe the scientists foundRead More →
10 reasons to stop whipping racehorses, including new research revealing the likely pain it causes Pressure is increasing on the global horse-racing industry to reconsider the use of whips in the sport. Our research, published in the journal Animals, shows horses’ skin is very similar to humans’ in both thicknessRead More →
A fearful horse, in the wrong hands, is a dangerous horse. That’s why Danish researchers have set out to determine clues to identify the foals that are likely to become fearful adults. As a result, those horses could go to the right trainers with the skills necessary for dealing withRead More →
A new, updated version of the Five Domains Model, the gold standard in animal welfare assessment and monitoring, has just been published in the Open Access journal Animals. Read a 2019 interview with Professor Emeritus David Mellor, the architect of the Five Domains Model and lead author of this newRead More →
