Horse welfare is difficult to talk about, almost impossible sometimes! It is probably because many people care so much about horses and because the factors that affect their welfare are many, and the way they interact is complex and dynamic.

It is not helped by the fact that the concept of animal welfare has evolved over time. The way we think and talk about welfare, and what we know today, has changed more in the last 50 years than it did in the previous 500. The result is great confusion over what welfare is, and what is not.

Welfare is a state

Instead of arguing about the definition, it may be easier to start a welfare conversation by agreeing that whatever it is, welfare is a state that someone is in at a given point in time; in our case, it is the state of the horse’s body and their mind. This requires acknowledging that horses are sentient beings, that they have feelings and experiences that can be positive or negative, pleasant or unpleasant.

It’s all about experiences

Experiences have important adaptive purposes; they trigger responses (physical and behavioural) that might help the horse maintain good function, or restore balanced function in every cell, every tissue, organ and body system. And today, thanks to advances in the field of neuroscience, we can link observations and measures of biological function and behaviour to make confident assessments of the animal’s expriences, and whether they are aversive or rewarding.

The Five Domains Model

The Five Domains Model first appeared in 1994 and has undergone many revisions and updates as the scientific knowledge has improved. The most up-to-date version – is the 2020 Revision, it was published in Animals, led of course by Prof Mellor and co-authored by Dr Ngaio Beausoleil, Dr Katherine Littlewood, Dr Andrew McLean, Prof Paul McGreevy, Dr Bidda Jones and myself.

There is increasing interest in the Five Domains Model, and it is being adopted worldwide by many equine organisations, including the International Federation for Horseracing Authorities and the International Equestrian Federation (FEI). It is helping  to change the way people think about animal welfare and, best of all, it can be applied in practice.

The Five Domains Model simply breaks down the horse’s experiences into more manageable chunks – the domains – so we can make comprehensive welfare assessments. It is ideal for anyone who wants to work out what is going well and where there may be compromises, and identify opportunities to make incremental improvements that are meaningful to the horse.

The Five Domains Model is a framework or a blueprint that helps us work systematically across the many different aspects of a horse’s management – so we don’t miss anything important. It’s like sorting all the possible experiences – positive and negative – into four buckets (the domains), so we can estimate whether their mental state is likely to be positive or negative.

Domain 1 Nutrition and hydration includes all the positive and negative experiences associated with the food they eat, the water they drink, and how it is presented. 

Domain 2 Physical environment. Because this is the homeostasis domain, it considers feelings of comfort and discomfort (physical and mental) that arise from the external or physical environment the horse is kept in.

Domain 3 Health and fitness. Here we talk about experiences such as feeling well or sick, energetic and comfortable from good body function, or feeling pain, discomfort and weakness from disease, injuries or other conditions.

Domain 4 Behavioural interactions. Here we consider the experiences associated with their interactions with the spaces available to them, and the relationships they have with with other animals, and with humans.

Domain 5 is the crucial one – mental state. Negative experiences tend to give rise to negative mental states, and resolving negative experiences and enjoying positive experiences give rise to positive mental states.

Figure 1. The 2020 Five Domains Model, an overview.

 

 

Here’s another handy, recommended resource: World Horse Welfare has an easy-to-read resource that aligns with the Five Domains Model and provides more details on each domain.

Assessing welfare

The aim of welfare assessment is identifying, as accurately as possible, the experiences the horse is having at a given point in time. We do this by looking at the horse, the context they are in, and what’s available to them.

Think for example, about a time when you have seen your horse rolling on the ground;

What clues helped you decide whether they were in pain because of colic, or they were enjoying themselves?

Think about the signs or clues that would help you decide and divide them into two groups – the ones you pick up from looking at the horse directly, what they are doing and how they look, and the ones that relate to the context and conditions they are in at the time.

As well as rolling, there will be other behavioural signs that you can take into account, perhaps the horse was looking back at his belly before rolling; perhaps he’s off his food, and so on.

In animal welfare science, we call these clues ‘animal-based welfare indicators’

You might need to add the context or situation the horse is and has been in before rolling. For example, if you just untacked your horse after a ride, and turned him out, it is likely the rolling is giving him pleasure, whereas if they had been in transport for a few hours and had just finished a meal, you may be concerned it’s colic.

In animal welfare science, we call these ‘situation-related welfare indicators’.

Once you can identify how the horse is feeling, you can determine the horse’s welfare state by applying this rule of thumb:

  • When the horse cannot resolve all the negative experiences and they have no, or very few, positive experiences, they will tend to be in a negative mental state – which is understood to be a poor or compromised welfare state.
  • When the horse can resolve negative experiences as they arise, and they are engaging with and benefitting from a very wide range of positive experiences, they will tend to be in a positive mental state – and therefore, a ‘good’ or enhanced welfare state.

Figure 2. Experiences and how they relate to welfare state

What other welfare assessment tools do we have?

Horsemanship! The accuracy of any horse welfare assessment relies on your knowledge and experience and a good understanding of what horses are, as a species, how their bodies and minds function, and what is considered normal under optimal conditions.

We often hear horse people say that one can never stop learning, and this should include updating ourselves on the scientific research. This is why horsemanship has two dimensions, skill gained through experience, and knowledge that is backed by science.

You don’t have to be an active researcher, but you do need to stay up to date with the latest understanding of why and how some things work and some don’t, and which horse husbandry practices and conditions tend to lead to good horse welfare outcomes, and which ones pose a risk to horse welfare.

Integrating the Five Domains Model into everything you do with horses is as easy as placing each item into its relevant domain!

Figure 3. Recommended conditions for horses organised into the Five Domains. These usually appear in the scientific literature as Recommendations, or literature reviews – and in lay textbooks as recommended guidelines.

Figure . Conditions that are a known welfare risk for horses organized into the Five Domains.

To download these Five Domains infographics click here.

How to apply the Five Domains Model in practice

The final step is learning how to conduct a Five Domains based welfare of horses in the real world, and now you can learn in your own time and online through the course “Applying the Five Domains Model to the Welfare Assessment of Sport and Recreation Horses”, hosted by the University of New England, in Australia.

In this online, self-paced course you will learn how to apply the Model in practice, to identify what is going well for your horse within each of the domains, where there are welfare risks and opportunities for making meaningful improvements to their lived experience.

This is the only course that is endorsed by Emeritus Professor David Mellor who, over the last three decades, developed the Five Domains Model in collaboration with other animal welfare researchers.

The course is R.A.C.E. approved (recognised provider of Continuing Education points) by the North American Association of Veterinary Boards and the New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA). The same applies with all Australian State Veterinary Boards, the Irish Veterinary Council, and the RCVS – meaning that veterinarians and veterinary technicians can earn 25 points for completing the course.

British Horse Society Accredited Professionals can earn 6 CPD points, as can Pony Club UK coaches and officials!

Sign up now at: https://www.openlearning.com/une/courses/une-equine-course