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Do sport horse owners in Chile consider their horses’ behavioural needs in their management practices? (Friends, Forage, Freedom): a survey
Montero Artaza, Beatriz; Tadich...
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Introduction: Fulfilling horses’ primary behavioural needs, known as the “3F’s” (Forage, Friends, and Freedom), significantly impacts their welfare, presenting a global challenge for horse owners. In South America, evidence underscores inadequate housing conditions for sport horses, with limited unrestricted movement, social contact, and forage access. The aim of this study was to investigate the management practices of Chilean sport horse owners towards their horse’s primary behavioural needs.
Material and Methods: For this an online, semi-quantitative, and anonymous survey with 19 multiple-choice closed-ended questions was conducted. Participants were recruited via social media and sport horse stakeholders, requiring horse management/ownership, age over 18, and Chilean residency. Responses were analyzed with descriptive statistics and a Chi-Square test. A P-value of >0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Descriptive analyses indicated that most horse owners (80.5%) made all decisions for their horses. Concerning freedom, 79.18% of horses were individually housed, 57.9% had less than eight hours of daily turnout, and 56% fell short of the recommended 500m² area. Socially, 71% lacked physical contact from their boxes, and turnout interactions were scarce. Regarding forage, 45% had less than 12 hours of access, with half turned out in soil paddocks. Chi-Square analyses revealed that the most prevalent associations among forage, companionship, and freedom were linked primarily to demographic and educational factors. Notably, a significant association emerged between freedom duration and forage access (P < 0.001). This manifested as nearly half of the horses having less than eight hours of daily freedom in an area smaller than 100m², without access to grazing.
Discussion: Our findings suggest that Chilean sport horse owners may inadequately address their horses’ freedom and social needs, despite some attention being given to forage. These results will inform interventions targeting human behavior to effectively fulfill sport horses’ primary behavioral needs.
Ethical Approval: HERC 769_21
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Affiliation of the authors at the time of publication
1The University of Edinburgh, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and The Roslin Institute, Santiago, Chile, Chile ; 2 Universidad Austral de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Instituto de Ciencia Animal, Valdivia, Chile, Chile ; 3The University of Edinburgh, The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and The Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland, Reino Unido (RU)
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