Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:15:39.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Welfare assessment of horses: the AWIN approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

E Dalla Costa ,
F Dai ,
D Lebelt ,
P Scholz ,
S Barbieri ,
E Canali ,
AJ Zanella  and
M Minero
E Dalla Costa*
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy
F Dai
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy
D Lebelt
Affiliation:
Pferdeklinik Havelland/Havelland Equine Hospital, Beetzsee-Brielow, Germany
P Scholz
Affiliation:
Pferdeklinik Havelland/Havelland Equine Hospital, Beetzsee-Brielow, Germany
S Barbieri
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy
E Canali
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy
AJ Zanella
Affiliation:
Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal, Pirassununga, Brazil
M Minero
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The EU-funded Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) research project (2011-2015) aimed to improve animal welfare through the development of practical on-farm animal welfare assessment protocols. The present study describes the application of the AWIN approach to the development of a welfare assessment protocol for horses (Equus caballus). Its development required the following steps: (i) selection of potential welfare indicators; (ii) bridging gaps in knowledge; (iii) consulting stakeholders; and (iv) testing a prototype protocol on-farm. Compared to existing welfare assessment protocols for other species, the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses introduces a number of innovative aspects, such as implementation of a two-level strategy focused on improving on-farm feasibility and the use of electronic tools to achieve standardised data collection and so promote rapid outcomes. Further refinement to the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses is needed in order to firstly gather data from a larger reference population and, secondly, enhance the welfare assessment protocol with reference to different horse housing and husbandry conditions.

Keywords

animal-basedanimal welfarehorseindicatormeasureon-farm
Type
Articles
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , November 2016 , pp. 481 - 488
Copyright
© 2016 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Agresti, A 2013 Categorical Data Analysis, Third Edition. Wiley: New York, USAGoogle Scholar
AWIN 2015 AWIN welfare assessment protocol for horses. http://dx.doi.org/10.13130/AWIN_horses_2015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blokhuis, HJ, Veissier, I, Miele, M and Jones, B 2010 The Welfare Quality® project and beyond: safeguarding farm animal well-being. Acta Agriculturæ Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science 60: 129–140Google Scholar
Botreau, R, Veissier, I, Butterworth, A, Bracke, MBM and Keeling, LJ 2007 Definition of criteria for overall assessment of animal welfare. Animal Welfare 16: 225–228Google Scholar
Dai, F, Cogi, NH, Ugo, E, Heinzl, L, Costa, ED, Canali, E and Minero, M 2015 Validation of a fear test in sport horses using infrared thermography. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 10(2): 128–136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2014.12.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalla Costa, E, Dai, F, Lebelt, D, Scholz, P, Barbieri, S, Canali, E and Minero, M 2016 Initial outcomes of a harmonized approach to collect welfare data in sport and leisure horses. Animal 13: 1–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1751731116001452Google Scholar
Dalla Costa, E, Dai, F, Murray, LAM, Guazzetti, S, Canali, E and Minero, M 2015 A study on validity and reliability of on-farm tests to measure human-animal relationship in horses and don-keys. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 163: 110–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2014.12.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalla Costa, E, Dai, F, Villa, C, Canali, E and Minero, M 2012 Ongoing studies: Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) of positive emotional state of stabled horses. First AWIN Annual Conference. 21–24 May 2012, Oscarsborg, NorwayGoogle Scholar
Dalla Costa, E, Minero, M, Lebelt, D, Stucke, D, Canali, E and Leach, M 2014a Development of the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) as a pain assessment tool in horses undergoing routine cas-tration. PloS One 9: e92281. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/j ournal.pone.0092281CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalla Costa, E, Murray, L, Dai, F, Canali, E and Minero, M 2014b Equine on-farm welfare assessment: a review of animal-based indicators. Animal Welfare 23: 323–341. http://dx.doi.org/10.7120/09627286.23.3.323CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) 2012 Statement on the use of animal-based measures to assess the welfare of animals. EFSA Journal 10: 1–29Google Scholar
Farm Animal Welfare Council 2009 Farm Animal Welfare in Great Britain: Past, Present and Future. FAWC: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Hartmann, E, Søndergaard, E and Keeling, LJ 2012 Keeping horses in groups: A review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 136:77–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2011.10.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hockenhull, J and Creighton, E 2015 The day-to-day manage-ment of UK leisure horses and the prevalence of owner reported stable-related and handling behaviour problems. Animal Welfare 24: 29–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.7120/09627286.24.1.029CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knubben, JM, Gygax, L and Stauffacher, M 2008 Horses in Switzerland: Results of a representative survey of population, housing and use in 2004. Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde 150:387–397. http://dx.doi.org/10.1024/0036-7281.150.8.387CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rushen, J, Butterworth, A and Swanson, JC 2011 Animal behavior and well-being symposium. Farm animal welfare assur-ance: science and application. Journal of Animal Science 89: 1219–1222. http://dx.doi.org/10.2527/jas.2010-3589CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, EM, Nolan, AM and Fitzpatrick, JL 2001 Conceptual and methodological issues related to welfare assessment: a frame-work for measurement. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A Animal Science 30: 5–10Google Scholar
Søndergaard, E and Winther Christensen, J 2002 A survey of housing and management conditions for horses in Denmark. http://research.vet.upenn.edu/HavemeyerEquineBehaviorLabHom ePage/ReferenceLibraryHavemeyerEquineBehaviorLab/Havemeye rWorkshops/HorseBehaviorandWelfare1316June2002/HorseBeh aviorandWelfare2/ASurveyofHousingandManagementConditionsf or/tabid/3133/Default.aspxGoogle Scholar
Van Dijk, L, Pritchard, J, Pradhan, S and Wells, K 2011 Sharing the load: a guide to improving the welfare of working animals through collective action. Practical Action Publishing, Wallingford, UK. http://dx.doi.org/10.3362/9781780440675CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Versi, E 1992 ‘Gold standard’ is an appropriate term. British Medical Journal 305(6846): 187CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed