Working equids support the livelihoods of millions of low-income households worldwide and face several welfare challenges. Although equipment-related wounds are common, little is known about specific risk factors. This cross-sectional study surveyed equids used for cart-work in three Ethiopian towns. Number, size, severity and location of wounds were recorded for each animal, as well as work equipment characteristics and indicators of equipment fit and assembly. Questionnaires were conducted with each cart-driver focusing on equipment practices and attitudes. Logistic regression models were generated to investigate associations between equipment-related wounds (outcome) and equipment, work, driver and animal-related factors (predictors). In total, 369 equids and cart-drivers were surveyed. The prevalence of equipment-related wounds was 72.6% (268/369) with girth wounds being the predominant wound type in horses (50%; 122/244) while donkeys had predominantly shaft-related wounds (59%; 72/122). Donkeys were two times more likely to have equipment-related wounds than horses. The presence of equipment-related wounds was associated with factors such as previously having wounds, inadequate collar positioning and using purchased equipment compared to partly home-made equipment. Characteristics of specific equipment components were also associated with certain wound types, such as narrow saddle pressure points and saddle wounds. Equipment-related wounds are highly prevalent in working equids, representing a serious welfare concern. Factors relating to equipment design, fit and assembly were associated with the presence of wounds. Importantly, species differences require tailoring of preventive approaches amongst working equids. A better understanding of work equipment should therefore be promoted as part of wound prevention and animal welfare strategies.

Several lines of argument are presented to support the notion that hooved animal rescue is justified, however expensive and controversial. The work of Singer and McNamee is discussed. The article concludes that various breeds have distinct arguments in their favour when it comes to rescue.

Various arguments in favour of and against bullfighting are reviewed. The author advocates a thorough and knowledgeable adaptation, suppressing bloodshed and other sufferings. Through history, the evolution of bullfighting consists of a gradual trend towards the ‘art for the art’. Such a solution would not only keep and even stimulate the aesthetic aspects, but has also more chances to save the animals. Strategically speaking, a fight for total suppression is unlikely to succeed anyway or will last too long.

Assessment of mass-produced animal-housing equipment can serve as a basis for improving animal welfare. A number of European countries have adopted various legal approaches to such assessment. In Germany, welfare assessment of housing equipment is voluntary, but minimum standards can be set by regulation for the assessment procedure and for the qualifications of the persons involved. From a scientific perspective, the time and resource constraints pose some problems, particularly as they apply to a voluntary procedure. For reasons of practicability, certain compromises will be required. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that each assessment procedure is based upon scientific principles and considers animal welfare aspects to a sufficient extent. A proposal for the minimum standards of an assessment procedure has been elaborated by the Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, DLG), a shortened version of which is presented here. The animal welfare impact of such a regulated but voluntary procedure will be less than that of an obligatory assessment; however, the relatively flexible approach may still significantly contribute to the improvement of welfare aspects of livestock housing.

It is believed that environmental enrichment techniques can play an important part in creating suitable captive environments for horses. There has, however, been little scientific investigation into the effectiveness of ‘stable-toys’ which claim to reduce the performance of equine stereotypies. This study investigated the effect of a foraging device known as ‘The Equiball™’ on equine stereotypies. Six horses were given their evening feed in an Equiball, and the occurence of stereotypic behaviour recorded using scan sampling of video observations. Pre-enrichment, horses spent a mean (± SD) of 5.27 ± 8.17 per cent of their time in the stable performing stereotypies; and significant individual variation in mean time performing stereotypic behaviour was found (P < 0.05). Several peaks in stereotypy over the day were found, the two main ones corresponding to the times before feeding. A reduction in stereotypic behaviour in five horses, and a small increase in stereotypic behaviour in one horse was observed during enrichment. During enrichment, there was an overall trend for stereotypic behaviour to decrease (P < 0.1). When used in conjunction with other measures such as behaviour therapy, companionship, increased exercise, and so on, the Equiball may help to create an environment less likely to lead to the development of stereotypic behaviours.

There is interest in the transportation of horses (Equus caballus) to slaughter and a need to assess the welfare implications of this practice. Forty-six loads of 7-35 horses transported for 0.33 to 3.10 h to a slaughter plant in Iceland were studied. Adults and foals were transported together and then placed in separate pens overnight in the lairage. This acted as a weaning procedure for the foals. Between one and eleven horses per load (59 adults and 129 foals) were observed during loading and at the slaughter plant, blood was sampled at slaughter and carcases were observed. No wounds were observed before transport, but 1.6% of horses had small, superficial bleeding wounds after transport. The respiration rate was greater after, compared to before, transport. Blood lactate concentration measured after lairage and slaughter was greater than normal in both adults and foals, 13% of adults and 20% of foals had a blood glucose concentration lower than normal, and 58% of adults and 25% of foals had a plasma total protein concentration greater than normal. Forty-four percent of adults and 17% of foals were bruised. There were no pre-existing conditions affecting the fitness of the horses for transportation. The effects of transport on the physiological responses and the severity of bruising were relatively minor. However, the results suggested that the handling, transport and lairage of the horses resulted in injury and signs of exertion or stress that were not compatible with optimal management practices. The mild dehydration in adults might have been associated with restricted access to drinking water during lairage of lactating mares. Controlled studies are required to identify the specific practices used in Iceland that result in injury and dehydration.

Welfare issues relevant to equids working in developing countries may differ greatly to those of sport and companion equids in developed countries. In this study, we test the observer reliability of a working equine welfare assessment, demonstrating how prevalence of certain observations reduces reliability ratings. The assessment included behaviour, general health, wounds, and limb and foot pathologies. In Study 1, agreement between five observers and their trainer (the ‘gold standard’) was assessed using 80 horses and 80 donkeys in India. Intra-observer agreement was later tested on 40 of each species. Study 2 took place in Egypt, using nine observers, their trainer, 30 horses and 30 donkeys, adjusting some scoring systems and providing observers with more detailed guidelines than in Study 1. Percentage agreements, Fleiss kappa (with a weighted version for ordinal scores) and prevalence indices were calculated for each variable. Reliability was similar across both studies, but was significantly poorer for donkeys than horses. Age, sex, certain wounds and (for horses alone) body condition, consistently attained clinically-useful reliability. Hoofhorn quality, point-of-hock lesions, mucous membrane abnormalities, limb-tether lesions, and skin tenting showed poor reliability. Reporting the prevalence index alongside the percentage agreement showed that, for many variables, the populations were too homogenous for conclusive reliability ratings. Suggestions are made for improving scoring systems showing poor reliability, but future testing will require deliberate selection of a more diverse equine population. This could prove challenging given that, in both populations of horses and donkeys studied here, many pathologies apparently showed 90-100% prevalence.

The scientific literature on horses kept on common land in the UK is limited. Welfare codes and legislation are in place to safeguard the welfare of these horses; however, it has little scientific validation. This study investigated the welfare code compliance and physical welfare of both tethered (T) and free-ranging (F) horses kept on a public common in South Wales. A welfare assessment was developed using resource-based and animal-based measures. The assessment was carried out weekly over a six-week period on all horses found on the common, a total of 37 horses, 21 tethered and 16 free-ranging were observed during some or all visits. The mean prevalence of welfare measures assessed during weekly observations of individual horses was calculated. The highest mean prevalences were recorded for rainscald, hoof overgrowth and hoof cracks. Overall, no significant differences were found between welfare indicators for tethered and free-ranging groups of horses on the same common. There were high levels of compliance with the Welsh Government code of practice covering tethering in some areas, eg having a 4-m gap between tethered horses (96% compliance), however, in other areas there was poor compliance, eg exercise off the tether for a period each day (0% compliance). Changes to management, including provision of shelter, increased access to water, exercise and farrier attention, may significantly improve welfare. However, there was no evidence that tethering itself had a significant negative impact on the physical welfare of horses.

In the 1690s, Ottoman bureaucrats reformed the sprawling postal system, a vital communications infrastructure that undergirded imperial power. Despite the expanding monitoring capacity that resulted, a constant shortage of horses regularly left couriers stranded for days and delayed official correspondence. This essay investigates this paradox and draws on a series of fifty-one Ottoman imperial decrees and reports from 1690 to 1833 to make three arguments. It first shows how bureaucrats perceived and tried to fix the problem by rationing horse usage and strengthening enforcement of rules. Second, it reveals that a range of official and non-official actors were diverting horses toward profit-making ventures in what I call a “shadow economy.” Third, it explains why Ottoman bureaucrats were unable to recognize the existence of this shadow economy. Like contemporary administrators in Qing China who found it hard to synthesize intelligence from different frontiers, Ottoman bureaucrats treated multiple reports of missing horses as discrete, unconnected events rather than connected evidence of a competing market demand for horses. Compounding this problem of a blinkered informational order, profound economic and social changes meant that bureaucrats in the capital were slow to realize that long-held official entitlements regarding horse usage for personal uses were aiding the growth of the shadow economy. I conclude by considering some social consequences of commercial forces in Ottoman society and contemporary France, and the stakes of this study with respect to the rise of anonymity in market exchanges, a property of capitalism.

Sarcocystis neurona, Neospora spp. and Toxoplasma gondii are related protozoans; they were considered the same parasite until 1970s. Two of these parasites, S. neurona and Neospora spp. are associated with a neurological syndrome in horses, called equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). The diagnosis and treatment of EPM are difficult. Most cases of EPM are related to S. neurona while only a few are due to Neospora spp. infections. There are two species of Neospora, Neospora caninum that has a wide host range and Neospora hughesi that has been found only in horses. Currently, T. gondii is not considered as a cause of EPM in horses, although it causes neurological illness in many other hosts, including humans. The present review provides an update on history, life cycle, diagnosis and treatment of these three infections in horses.

Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a tick-borne disease of economic importance, relevant in the international movement of equids. The causative agents are at least two apicomplexan protozoan parasites Babesia caballi and Theileria equi. To date, there is no study that estimates global and regional exposure of equids to EP. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the pooled prevalence and heterogeneity of EP using random-effects model. Six electronic databases were searched for publications on EP and assessed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of 66 eligible studies published between 1990 and 2019 and representing 24 041 equids were included. The overall pooled prevalence estimates (PPEs) of B. caballi was 22.3% (95% CI 21.7–22.8), while the overall PPE for T. equi was 29.4% (95% CI 28.7–30.0). The overall pooled prevalence due to co-infection with both parasites was 11.8% (95% CI 11.32–12.32). Also, subgroup analysis according to sex, age, diagnostic technique, equid species, region and publication years showed a substantial degree of heterogeneity across studies computed for both B. caballi and T. equi infections in equids. Awareness of the current status of EP globally will alert the relevant authorities and stakeholders where necessary on the need for better preventive and control strategies against the disease.