Hartmann E, Bøe K E, Christensen J W, Hyyppä S, Jansson H, Jørgensen G H M, Ladewig J, Mejdell C M, Norling Y, Rundgren M, Särkijärvi S, Søndergaard E, Keeling L J
J Anim Sci. 2015 Sep;93(9):4564-74. doi: 10.2527/jas.2015-9233.
Keeping horses in groups is widely recommended but limited information is available about how this is implemented in practice. The aim of this survey was to describe how horses are kept in the Nordic countries in relation to sex, age, breed, and equestrian discipline and to assess owners' attitudes toward keeping horses in groups. Horse owners in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden were approached using a web-based questionnaire, which was translated into 4 languages and distributed online via equestrian forums, organizations, and social media. The number of respondents was 3,229, taking care of 17,248 horses. Only 8% of horses were never kept in groups, 47% were permanently grouped for 24 h/d, and 45% were stabled singly but grouped during turnout. Yearlings were most often permanently kept in groups (75%), mares and geldings more commonly during parts of the day (50 and 51%, respectively), and stallions were often kept alone (38%). Icelandic horses were more likely to be permanently kept in groups (36%) than warmbloods (16%) and ponies (15%). Twice as many competition horses (51%) were never grouped compared with horses used for breeding (20%) or leisure purposes (15%). The majority of respondents (86%) strongly agreed that group housing benefits horse welfare and that it is important for horses to have the company of conspecifics (92%). Nevertheless, not all horses were kept in groups, showing that attitudes toward group housing may not necessarily reflect current management. The risk of injury was a concern of many respondents (45%), as was introducing unfamiliar horses into already established groups (40%) and challenges in relation to feeding in groups (44%). Safety of people (23%) and difficulties handling group-kept horses (19%) were regarded as less problematic. Results suggest that the majority of horses have the possibility to freely interact with other horses, either as fulltime members of a group during 24 h/d or during turnout. Future research should address the extent to which being a part-time member of a group affects horse welfare. For permanent group housing to become more widespread, such as it is the case for most farm animals, future research could focus on solving some of the reoccurring problems perceived with keeping horses in groups. The dissemination of evidence-based information on all aspects around keeping horses in groups can ultimately stimulate further positive changes in the management of group-kept horses.
普遍建议将马匹成群饲养，但关于在实际中如何实施这一点的信息有限。这项调查的目的是描述北欧国家马匹在性别、年龄、品种和马术项目方面的饲养方式，并评估马主对马匹成群饲养的态度。通过基于网络的问卷对丹麦、芬兰、挪威和瑞典的马主进行了调查，问卷被翻译成4种语言，并通过马术论坛、组织和社交媒体在线分发。受访者有3229人，照料着17248匹马。只有8%的马从未成群饲养，47%的马全天24小时永久成群，45%的马单独圈养但在放牧场时成群。一岁马最常永久成群饲养（75%），母马和去势公马在一天中的部分时间更常成群（分别为50%和51%），而种马常单独饲养（38%）。冰岛马比温血马（16%）和矮种马（15%）更有可能永久成群饲养（36%）。与用于繁殖（20%）或休闲目的（15%）的马匹相比，从未成群饲养的竞赛马（51%）数量是其两倍。大多数受访者（86%）强烈同意群居有利于马匹福利，并且马匹有同种同伴陪伴很重要（92%）。然而，并非所有马匹都成群饲养，这表明对群居的态度不一定反映当前的管理方式。许多受访者担心受伤风险（45%），以及将不熟悉的马匹引入已有的马群（40%）和群体饲养时的喂食挑战（44%）。人们认为人员安全（23%）和管理群居马匹的困难（19%）问题较小。结果表明，大多数马匹有可能与其他马匹自由互动，要么作为全天24小时的群体全职成员，要么在放牧场时互动。未来的研究应探讨作为群体的兼职成员对马匹福利的影响程度。为了使永久群居饲养像大多数农场动物那样更广泛地普及，未来的研究可以集中于解决在成群饲养马匹时反复出现的一些问题。传播关于马匹群居饲养各方面的循证信息最终可以促进群居马匹管理方面的进一步积极变化。
