Horse Husbandry-Nutrition, Management and Welfare
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Equids".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 41052
Special Issue Editor
Interests: equine nutrition; equine exercise physiology; equine behaviour & welfare; pharmacokinetics of equine medications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear colleagues,
Nutrition is the foundation stone of health and welfare. Without adequate nutrition, all body systems are compromised, including the musculoskeletal system, the endocrine system, the immune system, the nervous system and the cardiovascular system. If any of these systems are not functioning effectively, the health and therefore welfare of the horse is compromised. In these cases, horses cannot perform or behave according to human expectations.
Studies on equine time budgets demonstrate how intertwined equine eating behaviour, nutrition, and welfare are. Horses with no or limited human intervention routinely spend between 50% and 65% of their time eating. Modern husbandry and feeding practices can reduce this time to 15%. This leads to the manifestation of oral-based stereotypies such as windsucking, crib biting and wood chewing. The locomotory aspects of eating should not be ignored with horses constantly moving while grazing and browsing. Horses kept intensively also develop locomotor-based stereotypies such as box walking and weaving. All are indicators of poor welfare.
Adequate nutrition is fundamental to maintaining good health and performance in all classes of horse. This means not only the provision of energy, protein, minerals and vitamins, but also the appropriate selection of feedstuffs for an animal who evolved a digestive system based on the consumption of large amounts of low-quality forage. This can be particularly challenging when feeding horses with high energy requirements. Equine digestive physiology also evolved to accommodate periods of feast and famine. However, current horse husbandry practices provide an endless period of feast with no famine. This leads to a host of health issues due to overnutrition, such as obesity, insulin resistance, carbohydrate overload and laminitis. All compromise horse health and welfare.
Dr. Glenys Noble
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- equine
- horses
- behaviour
- stereotypies
- welfare
- obesity
- insulin
- weight loss
- undernutrition
- overnutrition
- exercise
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