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Publikasjoner
Sammendrag
Many horse stables have mechanical-fan ventilation systems but still try to regulate ventilation manually by closing doors and windows on a cold winter night. The aim of this study was to investigate the variation in air quality in Norwegian horse stables with different ventilation systems on days with low outdoor air temperatures. A total of 19 insulated, mechanically ventilated stables with horses kept inside during the night were included in the study. Almost all fans were operated during the night (n=18), but inlets for fresh air were highly variable in design and management leading to potential for ineffectiveness of ventilation functions. In four of the stables, there were no specific air inlet systems, and in five stables, the exit door was used as the only air inlet. The air exchange rate was sufficient in all the stables with an automated temperature thermostat for ventilation control. Mean level of carbon dioxide (CO2) was 1,800 ppm and in one stable CO2 exceeded 3,000 ppm. Mean inside ammonia (NH3) was 1.3 ppm, and only in one stable the level of NH3 exceeded 5 ppm. The total dust concentration was 0.69 ± 0.19 mg/m3, and in two stables, the dust concentration exceeded 1.0 mg/m3. Total and respirable dust levels were higher in stables with ventilation rate below recommended level. Half of the stables visited had a lower calculated air exchanges rate than recommended, and the majority of the stables regulated the ventilation manually by closing doors and inlets during night. This indicates a general lack of knowledge among the stable managers of climatic demand in horses and how to operate mechanical ventilation. Still, the majority of the stables maintained acceptable air quality, with NH3 and dust levels within recommended levels, although most stables had elevated humidity.
Forfattere
Elke Hartmann Knut Egil Bøe Grete H. M. Jørgensen Cecilie Marie Mejdell Kristina DahlbornSammendrag
Limited information is available on the extent to which blankets are used on horses and the owners’ reasoning behind clipping the horse’s coat. Research on the effects of those practices on horse welfare is scarce but results indicate that blanketing and clipping may not be necessary from the horse’s perspective and can interfere with the horse’s thermoregulatory capacities. Therefore, this survey collected robust, quantitative data on the housing routines and management of horses with focus on blanketing and clipping practices as reported by members of the Swedish and Norwegian equestrian community. Horse owners were approached via an online survey, which was distributed to equestrian organizations and social media. Data from 4,122 Swedish and 2,075 Norwegian respondents were collected, of which 91 and 84% of respondents, respectively, reported using blankets on horses during turnout. Almost all respondents owning warmblood riding horses used blankets outdoors (97% in Sweden and 96% in Norway) whereas owners with Icelandic horses and coldblood riding horses used blankets significantly less (P < 0.05). Blankets were mainly used during rainy, cold, or windy weather conditions and in ambient temperatures of 10°C and below. The horse’s coat was clipped by 67% of respondents in Sweden and 35% of Norwegian respondents whereby owners with warmblood horses and horses primarily used for dressage and competition reported clipping the coat most frequently. In contrast to scientific results indicating that recovery time after exercise increases with blankets and that clipped horses have a greater heat loss capacity, only around 50% of respondents agreed to these statements. This indicates that evidence-based information on all aspects of blanketing and clipping has not yet been widely distributed in practice. More research is encouraged, specifically looking at the effect of blankets on sweaty horses being turned out after intense physical exercise and the effect of blankets on social interactions such as mutual grooming. Future efforts should be tailored to disseminate knowledge more efficiently, which can ultimately stimulate thoughtful decision-making by horse owners concerning the use of blankets and clipping the horse’s coat.
Sammendrag
This paper describes a method in which horses learn to communicate by touching different neutral visual symbols, in order to tell the handler whether they want to have a blanket on or not. Horses were trained for 10–15 min per day, following a training program comprising ten steps in a strategic order. Reward based operant conditioning was used to teach horses to approach and touch a board, and to understand the meaning of three different symbols. Heat and cold challenges were performed to help learning and to check level of understanding. At certain stages, a learning criterion of correct responses for 8–14 successive trials had to be achieved before proceeding. After introducing the free choice situation, on average at training day 11, the horse could choose between a “no change” symbol and the symbol for either “blanket on” or “blanket off” depending on whether the horse already wore a blanket or not. A cut off point for performance or non-performance was set to day 14, and 23/23 horses successfully learned the task within this limit. Horses of warm-blood type needed fewer training days to reach criterion than cold-bloods (P < 0.05). Horses were then tested under differing weather conditions. Results show that choices made, i.e. the symbol touched, was not random but dependent on weather. Horses chose to stay without a blanket in nice weather, and they chose to have a blanket on when the weather was wet, windy and cold (χ2 = 36.67, P < 0.005). This indicates that horses both had an understanding of the consequence of their choice on own thermal comfort, and that they successfully had learned to communicate their preference by using the symbols. The method represents a novel tool for studying preferences in horses.
Sammendrag
Reasons for performing study: Horses may adapt to a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions. Owners often interfere with this natural thermoregulation ability by clipping and use of blankets. Objectives: To investigate the effects of different winter weather conditions on shelter seeking behaviour of horses and their preference for additional heat. Study design: Observational study in various environments. Methods: Mature horses (n=22) were given a free choice test between staying outdoors, going into a heated shelter compartment or into a nonheated shelter compartment. Horse location and behaviour was scored using instantaneous sampling every minute for one hour. Each horse was tested once per day and weather factors were continuously recorded by a local weather station. Results: The weather conditions influenced time spent outdoors, ranging from 52 % (of all observations) on days with mild temperatures, wind and rain to 88 % on days with less than 0°C and dry weather. Shivering was only observed during mild temperatures and rain/sleet. Small Warmblood horses were observed to select outdoors less (34 % of all observations) than small Coldblood horses (80 %). We found significant correlations between hair coat sample weight and number of observations outdoors (ρ = 0.23; P = 0.004). Conclusions: Horses selected shelters the most on days with precipitation and horses changed from a nonheated compartment to a heated compartment as weather changed from calm and dry to wet and windy. Horse breed category affected the use of shelter and body condition score and hair coat weight were associated with voluntary shelter selection.
Sammendrag
Mange hesteeiere bruker dekken på sine hester under ulike forhold, både når de er ute, når de står inne, når de ris og under transport, men det finnes ingen oversikt over hvor stort omfanget av dekkenbruk er og hvilke oppfatninger hesteeierne har om bruk av dekken. Innlegg på nettsider, i blogger og i ulike hestetidsskrifter tyder på at hesteeiere har veldig klare, men likevel svært forskjellige oppfatninger om dekkenbruk. Hensikten med denne spørreundersøkelsen var å kartlegge bruk av dekken til hest i Norgeunder ulike vær- og oppstallingsforhold og for ulike hesteraser. Våren 2014 ble det utarbeidet en spørreundersøkelse med til sammen 41 spørsmål til hesteeiere og andre med ansvar for stell av hest om bruk av dekken. Spørsmål og aktuelle svaralternativer ble lagt inn i programmet Quest-back. Spørreundersøkelsen ble publisert på nettstedet til Norsk hestesenter, Norsk Rytterforbund, Norsk Travselskap og nettsiden www.hest.no, samt på nettsidene til NMBU, Veterinærinstituttet (VI) og Bioforsk og også spredt via Facebook. Undersøkelsen ble besvart av totalt 2075 personer som drev med hest. Majoriteten av hesteeierne (55,1 %) var i aldersgruppen 20 – 39 år og 95,6 % av hesteeierne var kvinner. Varmblods ridehest utgjorde den største gruppen (25,1 %) og deretter kom kaldblods ridehest (19,1 %) og Islandshest (14,6 %), men både varmblods og kaldblods travere, engelsk fullblods, arabisk fullblods, frieser og ulike ponnier var representert i materialet. 53,6 % av de 2075 hesteeierne oppga at hestene ble holdt i en isolert stall (med/uten varme) om vinteren, mens 16,5 % oppga at hestene var i en uisolert stall og 25,3 % at hestene gikk i et løsdriftssystem med tilgang til leskur. 83,7 % av de 2075 hesteeierne oppga at de brukte dekken på hestene under gitte forhold når de var ute, mens 16,3 % oppga at de aldri brukte dekken. De viktigste årsakene til at hesteeierne brukte dekken var lave temperaturer, nedbør og vind samt når hesten var svett etter bruk. Det var spesielt ved utetemperaturer under + 10 °C at det ble benyttet dekken på hester som gikk ute. 35,2 % oppga at hesten ble klippet. Nesten 95 % av hesteeierne som hadde varmblods ponnier eller varmblods ride- og kjørehester, oppga at de brukte dekken når hesten var ute. Bare 65,8 % av hesteeiere med kaldblods ponnier oppga at de brukte dekken når hesten var ute, mens tilsvarende tall for hesteeiere med kaldblods ride- og kjørehester var 78,8 %. 59,1 % av eierne bruker dekken på hesten når den står inne. For hester som var oppstallet i isolert stall om vinteren, svarte 92,5 % av hesteeierne at de benyttet dekken på hesten når den var ute, mens tilsvarende tall for hester oppstallet i uisolert stall eller uteboks var 86,9 % og 64,0 % i løsdriftssystemer med utegang. Blant de hesteeierne som klippet hesten sin var det 97,8 % som brukte dekken under noen forhold når hesten var ute, mens tilsvarende tall for de hesteeierne som ikke klippet hesten var 76,0 %.