What domestic life does to the horse

A riding-school horse lives in a world designed by people. Knowing what that world takes away from him — and what it gives him — explains a good deal of his health and his behaviour.

In the exam programme

Explain what domestic life does to the horse or pony.Common module B

In Galop 3 you saw how horses live in the wild: in a herd, over wide open spaces, spending most of the day grazing — around 15 hours out of 24 — and walking almost all the time. His body and his behaviour are built for that life. Domestication has changed his surroundings; it has not changed his needs.

What changes
Less movement
In a stable or a small paddock he walks very little. Yet movement keeps his legs, his digestion and his circulation working: left standing too long, his legs swell — they fill, as we say — and he arrives for work bursting with energy.
What changes
Meals instead of grazing
People give him a few meals at set times, often rich and eaten fast. His small stomach, made to take in a little and often, copes badly with long empty hours and big feeds: colic and gastric ulcers are common results.
What changes
Less company
A herd animal, he often lives alone in his stable, kept apart from other horses or given new neighbours. Deprived of contact, he can become anxious, aggressive or, on the contrary, withdrawn.
What changes
Stale air, damp floors
He breathes in dust from hay and straw, and ammonia from dirty bedding, which irritate his airways. Wet bedding also damages the horn of his feet.

In the field, with the herd

The life its body is made for.

Grazing, for hours on end
Walking, almost without stopping
Grooming one another

In the box, alone

What it lacks, or what troubles it.

Meals far apart: the manger is empty
Little movement: a few steps from wall to wall
Solitude: no other horse in sight
Dust from hay and bedding

Fig. 4.1From the herd to the stable: what changes

When a horse copes badly with his life

When his needs are not met, a horse may develop stereotypies: repeated movements with no apparent purpose, always the same. They are neither whims nor “vices”, but signs that he is not coping.

Crib-biting: the horse grips an edge — a door, a manger — with his front teeth, tenses his neck and gulps air with a distinctive noise, like a burp.
Weaving: he sways from one foreleg to the other, swinging his head from side to side, often at his stable door.
Box walking: he walks round and round his stable or endlessly paces the fence line of his paddock.
Wood chewing: he gnaws doors and rails, very often because he does not have enough forage to chew.

Making up for what is missing

Domestic life has its advantages too: the horse is safe from predators, fed, watered and cared for, and often lives longer than a wild horse. So the aim is not to return him to nature, but to make up for what his way of life takes away.

Movement: daily turnout in a paddock or field, regular and varied work, rest days spent outside rather than shut in.
Forage: hay available for much of the day, if need be in a small-holed haynet that makes each meal last longer.
Company: neighbours he can see and smell and, where possible, turnout in a group.
Healthy housing: an airy stable with no draughts, clean bedding and little dust.
Routine: regular times, because horses are very attached to their habits.

Remember

A horse needs to move, to chew forage for long hours and to live with other horses. Whatever his domestic life lacks, he pays for in health or in behaviour.

Common mistake

Punishing a horse that crib-bites or chews his door. The habit is only the symptom: it is the cause — boredom, too little forage, isolation — that needs treating, with your instructor’s help.

A word from the instructor

A bored horse in a stable does not curl up with a good book. He finds his own hobbies — and gnawing the door or walking in circles is rarely the one you would have picked for him.

Ekidemy

The Galops^®, from the first step to Galop 7