The impact of forage on equine welfare: a behavioural perspective

Meeting the dietary and behavioral needs of the free-ranging, trickle feeding, herbivore horse has become increasingly important due to domestication and modern management practices, such as stabling for long periods of time and restricted access to forage (Harris et al, 2017; Lesimple et al, 2019).

Consistent climate changes over the past 50 million years have meant that the horses' digestive system has evolved to function on a high-fibre, low-starch diet, which they rely on to maintain good digestive health. Modern feeding practices, particularly for the performance horse (Bulmer et al, 2015), can involve high levels of starch compared to fibre, resulting in a multitude of physical and mental health problems such as equine metabolic syndrome, laminitis, equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) and the development of abnormal behaviours, to name a few.

In the wild, horses typically spend 16 hours a day foraging and rarely fast for more than 2–4 hours (Harris, 2005). It has been evidenced, however, that stabled horses typically spend 8.5–12 hours a day on foraging-related behaviours (Ellis, 2010), not nearing the amount of time typically spent performing this behaviour in the wild. Modern management practices such as stabling (Harris et al, 2017), restricted turnout options (Leme et al, 2014) and restricted forage (Ellis, 2010), all impact the horse's innate behavioural need to spend most of their time foraging, leading to mental health problems such as oral stereotypies (Nicol, 1999).