Environmental impacts and daily voluntary movement of horses housed in pasture tracks as compared to conventional pasture housing.
Authors: Farmer Long Jenna, Duberstein Jamie, Costin Kayla, Callaway Todd, Abrams Alexander, Wassel Brooklyne, Toal Kimberly, Duberstein Kylee
Journal: Journal of equine veterinary science
Summary
# Editorial Summary Pasture tracks have gained popularity among horse owners seeking to increase movement and manage weight, yet robust experimental evidence supporting their efficacy remained lacking until this 2024 investigation. Researchers tracked eight horses rotating through three housing systems—a perimeter track (561 m), a contained 2 ha pasture within the track, and a conventional 20 ha pasture—using GPS-equipped halters over ten weeks, with a second trial isolating pairs to control for social influences on movement behaviour. Surprisingly, total distance travelled was comparable across all three environments, challenging the assumption that track housing inherently promotes greater daily movement or activity levels. The significant finding came instead on the environmental front: pasture tracks produced measurable decreases in vegetative biomass and substantially greater soil erosion and sediment displacement compared to conventional grazing systems. For practitioners, this research suggests that whilst pasture tracks may offer organisational or biosecurity advantages, they cannot be reliably recommended as a movement-promotion tool, and their adoption warrants careful site management strategies to prevent erosion damage that could compromise long-term pasture quality and sustainability.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Pasture tracks may not be an effective tool for increasing daily movement in horses compared to conventional pasture options—consider alternative weight management strategies
- •Implementation of pasture tracks requires significant erosion control and vegetation management protocols to mitigate documented environmental degradation
- •For facilities considering track systems for weight control, evaluate return on investment carefully given equivalent movement to standard pasture with additional environmental risks
Key Findings
- •Horses traveled approximately the same distance in pasture tracks as in small (2 ha) or large (20 ha) conventional pastures over a 10-week study period
- •Pasture tracks caused detrimental environmental impacts including decreased vegetative biomass and increased sediment deposition from runoff compared to conventional pasture housing
- •Social isolation (experiment 2) did not significantly alter movement distances compared to paired housing (experiment 1), indicating consistent movement behavior across conditions
- •Pasture tracks did not fulfill their intended purpose of promoting greater movement as a weight control strategy