On-Farm Welfare Assessment of Horses: The Risks of Putting the Cart before the Horse.
Authors: Hausberger Martine, Lerch Noémie, Guilbaud Estelle, Stomp Mathilde, Grandgeorge Marine, Henry Séverine, Lesimple Clémence
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary: On-Farm Welfare Assessment of Horses Welfare assessment protocols for horses must balance practical constraints—speed, farmer acceptance, and assessor safety—with scientific rigour, yet many existing tools may not adequately capture the subjective nature of equine welfare experiences. Hausberger and colleagues conducted a comprehensive review of two major on-farm assessment protocols (one used in low-/middle-income countries, the other in high-income settings), evaluating their reliance on animal-based criteria rather than resource-based indicators, and comparing findings against broader welfare literature. The authors identified critical limitations in current protocols, including inadequately refined indicators and sampling methods that risk systematically under-detecting welfare problems rather than overstating them. Their key recommendation is stark: welfare assessment must be grounded in validated, objective tools administered by properly trained observers, as the subjective nature of welfare experience cannot be reliably captured by unrefined protocols or poorly calibrated assessments. For practitioners in veterinary, farriery, and coaching roles, this emphasises the importance of using evidence-based assessment frameworks rather than informal or untested measures, and highlights the need for continued professional development in welfare evaluation methodology to ensure equine health and psychological wellbeing are genuinely protected rather than merely appearing so on paper.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Use validated, animal-based welfare indicators (behavioral and physiological signs) rather than relying solely on facility conditions when assessing on-farm horse welfare
- •Ensure assessors receive proper training in standardized protocols before conducting welfare evaluations, as observer expertise directly impacts assessment accuracy
- •Be cautious of newly proposed welfare assessment protocols that lack scientific validation and sufficient methodological refinement, as they may miss real welfare problems
Key Findings
- •Animal-based welfare criteria reflect subjective welfare state better than resource-based external indices and should be prioritized in on-farm assessments
- •Major protocols for on-farm horse welfare assessment exist for low-/middle-income and high-income countries but have significant limitations in indicator selection and sampling methodology
- •Premature implementation of unrefined welfare protocols risks under-evaluation of actual welfare problems due to inadequate validation and observer training requirements
- •Objective, validated assessment tools administered by well-trained observers are essential to accurately represent an individual horse's actual welfare status