Horse Stable Barn Fronts Door and Side Panels with bamboo wood

Horse Stable Barn Fronts Door and Side Panels with bamboo wood
 
 

Horses communicate through a number of behaviours, such as flehmen, tooth clapping (especially in foals and colts), posture, sound, and touching. Touching can be both aggressive (kicking and biting) and friendly (grooming). Some of these behaviours are innate, while others need some learning at a young age. It seems that young horses who are kept isolated have difficulty in engaging with other horses if introduced into a group.

Horses carry out different types of comfort behaviour. This behaviour serves different purposes such as a reaction to itching of the skin, to keep insects away, to keep the coat in a good condition, or for a social purpose. Comfort behaviour is exhibited even in horses who are groomed regularly. Comfort behaviour include nipping with the teeth, scratching with a leg (typically a hind leg), rubbing against an object, rolling in sand, mud, snow etc., followed by body and head shaking, and social grooming where two horses groom each other (typically on the withers or back).

Although horses are social animals, they have a social space which defines the distance they wish to keep to other horses. This distance is individual, and is dependent on age and on how well the horses know each other. During social grooming, for example, the distance is zero. Horses may also be seen standing close together when trying to keep insects away. Foals and colts do normally not react to others entering their social space, and they may be seen lying close together. When horses are group housed, it is important to take social space into account when deciding how much space they should be given. Under natural conditions, horses spend most of the day seeking feed. Depending on feed availability they may move over large distances. Horses have a need for moving, and if kept in a restricted area for a certain time which limits their ability to fulfil this motivation they will express this abundantly once they are allowed free movement. Especially for foals and colts, free movement and playing with conspecifics is important for the development of muscles, joints, tendons, and bone structure. Furthermore, free movement will enhance their balance and coordination. Horses are herbivores. The natural way for a horse to eat is to move slowly forward, with the head down, grazing. They may spend up to 14 – 16 hours a day eating. The period when they don’t eat is normally not more than 3 – 4 hours. This more or less continuous feeding fits the digestive system of the horse which has a relatively small stomach but large colon and caecum. In the colon and caecum there is a microbial breakdown of feed, especially fibrous materials, which was not digested in the small intestine. Abnormal behaviours are seldom or never seen in horses that live under natural conditions. The development of abnormal behaviours is a sign that the environment and/or the conditions in which horses are kept do not fulfil their needs, and are thus indicative of a more or less compromised welfare. Many abnormal behaviours are stereotypies such as crib biting, wind sucking, stable walking, weaving, and auto-mutilation (biting themselves). Others may be normal behaviours which occur with an abnormal frequency such as aggressive behaviour and continuous biting on wood in a horse’s accommodation. Development of abnormal behaviours differs between individuals. It is a misunderstanding that stereotypies are contagious. Horses that develop stereotypies may have the same stress level or the performance of some stereotypies may cause disturbance in the environment, which affect other susceptible horses.

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