Horsetalk.co.nz Risks in using side reins on horses identified in study
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The different auxiliary reins used with horses as training aids. Image: Gehlen et al. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072146
Many users of auxiliary reins in a just-published study had them adjusted too tightly and did not change them despite the risk of related breathing problems, researchers report.
Auxiliary reins, such as running side reins, lunging reins, side reins, draw reins, Chambon, de Gogue, and the sliding ring martingale, are mechanical equine training aids that are used for various reasons, and exert influence on the posture of the horse.
Simple but positive habit-forming changes to daily equine care routines can have benefits for both animals and their caregivers, according to researchers.
Researchers Jo White and Ruth Sims set out in their study to explore the potential for simple interventions to develop pro-animal welfare habitual behaviours (PAWHBs) in people to improve the lives of animals.
“Human behavioural research indicates that opportunities exist to deliver lasting change through developing positive habitual behaviours,” the pair wrote in the journal
Animals.
The researchers noted that the routine nature of many equine care and management practices are conducive to habit formation and maintenance.
The authors, in their proof-of-concept paper, sought to evaluate a theory-based intervention of developing and maintaining a pro-animal welfare habit in people caring for equines.
A volunteer policeman patrols a beach in Hua Hin, Thailand. Image by DigitalDDay
Last year’s outbreak of African Horse Sickness in Thailand probably arose from a single introduction of the virus into the country, the findings of molecular-based testing suggest.
Dr Napawan Bunpapong and her colleagues at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok have reported their findings on the virus that wreaked havoc on the nation’s equestrian industry.
It was the first outbreak of the dangerous disease in the country’s history.
The study team, writing in the journal
Emerging Infectious Diseases, also described the circumstances surrounding the outbreak, first reported in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, in northeastern Thailand.
Horsetalk.co.nz Overnight stabling and an evening feed appeals to horses, findings suggest
Overnight stabling of horses who spent their days on pasture appeared to have a positive effect on chronic stress levels, researchers in Italy report.
Scientists with the University of Milan have reported on the results of a study of 47 leisure horses whose levels of the stress hormone cortisol were monitored in their hair during a year-long study.
Silvia Michela Mazzola and her fellow researchers, writing in the journal
Animals, noted the growing priority placed on meeting the behavioral needs of horses.
“There is growing awareness that stabled horses may be deprived of opportunities both for social contacts and the possibility to perform natural behaviors, limited by stable designs and insufficient box dimensions,” they said.
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