Horse well-being, a new protocol and an application to assess your horse’s well-being

Based on a scientific collaborative project conducted by the French Institute for horses and Equestrianism (IFCE), th National institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) and Milan university, the Horse Well-Being protocol enables you to assess a group of horses’ well-being in their environment (when not at work) at moment « t » in time. The protocol establishes the points where their well-being is troubled, and can serve as a basis for reflecting on possible ways to improve their living conditions.

This assessment protocol for horse well-being is now available in French for all horse guardians. It is based on the AWIN Horse protocol (Animal Welfare Indicators) which is written in English, and was initially established by a European research project concerning horses kept stabled. Several studies, both field and experimental studies, were conducted to adapt the protocol and to enrich the most recent scientific knowledge.

Animal well-being is defined as « a positive mental and physical state linked to satisfaction of the animal’s physiological and behavioural requirements, as well as its expectations. This state varies depending on the animal’s perception of the situation ». This definition published by ANSES in 2018, can be applied to all anmals, including horses.

Assessing animal well-being, whatever the species concerned, is carried out over four main principles : Food, living quarters, health, and behaviour, which can be divided into 12 criteria. Each criteria is assessed using specific indicators observed in the animal’s environment (resources or management, like the availability of water) and on the animal itself (like body condition, or emotional state). These indicators are of course specific to the species and for the Hose Well-Being protocol are presented in the chart below

The Horse Well-Being protocol comprises around 30 indicators to be measured both in the environment and on the horse. Origianlly it was designed to assess the well-being of a group of adult horses, in their living environment, whatever their habitat or use. It can also be used to assess a single horse, but will be less relevant :

• The protocol itself, provided as a document (47 pages) which defines each of the indicators and explains how to measure them accurately (available from the Downloadable resources, on the right).
• A grid to record the indicators (7 page document) to fill in following a specific order : start by observing the horse from a distance, making sure you are not noticed, then gradually coming closer to carry out Man to Horse relationship tests, and finally measure the indicators which require a close-up observation (available from the Downloadable resources, on the right).
• The application Horse Well-being, free of charge, user friendly and easy to use, which since January 2022 has been associated to the existing protocol.

For each indicator, the protocol generally offers two levels for marking : « satisfactory » or « non satisfactory ». In some cases, it offers an additional « intermediate » level. The results of the assessment are obtained by calculating for each indicator, and for the herd of horses assessed, the percentage of satisfactory, non-satisfactory or intermediate horses. This will give you a means to evaluate the state of well-being of the herd over a period of time. The application illustraets this with automatically generated graphs.

This application enables you to assess your horses’ well-being thanks to thirty or so scientifically approved indicators. The icons give you detailed information on how to enter the data as accurately as possible. Its use is easy and intuitive, and comprises 4 stages :

• Details on the structure and the horses.
• Access to the overview.
• Assessment of the horses, by entering the indicators one by one for each horse.
• Output of the results as a radar graph, each indicator can be zoomed in on, the aim being to get as close as possible to the largest diameter whole circle.

The application completes the existing tools with regard to animal well-being. You will aquire better knowledge of your herd, as it shows the satisfactory indicator results, as well as those where improvement can be implemented, you can then adopt better practices thanks to the tools available. You will also be able to follow the evolution of a group of horses over time, compare the different groups, or assess the effect of a change to your practices.

Destined to raise horse guardians awareness to the well-being of the animals in their care, this app will show up any problem within the herd, or will enable you to compare your results to recent scientific data.