Management Systems 1

• Systems for keeping horses and ponies

  • Stabled or stalled 24/7
  • Turned out 24/7
  • Combined (stabled with turnout)
• Horses

  • Evolved to live outside and roam around in herds
  • Housed horses often kept isolated or in small groups with restricted access to forage
• Housing design considerations

  • Well drained
  • Services (water, electricity, lighting, sewerage, manure disposal)
  • Not exposed (ideally, which direction should the openings/doorways face - yard dependant)
  • Safe for horses and humans
  • Hygiene can be maintained
• American Barn

  Advantages: Easier management, increased communication with other horses, more economical for housing large numbers

  Disadvantages: Risk of disease spread, increased contact may lead to bullying
• Other housing types

  • Traditional looseboxes
  • Combi-barns
  • Crew yards
• Housing as single or in groups

  • Single stalls/stables (less risk of injury, often smaller space so easier to clean out, cheaper for bedding, easier to monitor feed and water intakes and excretion)
  • Group housing (company, provide enough feed piles and water points to avoid bullying)
• Individual (v. pair-housed) housing

  More development of stereotypies in weaned horses
• No physical contact (v. pair or group housed)

  Higher faecal cortisone, more difficult to handle
• Wall materials

  • Brick
  • Wood
  • Breezeblock
  • Reinforced plastic
• Walls

  • Insulated
  • Finished (painted, white-washed, stockboard, rubber matting)
  • Easy to clean
  • Safe for horse
• Roof

  • Pitched preferable to flat
  • Good drainage, no leaks
  • High enough to make sure horse can't hit its head
  • Enough air space (air flow)
• Floor materials

  • Grooved concrete
  • Brick
  • Rubber matting
  • Packed earth
• Floors

  • Well-drained (slopes, drains, not slippery)
  • Insulation (bedding, mats)
• Windows

  • Not glass
  • Natural light
  • Grilled for safety, can be opened for ventilation
• Passive stack effect

  Greater the distance between inlet + outlet = better ventilation
• Climate factors

  • Ambient temperature
  • Relative humidity
  • Ventilation rate
  • Air movement
• Ideal ventilation rate

  8 changes per hour
• Doors

  • Width min. 1.2m (foaling 1.4m)
  • Height min 2.4m
  • Solid, hinged, sliding, single or double, full or half
• Furniture

  • Water (bucket, automatic, metal, plastic, height of water)
  • Tie ring
  • Mangers/hay racks
  • Toys/licks
  • Electric light & power (protected, switches not in stable, RCD)
• Environment

  • Enrichment (view from stable, internal furniture)

  Temperatures (colder inside stable as not moving around as much)
• Stable sizes

  • BHS (up to 16hh): 3.7m x 3.7m

  Average box in a racing yard (1987): 3.3m x 3.7m

  UFAW (1978) recommended for 500kg to 600kg horse: 4m x 4m

  Rolling requires span 6m
• Stable size

  Less important than view/isolation/solid walls. Isolation more of a problem than confinement.
• Bedding types

  • Straw

  Wood shavings/pellets

  Hemp/flax

  Paper

  Rubber matting
• Bedding

  • Prevent injury

  Soak up urine

  Provide warmth & comfort

  Prevent cast
• Bedding management

  • Remove faeces and urine

  Wash floors (hygine, smell, damp)

  Add fresh bedding that is clean and dry

  Build banks - prevent getting cast
• Other buildings

  • Feed store

  Hay/straw barn

  Tack room

  Staffroom/toilet
• Disadvantages of stabling

  • Unnatural

  Restricts freedoms

  Risk of some disease

  Labour required for care

  Limits exercise

  Limits social contact

  Stereotypies
• Management routines

  • Regular checks for injuries, illness (e.g. colic)

  Provision of fresh food and water (fresh grazing or forage if supplementing)

  Provision of clean and dry bedding / poo picking

  Temperature regulation (e.g. using rugs)

  Exercise (ridden, groundwork, horse walker, turn-out)