Diet and Behaviour

• Main areas of research and concern

  • Normal feeding behaviour
  • Diet and abnormal behaviour
• Understanding the link between behaviour and diet

  Can improve welfare by promoting positive welfare instead of preventing negative welfare
• 'Golden rule': Do we feed them like a feral horse?

  • No - certain horses need more food, for energy compared to a feral horse e.g., racehorse
  • Yes - have horse who 'not doing a lot' - feed them like a feral horse [forage] - common in industry to feed horses food that they don't need
• 'Golden rule': Feed them a balanced diet?

  Important to feed them a balanced diet
• Normal feeding behaviour


  • Foraging/searching for food = high priority in time budget [24hr period consumed in looking for and eating forage] - nearly all food = on the ground
  • Selective grazers - lots of moving; eat certain aspects of their environment, not all
  • High fibre, low quality (nutritionally) diet [low quality doesn't mean poor quality]
  • Lots of chewing (~3400 chews/kg hay) - chewing releases saliva; lots of chewing, releases lots of saliva - buffer the stomach acid
  • ~Neutral pH in hindgut for optimum microbial activity
• Horse-led feeding/preferences


  • Selection based on macronutrient content, then taste, then odour
  • Preference for week flavours (even if non-nutritive)
  • Can develop associations and aversions but based on organoleptic qualities [those relating to the sensory organs (smell, taste, texture in mouth/prehension, sight]
• Domestic feeding


  • Higher energy to meet work demands
  • Higher concentrates rich in starch (energy) and lower forage
  • Higher quality/lower quantity forage and grass
  • Stabling = reduced movement
  • Reduced forage can lead to: Gastric ulceration, Colic, Stereotypic behaviours
  • Not necessary even in elite athletes
  • Increased starch can cause excitement and reactivity
• Stereotypic behaviours


  • Oral - Lack of forage, Digestive discomfort
  • Locomotory - Lack of motion/grazing, Digestive discomfort
• Generalised behavioural changes


  • Poor performance
  • Irritability
  • Resistance
• Dental issues


  • Hypsodont
  • Can lead to: Head shy behaviour, Resistance to rein aids, Generalised 'grump' behaviour
• Deficiencies


  • Serotonin/tryptophan - Day 1 sedative effect, Day 3 excitatory behaviour but lower plasma cortisol
  • Magnesium [regulates muscle and nerve signals] - muscle tremors, nervousness, excitability
  • Thiamine (vit. B1 [used within energy conversion]) - nervousness and energy problems
  • Selenium - oxidative stress and crib-biting
• Fibre-based diets


  • Increased feeding/grazing
  • Decreased reactivity
  • Increased investigation
  • Decreased restlessness
  • Lower plasma cortisol levels before and after weaning