Das ruheverhalten von pferden in offenlaufställen

The keeping of horses in loose boxes was promoted 15 years ago to provide conditions equivalent to the natural environment. Freedom of movement and social contact are, however, significantly restricted by this form of housing. As a result, group housing has become more common, allowing horses to develop all aspects of behaviour, especially for high ranking individuals. The benefits for lower ranked individuals has not been investigated sufficiently. The current study involved seven groups of horses whose husbandry conditions fulfilled specific criteria. Each group comprised between five and fifteen horses aged between 2 and 26 years. The groups were heterogeneous with respect to breed and size. Each horse had access to an area ranging from 4.6 to 17.3 m² for lying down. The behaviour of horses was recorded using video cameras. Observations were made on each group on five different days with a break of at least one day between observation days. The time spent resting and the number of periods of lying down were recorded and the results were correlated with age, sex and social rank. Low ranking horses spent shorter periods lying down than high ranking horses, and a number were not observed to lay down at all. These horses were recognisably exhausted. Such deviations from the norm would not have been recognised if only group averages had been used and this supports the legislation which requires consideration of individual animals. The results indicate the benefits of group housing, but indicate that this method of husbandry requires further development with respect to certain details discussed.