Poor Behavior in Stalled Horses Related to Feeding Routine

Instead of spending 17 hours a day grazing and roaming freely, stalled horses spend 17 hours involved in “other” activities, some of which are frowned upon by their caretakers.

According to a research team from Maringa State University in Brazil,^* “stabled animals do not have autonomy over food choice or grazing duration and tend to be idle between meals. In addition, other normal activities, such as social interaction and leisure, are affected when horses are confined to stalls. Short feeding periods combined with long intervals between meals may promote abnormal or stereotypic behaviors in horses, so although stalls can provide safety, they may negatively affect the welfare and performance of the animals.”

To improve welfare and management of horses and guarantee quality of life and improve performance, researchers studied 105 adult Quarter Horses housed in box stalls for 30 days. All horses were actively involved in competitions such as barrel racing, team roping, and ranch sorting. Horses were maintained in stalls without physical contact with other horses except when training. All horses were fed four times daily, alternating forage and concentrates.

All horses were observed for 24 consecutive hours and behavior assessed. Key findings of the study were:

• Horses did not receive sufficient energy or crude protein (mean body condition score was 4 on the commonly used 9-point scale);
• Feed was consumed quickly, leaving ample time to partake in undesirable behaviors;
• Examples of undesirable behaviors included restlessness, apathy, stall-walking, manure-eating, head-tossing, licking, feed-searching, attacking, and cribbing. These behaviors were expressed more frequently in older, larger horses; and
• The long time between meals and insufficient energy (calories) offered to horses may be responsible for the observed undesirable behaviors noted in this study.

“Feeding practices for domestic horses, particularly those stalled for some or most of the day, are far from natural. These researchers suggest that weighing the feeds, using small-hole haynets or slow feeders, and feeding smaller meals more frequently can reduce undesirable behaviors and improve equine welfare when horses must be confined to stalls,” advised Kathleen Crandell, Ph.D., a nutritionist for Kentucky Equine Research.

She added, “The horses in this study received large amounts of grain concentrate with low amounts of forage. Horses on these diets would benefit from a hindgut buffer like EquiShure. Further, when horses spend prolonged periods of time in stalls, they may benefit from the triple action of Triacton, which addresses bone loss from inactivity as well as the buffering effect on the stomach and hindgut.”

 *Bueno Ribeiro, L., T. Vasconcelos Matzkeit, J. Teodoro de Souza Nicolau. 2019. Determinants of undesirable behaviors in American Quarter Horses housed in box stalls. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 80:69-75.