Researchers are working to create a solid, objective framework for assessing horses' well-being. | Photo: iStock

But the fact of the matter is we—even equitation scientists and equine welfare researchers—might still be lacking a solid, reliable, objective framework for assessing a horse’s well-being.

That’s why a panel of horse welfare professionals decided to assess the welfare implications of common management, breeding, and training techniques according to a set animal welfare model: “The Five Domains.” Funded by the Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation, among others, the project revealed the risks of making inaccurate “assumptions” when assessing equine welfare, said Paul McGreevy, BVSc, PhD, MRCVS, MACVS (Animal Welfare), professor of animal behavior and animal welfare science at the University of Sydney, in Australia. He presented the group’s work during the 2017 International Society for Equitation Science Symposium, held Nov. 22-26 in Wagga Wagga, Australia.

World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) researchers developed the Five Domains concept. They updated the model and presented it in its latest form at the 4th OIE Global Conference on Animal Welfare, held in 2016 in Guadalajara, Mexico. It now ties into the “OneWelfare” concept, which suggests animal and human welfare are intertwined