An example of lump ground feeding. | Photo: Courtesy Joan-Bryce Burla, PhD

When feeding horses in groups, increasing their distance apart and time spent eating might help reduce aggression, Swiss researchers say.

Wild horses are rarely aggressive during feeding because of the vast open areas and lengthy feeding times, but domestic horses often live in confined spaces with brief feeding times, said Anic Ostertag, MSc, ETH Biology, of the Animal Behaviour, Health, and Welfare Unit of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in Zurich. Ostertag presented her study results at the 2014 Swiss Equine Research Day, held April 10 in Avenches.

In their recent study Ostertag and her colleagues found that caretakers can limit aggression during feeding time by separating the horses by distance or barriers and by lengthening the feeding time with hay nets, for example, she said. This finding complements work by Dutch scientists, who found that frequent feeding can help keep aggressive activity low