Studies have shown that horses are better off living outdoors than in stalls. But 24-hour turnout isn’t an option for all owners and farms. If that’s your case, don’t worry: There are still many things you can do to improve horse welfare at your facility. French behavior researchers recently carried out an unprecedented investigation into the factors having the strongest effects on equine welfare in individual housing and how owners can make stalled horses’ environments better.

Frequent forage feeding, regular free time in the paddock with other horses, straw bedding, and good riding techniques are critical elements for promoting equine welfare in riding facilities, said Clémence Lesimple, PhD, researcher at the University of Rennes, in France. And so is, ironically enough, limiting the horse’s access and visibility to the great outdoors when he’s in his stall.

“Previous researchers have suggested that horses might be ‘frustrated’ to see outside, and our research confirms that access to wide outdoor viewing is related to signs of poor welfare,” said Lesimple. She presented her study at the 41st French Equine Research Day, held March 12 in Paris.

Better then—if the horse has to be stalled—to keep him in an indoor stall opening up to a hallway “with grids instead of walls between the stalls, to allow close physical, visual, and olfactory contacts,” she said, and give him regular free time outdoors with other horses