b'EDUCATING EQUESTRIANSThe hoof slides briefly before reaching a full stop with the horses mass centeredEquine Researchers Need a Welfare Ethogramover it. In a gallop, the horses entire body weight, multiplied in force due to theEquitation scientists at the ISES Conference discussed how were moving toward a new combination with speed, bears down fullyera of equine welfare. And with it comes a new understanding of how to assess how well on a single hoof during this midstance,each horse is faring.which includes a push-off to propel theSpecifically, a shift from focusing on negative welfare to positive has pushed scientists horse forward. As the body mass passesand handlers alike to try to read horses emotions. But with a large range of views, methods, in front of the limb, the hoof rolls forwardand interpretation of equine behavior, its time for a consensus, one researcher holds.and over the tip in whats known as theWe want to know how horses feel, what their mental state is, and make sure that theyre breakover, before lifting off the surface. living a good life, said Natalie Waran, PhD, equitation science fellow and professor of One In each of these phases, the hoofWelfare at Eastern Institute of Technology, in Napier, New Zealand.experiences different forces and accel- We know that their various behaviorsincluding body positions, movements, actions, erations, and each of them is associatedand facial expressionscan give us clues about that, she said. Validation of a standard with different risk factors for injury, saidframework can allow us to assess their quality of life.Halucha. Waran presented a review of scientific publications on equine emotions. She and her fel-Its very difficult to identify the me- low researchers found nearly 1,500 published papers dealing with the topics of emotional chanical causes of injury, however, sheresponse and emotional state in equids. After confirming the relevance and the robustness added. With so many factors involved,of the study methods, the team included 75 of these publications in their review.concerning both the horse and theThey found significant differences in the use and interpretation of ethograms (charts for environment (surface and conditions),identifying behaviors and expressions) across studies, Waran said. They also noted that recognizing the links between injuriesresearchers tended to make distinctions between signs of positive and negative emotions and the many forces affecting the phasesdepending on context. For example, similar head and neck positions and movement were considered negative about three times as often as they were considered positive.of hoof-surface contact is a daunting task. However, researchers tended to agree more frequently on distinctions of emotional We know that racehorses experiencevalence (positive and negative), as an immediate response to something, with regard to major force on their limbs, reaching 2.5vocalization, facial expressions, and movement patterns, said Waran. Scientists seemed to times their body weight on a single hoofevaluate overall emotional statewhich, she said, becomes more important when consider-during certain phases of stance at theing welfare statusbest by observing behavioral habits and how they evolve.gallop, Halucha said. In my study weEquine quality of life is demonstrated during everyday behavior and responses to train-saw that strain can vary considerablying, she said. Once the key indicators have been validated, all horse owners and carers from one limb to the other, depending onshould be able to assess and improve the quality of life of horses under their care.which lead the horse is on and if hes gal- Going forward, researchers should work to validate an evidence-based ethogram that loping on a straight line or a curve. both scientists and handlers can use, said Waran.As for Szpakowski, she said she foundMore than just a life worth living, we want to see that our horses are actually living a limb forces were lower in a soft sandgood life, and this will be the way to assess that, she said.Christa Lest-Lasserre, MAarena than a hard-packed sand arenaexcept in heavier horses. Bigger horses had higher midstance forces in soft sandMore detailed analysis revealed thatFrench researcher, were one step closer than hard-packed sand. the younger horses tended to switch leadsto characterizing neck-related lameness We saw that both size and surfacefrequently, whereas the 10-year-old horseassociated with osteoarthritis (OA) and affect loading at all phases of the stance,did not, she added. related nerve impairment.she said. These factors work indepen- While the studies were preliminary andA lot of times when we cant find dently and in combination to causecould not lead to specific guidelines, theythe source of pain in the limbs, we just changes in the limb loading, with thehelped contribute to the growing body ofhave to start looking for other sites with most obvious finding in my study beingknowledge about footing and injury risk,expensive imaging exams, said Gwenola that heavier horses experience greatersaid Szpakowski. Touzot-Jourde, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVAA, forces on soft sand at midstance whereas,Our findings showed hoof-surfaceECVAA, a veterinary anesthesiologist at for the lighter horses, the harder sandmechanical interactions that arent imme- Oniris Nantes-Atlantic National College creates this effect. diately intuitive, and being aware of thisof Veterinary Medicine, Food Science and Loading definitely differs between leftcould be a key factor in injury preven- Engineering. But if we could recog-and right limbs, depending on the curve astion, she said. nize signs of lameness that are typical well as the lead, Halucha said. We wentof certain conditions like cervical joint into the study expecting to find a signifi- How Might Neck Arthritis Affectdegenerative diseases, we could better cant effect of curve, which we did, but weHorses Gaits? determine which cases are more likely to also found one for (front) lead (leg). ThisIf were observant and we have scienceneed attention to this particular area.needs to be kept in mind when makingbehind our investigations, we can betterTouzot-Jourde sought to better the suggestion that a horse just took a baddetermine the reason for lameness basedunderstand lameness associated withstep. Theres clearly more to it than that. on how a horse is lame. And, said aOA in the C6-C7 cervical vertebraea 38February 2020The Horse|TheHorse.comISES_WrapUp.indd 38 1/3/20 10:18 AM'