Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T20:23:29.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contemplating the Five Domains model of animal welfare assessment: UK horse owner perceptions of equine well-being

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

KA Fletcher ,
LJ Cameron  and
M Freeman
KA Fletcher*
Affiliation:
University Centre Sparsholt, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2NF, UK
LJ Cameron
Affiliation:
University Centre Sparsholt, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2NF, UK
M Freeman
Affiliation:
University Centre Sparsholt, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 2NF, UK
*
* Contact for correspondence: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Traditionally, assessment of animal welfare generally focused on physiological signs of health with less consideration of psychological well-being. More recently, the Five Domains model highlighted the concept of all aspects of an animal's life influencing their affective state. In equestrianism, however, there is a lack of awareness of the Five Domains model and, specifically, how different factors may affect the mental well-being of horses (Equus caballus). This divide between scientific research and lay horse owners could compromise equine welfare by failing to recognise horses as sentient beings with species-specific needs. The present study therefore aimed to explore how evidence-based information can be effectively communicated to equestrians (n = 259) through an online survey and whether increased knowledge of equine welfare needs has any impact on horse caregivers’ assessment of their own horses’ quality of life. Results showed that a simple educational infographic based on the Five Domains model had a significant impact on equestrians’ assessment of equine welfare, although longitudinal, empirical studies are needed. Scores on a Likert scale for health, behaviour/human interactions and overall welfare were significantly lower following the intervention but scores for emotional well-being were significantly higher. This may suggest that, whilst the infographic increased participant awareness of the importance of emotional state and the factors affecting welfare, there were difficulties or inconsistencies in objectively assessing these emotions. This highlights the need for equine welfare science to be communicated more proactively to horse owners in an accessible, engaging format.

Keywords

animal welfarebehaviour changeFive Domainsmental stateowner perceptionpositive emotions
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 259 - 268
Copyright
© 2021 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Animal Welfare Act 2006 Animal Welfare Act. https://www.legis-lation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/pdfs/ukpga_20060045_en.pdfGoogle Scholar
Busby, D, Rogers, S, Bell, C and Taylor, J 2017 Improving recognition of equine fear and stress (a barrier to welfare improvement). https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#label/MSc/FMfcgxwB VDCvpDFlKtmTKbSwdxCqpWpr?projector=1&messagePartId=0.2Google Scholar
Carroll, HK, Bott, RC, Mastellar, SL, McNeill, LR and Djira, GD 2016 Perceptions of equine well-being in South Dakota. Journal of Animal Science 94(2): 24–25. https://doi.org/10.2527/msas-as2016-054CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, S 2011 Duties to companion animals. Res Publica 17(3): 261–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-011-9159-xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornish, A, Wilson, B, Raubenheimer, D and McGreevy, P 2018 Demographics regarding belief in non-human animal sentien-ce and emotional empathy with animals: A pilot study among attendees of an animal welfare symposium. Animals 8(10): 174. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8100174CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dawkins, MS 2017 Animal welfare with and without conscious-ness. Journal of Zoology 301(1): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.12434CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiClemente, CC and Prochaska, JO 1998 Toward a compre-hensive, transtheoretical model of change: Stages of change and addictive behaviors. In: Miller, WR and Heather, N (eds) Applied Clinical Psychology. Treating Addictive Behaviors pp 3–24. Plenum Press: New York, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1934-2_1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) 1979 The Five Freedoms. FAWC: London, UK. http://www.fawc.org.uk/Google Scholar
Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) 2009 Farm Animal Welfare in Great Britain: Past, Present and Future pp 57. FAWC: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Green, T and Mellor, D 2011 Extending ideas about animal wel-fare assessment to include ‘quality of life’ and related concepts. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 59(6): 263–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2011.610283CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, C, Randle, H, Pearson, G, Preshaw, L and Waran, N 2018 Assessing equine emotional state. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 205: 183–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.03.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heleski, CR and Anthony, R 2012 Science alone is not always enough: The importance of ethical assessment for a more comp-rehensive view of equine welfare. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 7(3): 169–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2011.08.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemsworth, LM, Jongman, E and Coleman, GJ 2015 Recreational horse welfare: The relationships between recreation-al horse owner attributes and recreational horse welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 165: 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2014.11.019CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hockenhull, J and Whay, HR 2014 A review of approaches to assessing equine welfare. Equine Veterinary Education 26(3): 159–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/eve.12129CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horseman, S, Whay, B and Mullen, S 2016 Horses in our hands: The welfare challenges facing the UK's equine population. World Horse Welfare: UK. https://www.worldhorsewelfare.org/survey-equine-welfare-england-and-walesGoogle Scholar
Hotchkiss, JW, Reid, SWJ and Christley, RM 2007 A survey of horse owners in Great Britain regarding horses in their care. Part 1: Horse demographic characteristics and management. Equine Veterinary Journal 39(4): 294–300. https://doi.org/10.2746/042516407X177538CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hötzel, MJ, Vieira, MC and Leme, DP 2019 Exploring horse owners’ and caretakers’ perceptions of emotions and associated behaviors in horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 29: 18–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2018.10.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledger, RA and Mellor, DJ 2018 Forensic use of the Five Domains Model for assessing suffering in cases of animal cruelty. Animals 8(7): 101. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8070101CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lesimple, C and Hausberger, M 2014 How accurate are we at assessing others’ well-being? The example of welfare assessment in horses. Frontiers in Psychology 5: 21. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00021CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lofgren, EA, Rice, BMG and Brady, CM 2020 Exploring per-ceptions of equine welfare scenarios using a positive approach. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2020.1790372CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchant-Forde, JN 2015 The science of animal behavior and welfare: Challenges, opportunities, and global perspective. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 2: 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2015.00016CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marlin, DJ, Randle, H, Pal, L and Williams, JM 2018 Do equestrians have insight into their equine-related knowledge (or lack of knowled-ge)? Proceedings of the 14th International Conference of the International Society for Equitation Science. 21-24 September 2018, Rome ItalyGoogle Scholar
McBride, SD and Mills, DS 2012 Psychological factors affecting equine performance. BMC Veterinary Research 8: 180. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-6148-8-180CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McBride, SD, Parker, MO, Roberts, K and Hemmings, A 2017 Applied neurophysiology of the horse; implications for training, husbandry and welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 190: 90–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2017.02.014CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGreevy, P, Berger, J, de Brauwere, N, Doherty, O, Harrison, A, Fiedler, J, Jones, C, McDonnell, S, McLean, A, Nakonechny, L and Nicol, C 2018 Using the Five Domains Model to assess the adverse impacts of husbandry, veterinary, and equitation interventions on horse welfare. Animals 8(3): 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8030041CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, DJ 2015 Positive animal welfare states and reference stan-dards for welfare assessment. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 63(1): 17–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2014.926802CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, DJ 2016 Updating animal welfare thinking: Moving beyond the ‘Five Freedoms’ towards ‘A Life Worth Living.’ Animals 6(3): 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6030021CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, DJ 2017 Operational details of the Five Domains Model and its key applications to the assessment and management of ani-mal welfare. Animals 7(12): 60. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani7080060CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, DJ, Beausoleil, NJ, Littlewood, KE, McLean, AN, McGreevy, PD, Jones, B and Wilkins, C 2020 The 2020 Five Domains Model: Including human-animal interactions in asses-sments of animal welfare. Animals 10(10): 1870. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101870CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, DJ and Burns, M 2020 Using the Five Domains Model to develop welfare assessment guidelines for Thoroughbred horses in New Zealand. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 68(3): 150–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/00480169.2020.1715900CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pickering, P and Hockenhull, J 2018 Identifying information that can be trusted in the internet age: the challenge for horse owners. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference of the International Society for Equitation Science. 21-24 September 2018, Rome ItalyGoogle Scholar
Pickering, P and Hockenhull, J 2020 Optimising the efficacy of equine welfare communications: Do equine stakeholders differ in their information-seeking behaviour and communication preferen-ces? Animals 10: 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10010021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randle, H, Abbey, A and Wassens, S 2017 Adaptive manage-ment as an approach to supporting change in equestrian training practices. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference of the International Society for Equitation Science. 23-25 November 2017, Wagga Wagga, NSW, AustraliaGoogle Scholar
Rioja-Lang, FC, Connor, M, Bacon, H and Dwyer, CM 2020 Determining a welfare prioritisation for horses using a Delphi method. Animals 10: 647. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10040647CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rogers, S, White, J and Busby, D 2019 Introducing human beha-vior change for animals: a new approach to sustainable change for horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 29: 152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2018.06.021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rørvang, MV, Nielsen, BL and McLean, A 2020 Sensory abili-ties of horses and their importance for equitation science. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7: 633. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00633CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spinka, M and Wemelsfelder, F 2011 Environmental challenge and animal agency. In: Appleby, MC, Mench, JA, Olsson, IAS and Hughes, BO (eds) Animal Welfare, Second Edition pp 27–30. CAB International: Cambridge, UK. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781845936594.0027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Starling, M, McLean, A and McGreevy, P 2016 The contribution of equitation science to minimising horse-related risks to humans. Animals 6(3): 15. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6030015CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, K and Haigh, L 2018 Perceptions of equitation science revealed in an online forum: Improving equine health and welfare by communicating science to equestrians and equestrian to scientists. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 25: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2018.02.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Dierendonck, M and Moons, CPH 2018 The WELPA project: improving equine welfare in riding schools and livery yards through human behavioural change (HBC). Proceedings of the 14th International Conference. Equitation Science. 21-24 September 2018, Rome ItalyGoogle Scholar
Wathes, C 2010 Lives worth living? Veterinary Record 166: 468–469. https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.c849CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webster, J 2016 Animal welfare: Freedoms, dominions and ‘A Life Worth Living.’ Animals 6(6): 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6060035CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wylie, CE, Ireland, JL, Collins, SN, Verheyen, KLP and Newton, JR 2013 Demographics and management practices of horses and ponies in Great Britain: A cross-sectional study. Research in Veterinary Science 95(2): 410–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rvsc.2013.05.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed