Welfare and stress of horses used for Equine-assisted services: A systematic review

IF 2.2 2区农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE

Applied Animal Behaviour Science Pub Date : 2024-10-23 DOI:10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106424

Bethany H. Baxley, Howard Rodriguez-Mori, Nichole C. Anderson

{"title":"Welfare and stress of horses used for Equine-assisted services: A systematic review","authors":"Bethany H. Baxley, Howard Rodriguez-Mori, Nichole C. Anderson","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106424","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Interest in Equine assisted services (EAS) has grown over the past two decades, with research highlighting the benefits for participants in ridden, or mounted services. However, there is a notable lack of studies focusing on the welfare of the horses involved in these services. As research in this area continues to develop, a review is necessary to evaluate the quality of existing studies about the welfare of horses in the EAS industry. Systematic reviews provide a structured approach to organizing current literature and identifying gaps in the research. The goal of this systematic review is to summarize the existing literature on the stress and welfare of horses in EAS and pinpoint areas requiring further investigation. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, five databases were searched using terms relevant to EAS. Of the search result, 28 papers met the criteria for inclusion, requiring research to be published in English, in a peer-reviewed journal, studying EAS and its effects on equine welfare. Of the 28, 24 articles focused on quantitative data, including behavioral and physiological indicators of stress and welfare. The remaining 4 articles were survey and EAS module analysis, providing qualitative data about EAS horses. From the selected papers, we found the following trends related to EAS horse stress indicators. First, 20 (71.4 %) papers investigated physiological indicators, and 16 (57.1 %) investigated behavioral indicators. The sample size in 16 (57.1 %) articles was ten or fewer animals. The results in 17 (60.7 %) of the articles found that there was no significant difference in horses' stress or that no conclusions could be drawn regarding the horses’ stress and welfare. A survey conducted by Rankins et al. (2021) revealed that the most common problems EAS centers face are behavioral and soundness issues leading to high horse turnover. Despite these findings, many studies found a lack of significant differences in their results, likely due to limitations in study design, highlighting significant gaps in the research. We also identified several inconsistent factors that are likely to affect and confound the results of EAS research. Therefore, given the limited knowledge about the welfare of horses working in EAS and the confounding factors that are likely to influence the results of studies, more robust research is needed to better understand the challenges of horses working in EAS and their welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"280 ","pages":"Article 106424"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159124002727","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Interest in Equine assisted services (EAS) has grown over the past two decades, with research highlighting the benefits for participants in ridden, or mounted services. However, there is a notable lack of studies focusing on the welfare of the horses involved in these services. As research in this area continues to develop, a review is necessary to evaluate the quality of existing studies about the welfare of horses in the EAS industry. Systematic reviews provide a structured approach to organizing current literature and identifying gaps in the research. The goal of this systematic review is to summarize the existing literature on the stress and welfare of horses in EAS and pinpoint areas requiring further investigation. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, five databases were searched using terms relevant to EAS. Of the search result, 28 papers met the criteria for inclusion, requiring research to be published in English, in a peer-reviewed journal, studying EAS and its effects on equine welfare. Of the 28, 24 articles focused on quantitative data, including behavioral and physiological indicators of stress and welfare. The remaining 4 articles were survey and EAS module analysis, providing qualitative data about EAS horses. From the selected papers, we found the following trends related to EAS horse stress indicators. First, 20 (71.4 %) papers investigated physiological indicators, and 16 (57.1 %) investigated behavioral indicators. The sample size in 16 (57.1 %) articles was ten or fewer animals. The results in 17 (60.7 %) of the articles found that there was no significant difference in horses' stress or that no conclusions could be drawn regarding the horses’ stress and welfare. A survey conducted by Rankins et al. (2021) revealed that the most common problems EAS centers face are behavioral and soundness issues leading to high horse turnover. Despite these findings, many studies found a lack of significant differences in their results, likely due to limitations in study design, highlighting significant gaps in the research. We also identified several inconsistent factors that are likely to affect and confound the results of EAS research. Therefore, given the limited knowledge about the welfare of horses working in EAS and the confounding factors that are likely to influence the results of studies, more robust research is needed to better understand the challenges of horses working in EAS and their welfare.

查看原文本刊更多论文

用于马术辅助服务的马匹的福利和压力：系统回顾

在过去的二十年里，人们对马匹辅助服务（EAS）的兴趣与日俱增，研究强调了马匹辅助服务对参与者的益处。然而，关注参与这些服务的马匹福利的研究却明显不足。随着该领域研究的不断发展，有必要对有关 EAS 行业马匹福利的现有研究进行质量评估。系统综述提供了一种有条理的方法来组织当前的文献并找出研究中的不足。本系统性综述的目的是总结有关 EAS 中马匹压力和福利的现有文献，并指出需要进一步调查的领域。根据《系统综述和荟萃分析首选报告项目》（PRISMA）2020 指南，使用与 EAS 相关的术语对五个数据库进行了检索。在搜索结果中，有 28 篇论文符合纳入标准，即研究 EAS 及其对马福利影响的论文必须以英文发表在同行评审期刊上。在这 28 篇文章中，有 24 篇侧重于定量数据，包括压力和福利的行为和生理指标。其余 4 篇文章是调查和 EAS 模块分析，提供了有关 EAS 马匹的定性数据。从所选论文中，我们发现了以下与 EAS 马匹压力指标相关的趋势。首先，20篇（71.4%）论文调查了生理指标，16篇（57.1%）调查了行为指标。16篇（57.1%）文章的样本量为10只或更少。17篇（60.7%）文章的结果显示，马匹的压力没有明显差异，或者无法就马匹的压力和福利得出结论。Rankins等人（2021年）进行的一项调查显示，EAS中心面临的最常见问题是行为和健康问题，这导致了马匹的高流动率。尽管有这些发现，但许多研究发现其结果缺乏显著差异，这可能是由于研究设计的局限性，凸显了研究中的重大差距。我们还发现了一些不一致的因素，这些因素很可能会影响和混淆 EAS 的研究结果。因此，鉴于对在EAS工作的马匹福利的了解有限，以及可能影响研究结果的混杂因素，我们需要进行更有力的研究，以更好地了解在EAS工作的马匹所面临的挑战及其福利。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Applied Animal Behaviour Science 农林科学-行为科学

CiteScore

4.40

自引率

21.70%

发文量

191

审稿时长

18.1 weeks

期刊介绍： This journal publishes relevant information on the behaviour of domesticated and utilized animals. Topics covered include: -Behaviour of farm, zoo and laboratory animals in relation to animal management and welfare -Behaviour of companion animals in relation to behavioural problems, for example, in relation to the training of dogs for different purposes, in relation to behavioural problems -Studies of the behaviour of wild animals when these studies are relevant from an applied perspective, for example in relation to wildlife management, pest management or nature conservation -Methodological studies within relevant fields The principal subjects are farm, companion and laboratory animals, including, of course, poultry. The journal also deals with the following animal subjects: -Those involved in any farming system, e.g. deer, rabbits and fur-bearing animals -Those in ANY form of confinement, e.g. zoos, safari parks and other forms of display -Feral animals, and any animal species which impinge on farming operations, e.g. as causes of loss or damage -Species used for hunting, recreation etc. may also be considered as acceptable subjects in some instances -Laboratory animals, if the material relates to their behavioural requirements