Choice for the horse is paramount: Owners’ experiences in facilitating friends, forage, and freedom in their management practices

Abstract

Owned horses rely on people for their behavioural needs, such as access to conspecifics, constant access to low nutrient density, fibrous forage and freedom of movement; otherwise known as friends, forage and freedom (3Fs). Restricting the 3Fs prevents horses from achieving optimal welfare. We carried out 14 semi-structured interviews in the UK and Ireland to examine horse owners’ experiences, attitudes and beliefs around the provision of the 3Fs. Most participants were female, aged from 25 to 65 years, resident in the UK and kept their horse at a livery facility. A reflexive thematic analysis identified five core themes in their responses. Themes identified were ‘Choice for the horse is paramount’, ‘Friends, forage, freedom and fear of injury’, ‘When livery yard rules compromise horse welfare’ (sub-themes ‘Control of forage and freedom of movement’), ‘Horse management through the (anthropomorphic) human lens’ and ‘The livery yard – balancing both horse and human needs’. Participants appeared to have a good understanding of the horse’s behavioural needs and were keen to communicate that these needs should be a primary consideration in their management practices. Owners who kept their horses at home stated that their horses should have access to freedom of movement and shelter in their environment. Livery yard practices, a concern for injury in group turn-out, anthropocentric, anthropomorphic and motivational beliefs all appeared to play a role in owners’ decisions for providing the 3Fs. These findings highlight the difficulties horse owners experience when wishing to implement best practice management and provide a better understanding of how such welfare challenges can be addressed.