A longer left shoulder in racehorses means the horse is likely to be classified as anticlockwise, while a longer right shoulder means the horse is significantly more likely to prefer the clockwise direction and the same can be said for fore limb length.
Using an electronic heart-rate monitor to assess horse fitness and response to exercise proved to be a useful tool in recent trials at Reading University – good news for trainers and owners without specialist facilities.
Controlled fermented lucerne had a positive impact on the digestible energy (DE) of high grain, racing-type diets, thus increasing the supply of energy to racing horses.
Lying behaviour was not affected by the range of housing treatments used in a trial by Australian scientists, but the role of lying behaviour in the welfare of horses needs to be clarified.
Electronic massage pads could be a useful tool to significantly reduce stress in horses.
Genetic selection for dressage performance is feasible in the UK sport horse population.
Body shape is important in flat racing horses, but only where a higher rating is achieved by the larger horse.
Social play is a regular part of the behavioural repertoire of young horses, even when in an established group.
There’s a lack of understanding of fitness levels and condition scoring among horse owners and, since this has serious health repercussions for the horse, this underlines the equine industry’s need to educate horse carers.
The bacterial populations of ponies’ hindguts respond differently to the addition of inulin to the diet in both laminitic and non-laminitic prone animals.
