{"topic_id":"exotic_husbandry_horse","category":"exotic-pet-husbandry","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_husbandry_horse\ncategory: exotic-pet-husbandry\ntitle: \"Horse husbandry — pasture area, daily inspection, poisonous plants, tethering limits, turnout (UK DEFRA code)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"DEFRA — Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017); Open Government Licence v3.0; verbatim quotation per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §2.\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-22\ntokens_estimated: 187\nverification:\n  method: substring_match\n  claims: 7\n  passed: 7\n  date: 2026-08-22\nrecovered: false\npath: exotic-pet-husbandry/exotic_husbandry_horse/01_exotic_husbandry_horse.md\nsource_document: \"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs\"\n  title: \"Horse husbandry — pasture area, daily inspection, poisonous plants, tethering limits, turnout (UK DEFRA code)\"\n  url: \"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-welfare-of-horses-ponies-donkeys-and-their-hybrids\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-22\"\n  ref: \"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)\"\n  doc_type: \"official PDF\"\n  needs_review: false\nlicense: cc_by\ncopyright_note: \"© Crown copyright 2017. This publication is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3); verbatim reproduction permitted with attribution. Attribution: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017).\"\nauthority_tier: T1\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T1:uk-gov\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-22\n---\n\n# Horse husbandry — pasture area, daily inspection, poisonous plants, tethering limits, turnout (UK DEFRA code)\n\nSource: UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), “Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids” (December 2017), gov.uk. Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0 — verbatim quotation permitted with attribution; C1 substring-verified against `pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt`.\n\nHousing and day-to-day management guidance from the DEFRA welfare code: grazing area per horse, minimum inspection frequency, pasture hygiene and poisonous-plant control (ragwort), limits on tethering, and daily turnout or exercise for stabled horses.\n\n## Claims\n\n- `As a general rule, each horse requires approximately 0.5 – 1.0 hectares (or 1.25 to 2.5 acres) of grazing of a suitable quality if no supplementary feeding is being provided.`\n- `Horses at grass should be inspected at least once a day, preferably more often.`\n- `Stabled or group-housed horses should be inspected at least twice a day.`\n- `Fields should be kept clear of dangerous objects and poisonous plants.`\n- `Ragwort is toxic to horses and ingestion can result in fatal liver damage.`\n- `Tethered horses should be inspected no less frequently than every six hours during normal waking hours`\n- `All stabled horses, apart from those on box rest for veterinary reasons, will benefit from daily turnout in the field to allow them to graze and socialise with other horses.`\n","sources":["exotic-pet-husbandry — Horse husbandry — pasture area, daily inspection, poisonous plants, tethering limits, turnout (UK DEFRA code) (retrieved 2026-08-22)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-husbandry","title":"Horse husbandry — pasture area, daily inspection, poisonous plants, tethering limits, turnout (UK DEFRA code)","url":"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-welfare-of-horses-ponies-donkeys-and-their-hybrids","retrieved":"2026-08-22","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt"},"source_document":"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)","source_file":"pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T1","fidelity":"verbatim","license":"cc_by","display_grade":"A"},"tokens_estimated":187,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}