Horse exercise and enrichment — daily exercise and turnout, preventing stable stereotypies, stallion stimulation (UK DEFRA code)
Source: 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.
This topic covers equine exercise and environmental stimulation under the UK welfare code: horses need adequate daily exercise or turnout; turnout reduces the risk of abnormal stable behaviours; stallions in particular need exercise and stimulation.
Claims
In the wild, horses would travel long distances whilst searching for resources. Horses require adequate exercise, or freedom to exercise and this will require time and effort from the horse owner or keeper.This may have the added benefit of reducing the risk of developing abnormal behaviours such as windsucking, weaving, crib-biting, box walking and wood chewing. If turnout is not feasible, stabled horses should receive appropriate exercise daily, unless contrary to veterinary advice. Tethered horses also require daily exercise.It is important that stallions receive adequate exercise and environmental stimulation.