The ‘Five Domains’ to assess horses well-being

Nutrition, Environment, Health, Behavior and Stress Factors.

Looking at horses, we inadvertently suffer from a case of anthropomorphism. We check the circumstances they live in and ask ourselves: “How would I like to live in those conditions?” or by watching the animal performing a certain activity during training we feel assured the horse is feeling fine. We think we know how the horse is doing. But make no mistake, assumption is the mother of all f*ckups. Not even equitation scientists and equine welfare researchers have a solid, reliable, objective framework for assessing a horse’s well-being.

The Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation, co-funded a project looking into the risks of making inaccurate “assumptions” when assessing equine welfare. A panel of horse welfare professionals decided to assess the welfare implications of common management, breeding, and training techniques according to a set animal welfare model: “The Five Domains.”

Researchers of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) developed the Five Domains concept. They updated the model and presented it in its latest form at the 4th OIE Global Conference on Animal Welfare, held in 2016 in Guadalajara, Mexico. It now ties into the “OneWelfare” concept, which suggests animal and human welfare are intertwined.

Building on a previous model based on the “Five Freedoms,” the Five Domains model adheres to the current scientific knowledge of animal welfare. It centers on the following five categories with practical provisions:

Nutrition: Provide ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor.

Environment: Provide an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.

Health: Prevent or rapidly diagnose and treat injury and disease.

Behavior: Provide sufficient space, proper facilities, and the company of the animal’s own kind.

Stress: Ensure conditions and treatment that avoid mental suffering.

Prof. Paul McGreevy of the University of Sydney, in Australia points out that before researchers can fully apply the Five Domains model to welfare in a horses’ daily lives, they need to fine-tune a scoring system for each domain. They also need to educate the people doing the evaluations. “The "5 Domains" model offers a framework for discussions around the impact within each domain,” he said. “However, defining the interventions and delineating assumptions upon which the panelists based their decisions requires further study.”

Again, it shows that animal well-being is considered more and more important. Assumptions are not good enough when assessing welfare. The better we can combine human expertise with top notch technology, the lesser faulty assumptions will occur.

An overview of the concept of the Five Domains and its application to the welfare of animals, presented by Professor Kevin Stafford of Massey University, New Zealand:

Thanks to Christa Lesté-Lasserre