By limiting our horse?s freedom of movement, we restrict their opportunity to forage, which is one of their most important needs. If their need of forage is not fulfilled it can lead to frustration, which might manifest itself in abnormal behaviour, like the oral stereotypies for example crib-biting. It is a held belief that the horse swallows air while crib-biting, which they don?t, and that swallowed air causes colic, and the belief that other horses can copy the behaviour, leads to the use of many methods to prevent the behaviour.

This thesis is focused on what impact stall confinement has on a horse?s mental and physical welfare. It was of great interest to get a gathered picture of how Swedish horseowners had experienced having their horses in stall confinement. A survey study was conducted to achieve this. The survey included twelve questions which for example investigated the horses? age at the time of stall confinement, the length of stall confinement and their sexes.

The aim of these two studies was to investigate the possible physiological, behavioural and emotional changes that appear after human-horse interactions and also to find an explanation to why they occur. One aspect that is discussed is whether the wellbeing of humans can be coupled to interacting with horses and of how the animals respond to the interaction. The first study was performed on 9 horses and their owners, both parts being subjects to registrations during 4 different interaction treatments. The second study was performed on 6 horses with registrations only being performed on the horses during 2 different treatments. Nine horses underwent 3 different treatments all performed by their owners (H = stroking of the horses forehead, B = brushing and M = stimulation of the withers) in addition to a control round (K). Each treatment lasted for 4 minutes but observations were performed until after 45 minutes from start.

SUMMARY This pilot study tried to answer the question however the present animal welfare regulations for horses regarding lying hall area requirements are adequate for horses older than 24 months. The study was carried out at one of the largest stud farms for standard bred horses in Sweden. Mares in late pregnancy with an initial mean age of 10 years was used in a behaviour study. The influence of varying space per animal in a loose-housing system on behaviours like the horses' lying hall use, standing, resting, moving behaviour and threats was studied. The behaviour at three different horse densities ? 18 mares, 13 mares and 8 mares (7.4 m2, 10.3 m2 and 16.7 m2 per mare, respectively) ? was recorded by use of video.

The Healthcheck is an evaluation of the 2003 years reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). When the Healthcheck of CAP is decided, most likely in the beginning of 2009, there will be a discussion about how CAP will appear in the next budget period 2013. One main question in the Healthcheck is how the farm support will be designed. A suggestion that has arised is if todays addition amount for dairy- and beef production should be transferred to the fundamental farm support. In this exam theses calculations has been done in created typical farms in every Swedish support region for cereals-, dairy- and beef production.

SUMMARY The interest of horses in the riding sector has increased the last decades. A large amount of horses are transported in a 1 or 2-horse trailer, which is pulled by a car. Today a large number of different products and designs of trailers can be found on the market. The difference in shaping of trailers depends on tradition and experience. There are no detailed directions on the demands for shaping of horse trailers today. The literature review contains a market analysis of both Swedish and imported horse trailers.

Multiple Congenital Ocular Anomalities (MCOA) is a genetic disease that affects primarily Silver coloured horses of breeds such as the Rocky and Kentucky mountain horses. In these breeds the Silver dapple colour is very popular leading to an increase of affected horses. The major feature of the disease is ocular cysts of variable size. Large cysts also lead to a variety of secondary syndromes, for example retinal detachment. In previous studies the locus for MCOA has been mapped to an interval of 420 kb on equine chromosome six.

SUMMARYThere was no previous study in what high level dressage riders had for ideas of how to best prepare for their training sessions with an instructor. Neither any study of how high level dressage riders seemed to be more or less susceptible to the instructions from their instructor during their training sessions. If the sport had more knowledge about this, it might result in more riders on a higher level. The purpose of this study was to find out how high level dressage riders are preparing themselves for the best result for an instructor led training session and how they could bring as much as possible instructions from the coach. The two questions of the study were: How are high level dressage riders preparing themselves for a training session with an instructor, practically and mentally, and how can they affect their susceptibility to instructions?The study was carried out both by reviewing existing literature and studies in general education and pedagogy in the riding education, and by a qualitative interview study of six dressage riders who rode on a difficult level at the competitions, during the year of 2009.

etta arbete belyser det för hästnäringen stora problemet ekvina placentiter från en veterinärmedicinsk synvinkel. Ekvin placentit betyder moderkaksinflammation hos häst. De vanligaste orsakande virusen, EHV-1 och EVA, samt ett mykotiskt agens, Histoplasma, tas upp. Bakteriella placentiter är dock mycket oftare förekommande. Därför diskuteras inte bara de tre agens som är vanligast; Streptococcus zooepidemicus, Escherichia coli och Pseudomonas aeruginosa, utan även två bakteriella agens på snabb frammarsch; Leptospira spp.

etta arbete belyser det för hästnäringen stora problemet ekvina placentiter från en veterinärmedicinsk synvinkel. Ekvin placentit betyder moderkaksinflammation hos häst. De vanligaste orsakande virusen, EHV-1 och EVA, samt ett mykotiskt agens, Histoplasma, tas upp. Bakteriella placentiter är dock mycket oftare förekommande. Därför diskuteras inte bara de tre agens som är vanligast; Streptococcus zooepidemicus, Escherichia coli och Pseudomonas aeruginosa, utan även två bakteriella agens på snabb frammarsch; Leptospira spp.

Back problems are well noticed in horses, especially in horses used for riding. Kissing spines (impingement of the dorsal spinous processes) are often found at radiographic examinations of the thoracic spine. Kissing spines is a radiological diagnosis, indicating that parts of at least two adjacent dorsal spinous processes are in contact with each other. It is not uncommon that horses without clinical signs of back problems have some degree of kissing spines. It is therefore not sufficient with a radiographic examination to say that the cause of pain is kissing spines.

In veterinary medicine, penicillin is the most used antibiotic in Sweden. Two dosage forms of penicillin are available in Sweden for use in horses, sodium benzylpenicillin (Na-pc) and procaine benzylpenicillin (proc-pc). Proc-pc is the most used dosage form and is used for intramuscular administration which allows horse owners to treat an animal at home under veterinary instruction. Na-pc is only approved for intravenous use in horses. Penicillin is normally well tolerated by horses but a serious, sometimes life-threatening, adverse reaction called penicillin shock may occur.

Outdoor housing of horses? best fulfils the horses? need for physical activity and it is an alternative to the more cost and energy demanding indoor housing in stables. Furthermore, if outdoor housed horses have access to shelter they can generally cope well with adverse weather conditions such as high or low ambient temperature, heavy rain or strong winds. In this study, the daytime shelter-seeking behaviour of three groups of horses housed outdoors was studied during the summer. The aim was to evaluate whether shelter use is related to weather variables (e.g., ambient temperature and wind speed) and insect harassment. The shelter-seeking behaviour was studied for three different groups of horses: Group 1) eight individually housed horses in paddocks that had access to three different shelter types (C: closed on three sides with roof, R: open on three sides with roof, W: closed on three sides without roof), Group 2) 25 group housed mares with foals on pasture with access to shelters C, and Group 3) ten mares without foals on pasture without access to shelter. Each group was studied for eight days.

When performing studies that test the reactions of horses in different situations, important information may be available about the horse?s reactivity level. With information from these tests, accidents and dangerous situations may be prevented. When the behaviours from tests are compared with race performance it may be possible to evaluate if some behaviours are more desirable at the race track than others. The aim of this study was to see if behavioural responses correlated with physiological parameters (heart rate, cortisol), the trainer?s opinions and actual race performance.

Time of harvest affects nutritional value and digestibility of haylage since plants are in different developmental stages. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of plant maturity of haylage cut in June, July and August on digestibility and faecal particle size in horses.Forage and faecal samples used for the analysis of apparent dry matter digestibility (DMd) and particle size distribution in faeces were from a feed-study performed in the autumn of 2009. Twelve horses were used in the study, divided into three groups in a change-over experiment. Each group was fed haylage harvested in June, July or August during three periods. Faecal grab samples were taken from each horse and pooled so that one sample represented one horse during one period.