In the beginning of 2009 The County Administrative Boards assumed the responsibility of animal welfare, a task previously performed by the individual municipalities. This transfer was made with the aim of achieving more efficient and equivalent animal welfare controls across the country. Previous studies among animal owners have shown a somewhat negative image of animal welfare controls. This study focuses on investigating the experiences of the horse keepers in the County of Halland concerning animal welfare. The study is based on a questionnaire which was sent to 423 horse keepers in Halland, of which 130 were returned with information that laid the foundation of this study.

The Swedish government have a goal that wind turbines shall produce 30 TWh by the year 2020, compared to about 3,5 TWh produced in Sweden during 2010. To minimize the disturbance that wind turbines create the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has stated a guideline value that noise from wind turbines at nearby residents shouldn?t exceed 40 dBA, at 8 m/s wind speed. With advanced calculation models, like Nord 2000, the emitted sound from future wind turbines can be calculated at an early stage to optimize the power production without exceeding the 40 dBA. When the turbines have been built there is a need to verify that they really are within the guideline.

The aim of this work was to investigate possible risk factors for colic in horses, and to describe what horse owners can do to prevent this condition. The gastrointestinal system of the horse is constructed for continuous high fibre consumption for a period up to eighteen hours a day. Under those conditions, the continuous flow of digesta stimulates gut motility so that the intestines move constantly. When the diet is changed rapidly and the horse is being fed high rations of concentrates each day, the risk of getting colic is higher compared to when consuming less concentrates and giving the horse a stable diet. Lack or absence of access to water and restricted allowance to move freely every day increases the risk of colic. Changed management practices and decreased activity contributes to increased risks, as well as other critical risk factors such as breed, season and age combined with rapidly changed management. More knowledge and education is required of the horse owners about feed requirements in the horse, management routines and rapidly changed activity..

High-performance equine athletes have an energy requirement that often reaches twice the maintenance requirement. Horses are grazers and adapted to a grass diet, and diets high in grains and concentrates are associated with digestive upsets and behavioural disorders. It could therefore be of interest if the energy requirement of a high-performing horse could be met by forage. It is important that the forage have a high concentration of energy so that the horse is able to consume the whole amount of energy needed from the forage without exceeding the maximum voluntary intake. The purpose of this literature study was to investigate if the energy demand of a high-performance horse can be covered by forage produced under Northern Swedish climate conditions.

The trotting in Sweden has a good reputation in an international view, both in the perspective of success and how the sport is managed with focus on security, animal protection and animal welfare. A large number of equipment details are fitted on the horses during training and competition. The Swedish law of prevention of cruelty to animals regulate training and competition with racehorses, and propose to protect horses from unnecessary suffering. The equipment permitted in races is regulated in Tävlingsreglementet (The Regulation of Competititon) and in the regulations of equipment, that the Nordic Regulation Committee and Nordic Animal Welfare Committee have worked out. Due to training and competition the equipment must even meet the Swedish law of prevention of cruelty to animals. However, the behaviour or the senses of the horses is often affected by the equipment due to the way the equipment corrects, modifies, restrains or reduces the behaviour of the horse, which may cause the horse stress or discomfort.

One way of signalling commands to the horse during riding is through applying tension on the reins to create bit pressure in the horse?s mouth (Terada et al., 2006; Clayton et al., 2011). The skilfulness of the rider in using the hands when applying bit pressure has consequences both for the horse?s performance and welfare (Manfredi et al., 2010). At the trot there are large vertical deviations of the horse?s body which the rider must adjust and adapt to (Terada et al., 2006) and an unsteady hand due to inability to follow the horse?s movement can be a source of discomfort and conflict behaviour in the horse (Heleski et al., 2009).

Swedish Trotting association was formed in 1925. They are the ones who design the regulations concerning what is permissible and not permissible for the horse, driver and trainer, when they have a license at a Swedish racing track. The Veterinary department of Swedish Trotting association decides in consultation with representatives from veterinaries around the country what is allowed and not allowed, based proven experience, combined with the availability of scientific data and Veterinary Department's own assessment. After stricter regulations for good animal welfare from the Swedish government, Swedish Trotting association is going to work out a workable model for how new equipment can be tested in the future to see how the equipment affects the horse. In the future, all equipment will be objectively tested before approved. The purpose of this work was to develop a well-functioning model for this. The research-question for this work is: Is this study design a well-functioning model of how the equipment should be tested in the future? The equipment used for designing this model was bitless bridle with a bit.

The aim of the study was to investigate feeding routines, management, health and level of activity of riding horses in Sweden. This was obtained by a survey requesting information from owners who kept horses at a non-professional level. Owners to approximately 500 horses were contacted and the usable response of the survey was 56 %. The dominating breed in the study was Swedish warmblood (38 %). Fiftytwo percent of the horses were geldings, 45 % were mares and 3 % were stallions.

This study aims to investigate how value is constructed in horse business, in order to increase knowledge and contribute to development of theory in this field. This is important since the horse plays a significant role in the rural development in Sweden. The study assumes that value is something created through relationships in the social network. Therefore theories of sensemaking are combined with a discourse analytic method. By interviewing customers to two companies, one with orientation on trotting horses and one with orientation on showjumping horses, it was found that value is constructed through retrospective stories.

The horse has been domesticated for several thousand years. It has gone from being used primarily for food and transportation, to become one of the most popular pets in Sweden. With over 150,000 practitioners, horseback riding is one of the biggest sports in Sweden and there is a variety of specializations to choose from. One orientation is western riding which is a broad sport with several disciplines where most originate in cattle work and other ranch tasks. Western riding is a growing sport in Sweden with an increasing number of practitioners and with many different organizations and associations, it is important that the correct knowledge of the equipment used is disseminated. Artificial aids are available in a variety of designs and the most common variants used by western riders in Sweden is draw reins or some forms of martingale.

Horse owner?s knowledge about horse feeding and nutrition is directly linked to the horse?s health and welfare. According to several studies, both Swedish and foreign, horse owners generally have inadequate knowledge about horse feeding. The housing systems and feeding routines of today differs in many ways from what horses have adapted to through evolution. Wild horses live in harem herds and roam on large open fields, spending about 60 % of the day grazing, mainly grass and herbs.

Horse keeping is gaining an increasing interest in Sweden. During 2004 to 2010 the number of horses increased with 10 - 20 %, and was estimated to be 362 700 in 2010. Julmyra Horse Center (JHC), situated in Heby municipality, is a gated community for people sharing a large interest for horses and a vision of a sustainable horse management has been formulated. This study evaluates how the horse keeping of today at JHC, and how an expansion of the horse keeping may affect the risk of enhanced phosphorus load to the nearby lake system Vansjön ? Nordsjön.

Elitskon? is a new type of horseshoe for trotters. It is supposed to give the horse a trot that mimics the movement pattern of a horse trotting unshod. Many horses show a better trot unshod but this can only be used to a limited extent due to the great wear and tear of the hoof. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether the qualities of Elitskon? are similar to the unshod horse or the traditional aluminium horseshoe.

The use of a bit in the mouth of a horse is being increasingly questioned with respect to its actual function, and is sometimes judged an obsolete instrument of control with potential to injure the horse. The objective of the research presented herein was twofold; firstly, to investigate the actual pressure load in the mouth of the horse with regard to oral health issues, and, secondly, to investigate whether this could be a viable method to objectively measure strength exerted by a rider/driver to the mouth of the horse especially with regard to training regimes. From the results, it is evident that these newly developed sensors have a future in equine research, although they are still under development. They can be useful both as a pedagogic teaching instrument, providing instructor and pupil with instantaneous, objective feedback on the contact between hand and mouth, as well as an aid in measuring pressure loads from our common bits. .

The purpose of this study has been to look how pedagogic process interacts in horse riding lessons. In order to research this problem I have used an ethnographic approach and during a week I observed ten riding lessons in two separate Riding house in the south of Sweden. In my theoretical frame I have used Michel Foucault ?Discipline and punish? as a toll to make clear how dominance and submission is present and active in the horse riding education. The conclusion shows how dominant power rules by its presence and creates submission, stability and feeling of security. The discipline is used to create a feeling that will bring the riders to new experience and develop their talent.