Being told to do something with or for your horse because its “more natural” just is not a good enough explanation in my book! So let’s forget about the word “Natural” and look at what horses really need from a more scientific point of view. What do we need to do or to change in order that our horses can function in a manner that is in harmony with their environment, thus making it easier and safer for us to be around them and of course to ride them. Let me give you some important information and, if I may, a little bit of history. The committee set up by the government in 1965 to review the welfare of domesticated and farm animals proved to be the most important ever in the field of animal welfare in Britain. Their recommendations – which became known as Brambells Five Freedoms (Brambell was the man who chaired the committee) – revolutionized the way we now look at animals` needs. Bear in mind that back in the early 1960s the idea that any animal had “needs” and that it “needed to do certain things at certain times, was quite radical, in fact the whole concept that an animal could suffer was a fairly novel thought! They recommended that as the bare minimum, an individual animal should enjoy at the very least the following Freedoms: Freedom from hunger and thirst Freedom from disease Freedom from excessive heat or excessive cold Freedom of movement Freedom to act out most normal behaviours No-one would dream of suggesting that the life of the horse is similar to that of a battery chicken, but how well do you think your own horse really does with respect to Brambells Five Freedoms. Consider what the needs of the wild horse are, and then compare them to your horses day-to-day routine. You may think that you definitely keep your horse free from hunger and thirst, but if he was in the wild what would he eat, how much would he eat and for how long every day would he eat? A horse in the wild would eat for an average of 16 hours per day – a morning and evening feed with an accompanying haynet would not, therefore, meet his basic needs, when it comes to natural feeding behaviours. How much freedom of movement do you actually give your horse? Brambells Five Freedoms are very relevant when we look at the average domesticated horse today. I think you‘ll agree that the horse today, generally, enjoys may of the things associated with the first three Freedoms on the list, but most of us probably have some way to go in trying to meet the last two Freedoms. So where do behaviourists start when they try to work out which behaviours or needs are more important than others to animals? Regardless of the species being studied, they always try to start with the animals’ maintenance behaviours – the survival behaviours are critical to life. In horses you might think these are eating and drinking, but behavioural studies show that the picture is a lot more complicated and that we need to understand that the horses` needs go way beyond basic survival for life. There are Eight Important Equine Needs these have been identified by Horse Behaviourists as the most important. In the next article we shall be explaining exactly what these Needs are and how horses have prioritized them, Hopefully you will be able to compromise and put some of them into practice and by doing so improve the quality of your horses` life to a point where so called “bad” behaviours like biting, kicking, bucking to mention a few, become a thing of the past. Any questions or comments with regard to this article please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it