ENVIRONMENTAL
Enrichment When I was at university doing my Equine Science degree, I chose an elective called Captive Animal Behaviour. I had completed Equine Behaviour and Horse Training as part of my degree, and was fascinated by animal behaviour. Captive Animal Behaviour brought in a whole new field of information, as it focused on wild animals within a captive environment. The strongest component of the course was the topic of Environmental Enrichment. This dictates that the human handler of any animal is responsible not only for the physical needs of the animal; food, water, shelter etc., but also for the emotional and social needs of the animal. How this is
Suzy Maloney BEqSc achieved is to enrich the environment such that it resembles as closely as possible the natural environment. For wildlife parks and zoos this is a primary concern. Animals provided with an enriched environment are happier, healthier, live longer, breed more easily and are easier to handle. While this is recognised in the field of captive animals, it is often not addressed with domestic animals. Horses are kept in small stables and yards, without other horses and sometimes even without basic needs such as shelter. A horse’s environment needs to be interesting and varied and provide social interactions for them to thrive. Inside every domestic horse is the origional wild horse.
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AUTUMN 2021
