ArticleEquine veterinary journal2025
Frequency and nature of health issues among horses housed in an active open barn compared to single boxes-A field study.
Article in Equine veterinary journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Transcriptional Factors Related to Cellular Kinetics, Apoptosis, and Tumorigenicity in Equine Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (ASCs) Are Influenced by the Age of the Donors.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Frequency and nature of health issues among horses housed in an active open barn compared to single boxes-A field study.Equine veterinary journal · 2025Article
- Exploring the impact of housing routine on lying behavior in horses measured with triaxial accelerometer.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundKeeping horses in open barns has positive effects on social interaction and free movement, which may improve horse welfare. However, many horse owners fear that housing in open barns leads to more injuries.
objectiveTo compare health events among horses housed in an active open barn (AOB) or in single boxes (BOX). STUDY
designA prospective study during 9 months and a 2-year retrospective study.
methodsTwo housing systems in one farm were investigated: AOB and BOX in pairs or alone in paddock (2-4 h/day) using 66 and 69 horses in the prospective respectively retrospective study. Lameness, wounds, colic and days lost from training were recorded.
resultsThere were lower prevalences of lameness and colic in AOB than in BOX (18% vs. 26% and 0% vs. 5%; p < 0.001). Overall, there was a larger proportion of individuals with health events in AOB (83%) compared with BOX (52%) (p < 0.01). However, number of days lost to training did not differ between AOB (10 ± 15 days) and BOX (15 ± 34 days) (p = 0.36). There were no significant differences between the housing systems in number of health events/horse in the retrospective study: AOB 1.54 ± 1.51 versus BOX 1.14 ± 1.20 (p = 0.22). MAIN LIMITATIONS: The different, not standardised, housing systems varied in size and number of horses with no individual consideration in this descriptive field study with no possibility to cross-over. A convenience sample was used.
conclusionsLameness and colic were less frequent in the AOB system compared to single boxes, probably because the horses in the open barn could move freely day and night. Horses in AOB had a higher prevalence of wounds due to interactions between horses, but this did not lead to more days lost from training.
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