Horse care

Horses is comprised of various historical points. Horses, ponies, mules, donkeys and other equids in captivity need appropriate care for good health and a long life.

• 2.1 Stand attitude / tethering
• 2.2 boxing stance
• 2.3 open stable
• 2.4 Group free range
• 2.5 loose housing
• 2.6 Robust attitude / grazing
• 2.7 Pension horse

General

The Animal Welfare Act requires to keep the horses so that they do not suffer torments, avoidable damage or pain. The prime consideration for horses should, as with any animal husbandry, be meeting the needs of the horse, and requires the horse owners have the relevant knowledge and skills. In practice, however, the horse keeping the needs of the horse are the interests of the horse's owner (eg easy availability of horses for recreational purposes, working time saving, cost accommodation) partially offset.

Needs of the horse

• Movement: In the wild, a horse is up to 16 hours a day - mostly for food intake - in motion, and places back 30-40 km. The horse is a running animal. Since this movement alone require about the riding and driving sports or training usually can not be met, as much opportunity to do unimpeded movement should be given.
• Social contacts: Horses are strong herd or group of animals. Each horse needs the ability to take social contact with other cattle. With every form of entertainment among themselves to be considerate of the social fabric and the compatibility of the horses. This also applies to race, age and gender differences.
• Health: the horse is set on a life in the open air and needs contact with light and air, as well as dust-free air and dust-free as possible lining. Dust is the biggest problem for the sensitive respiratory system of the horse.
• Lining: because the horse has a very small stomach for its size, has spread throughout the day enough food to be available in smaller quantities. ( As a rule of thumb when stabling applies roughage with power feed, at least three times a day. )
• Suggestion: To maintain a balanced nervous costume while awake sense, the horse needs a minimum of variety. The ideal range is unobscured who receives an interest in the environment, without causing stress.
• Space requirements: Both the horses typical avoidance behavior in situations that are perceived as stress, such as feed and movement needs require in relation to the keeping of livestock larger areas.

Interests of the holder / horse owner

• Health: The health of the horse comes first. But often lack the experience, which is detrimental to the health of the horse in the long run.
• Availability: An ornate capture the horse by remote, poorly accessible by car trails is undesirable. Also for vet and farrier, the horse in case of need must be easily accessible. Light, electricity and ( frost-free ) water connection within walking distance is usually required.
• Convenience: The rider wants a farming method in which the horse is not wet circulated daily in the mud and need to be cleaned prior to riding for hours, setting option in rainy weather, a lit riding arena, or an indoor arena as well as bereitbares site
• Social Contacts: Most riders spend a significant part of their leisure time in the horse and therefore also search for ways to maintain their social contacts there ( shared riding, Reiterstübchen )
• Cost: The placement of the horse is on top of everything, be inexpensive.

Interests of the stall owner

• Economic management; Ideal ratio of revenues and costs
• Feeding should require the least possible time.
• Sprinkling and crap should be possible with machine help.
• No dispute among the horse owners

Types of entertainment

Stand attitude / tethering

Before the engine farms, forests and farms were dependent on the labor of the horse. However, they could their horses often do not have much space. Therefore, at that time the stand posture was normal. The horse had only tethered place to stand and drop, and was in his stand. It could not turn around or run.

Formerly horses were used as working animals a few hours daily and thus had a much higher degree of movement. Nowadays, however, horses are kept as a leisure partner in the rule. Many horses get only one hour of exercise under the rider. For horses that are so little moved Stand attitude is animal cruelty. This farming method is therefore considered critical. The stator attitude is banned in most states today.

One can, in some particular historical, studs find demonstrative examples of stand posture. In general, these horses are no longer constantly in stands.

Boxing stance

Usually stables are now divided into boxes. In these boxes, the horses keep some during the day, but especially at night. It is important that the box is big enough. As a rule of thumb and recommended by the German Equestrian Federation is that the size of the box should be at least twice the height at the withers of the horse in the square. In figures, one can say that a box for large horses about 3.5 × should be 3.5 m. Generally, every horse should have 35 cubic meters of air available. If this is not the case, this can lead to an unsafe oxygen depletion in the stable for the horses - can be problematic - especially for the very sensitive foal. Taking the recommended pit size basis, this would correspond to a stable level of about 3 m. Basically, the walls of the house must be smooth and must not pose any risk of injury.

Horses are herd animals pronounced. Boxing stance restricts the social contact of domestic horses. You get lonely very quickly if they are kept separate. Therefore, the boxes in the normal case should not be closed. At chest height ends the planking of the partitions and doors or the doors and goes to bars, so that the horses among themselves to see, hear and smell. If walls and fronts are made of iron bars, it must be ensured that the distances are correctly sized. This means that the spacing between the bars must be designed so that neither the hooves of the horse nor his head to fit in between.

A modern and complete horseback riding also pasture land on which the horses in the pasture season - can move freely and graze - about mid-April to end of October. Typically, this is done according to the specifications of the barn owner or horse holder and corresponding weather conditions the hour, half day or day and night. For the rest of the year Paddocks should be available to allow the horses in winter at least a limited freedom of movement.

The boxing stance is only one of many different forms of entertainment. It is most commonly found in competitive sport oriented riding facilities. But even in club facilities and pension houses where need to be addressed in many different needs and requirements.

Loose housing

In the open stable all horses of a group is a covered area for weather protection available, often with feeding racks, mangers or hay racks and a self- watering, which can be visited by the horses at any time. Attached to the open stall lie the pastures or discharge. Unlike boxing Open houses are not scattered but generally it needs to be collected ( in the runs ) of manure daily. The horse at any time has the ability to move between the protected stable area and the open outdoor area back and forth. This attitude is, if enough pastures are available, a more aligned to the needs of the horse farming, but require some additional work and cost the owner.

If a whole herd of horses in the pasture held with an open stable, this corresponds to the group of free range.

Group free range

The group Free range is a natural way of keeping horses. The system consists of playpen, attached spout and pasture. The three areas form a unit in which the horses can move as a group (starting from about 10 horses ) or as a herd and have full contact with each other.

Loose housing

The idea of the playpen is recommended as a further development of the open stables, often the terms are used interchangeably, however. Here an attempt is made to reach by expanding the open barn that horses inevitably to satisfy their needs, as must run to the other in the wild, from the stable out of one place: water, food, opportunity to scratching and rolling etc. 're all separate from one another, so that the horse is encouraged to frequently move between the different areas and less standing around, as is often seen in exclusive open stall and paddock attitude. But often there is a lack of suitable grazing areas, especially in riding establishments in city area.

Robust attitude / grazing

The horses are a herd or small group on sufficiently large, frequently changing pastures - at least one acre per horse, if possible twice - held throughout the year outside. The pastures need sun and wind protection, such as trees or simple (even mobile) shelters. In winter, a firmer pasture hut must be present with sufficient space for all horses. As fencing electric fence is usually used. Since grazing animals a shelter for protection against wind, rain and sun must be provided in accordance with EU animal welfare policy, mobile pasture huts are put to the pasture often. If the horses are translated coupled to another pasture, because the pasture was completely eroded, attracts the mobile pasture hut around with the horses.

Pension horse

Pension horses are kept in the horse business against an agreed fee. Pension horse is mostly a service in rural areas. The attitude of riding horses is the most importance here. However, one also Gnadenbrot horses, convalescent horses, mares can be taken to foaling and young horses into retirement.

Pension horse is influenced by the demands of customers, the company size, type of farming, the offer for horse and rider and the acquisition of services such as feeding, crap and sprinkling. The cost accounting should be some value as a full- cost accounting.

Relevant costs are the following offer situations:

• Stable slot, box, Active Stable or playpen, a necessary next room feed and tack room, paddock or pasture
• Additional supply of feed by the operation
• Feeding, crap, sprinkling and animal observation by the operation
• Provision and maintenance of riding arena, riding school, horse walker, treadmill etc.
• Offering riding lessons and / or ridden by horses

The board horses holder for the purposes of BGB worked as an animal warden (see animal owner liability ). It is therefore - as well as the pet owners - for damage caused by a horse, liable if he can prove that he has the necessary care with his supervision be exercised or that the damage would have occurred even if said obligations ( § 834 ). The liability of the pension holder horse is very comprehensive and is not covered by the normal public liability. Therefore, many insurers offer separate animal keeper liability insurance. A coverage of at least € 1.5 million lump sum shall be deemed adequate. Damage to the horse set must be insured separately. They are only regulated if the animal guardian for these damages may be held liable. To reduce the risk of liability, a contract of registration should be completed with each adjuster. This treaty documents, accepts what services the board operation. It also provides the ability to limit the liability for damage to the set horse on the insured sum or a fixed amount.

The board horse owners is also required to report the operation and the number of horses in the Tierseuchenkasse and to pay the applicable fees, which may vary from state to state. The adjuster should query this because the Tierseuchenkasse takes over the rendering, when a horse dies.

Since 1 January 2005, requires in Germany the financial administration ( now also the highest court confirmed ) that on revenues from pension attitude of equestrian sports and leisure horses of non-farmers ( individuals, traders, etc. ) the VAT flat rate should not be used. A pauschalierender farmer has to pay to the tax office at 19% for those transactions. This is according to the law of the Tax Court for the horse rental; here the tax rate is 7 percent.