Horses are social animals for whom isolation in individual stables causes significant psychological stress; management practices that allow social contact and natural herd behaviour improve welfare substantially.
Traditional equine management practices of individual stabling, particularly common in performance horse management, deny fundamental social needs that horses express through mutual grooming, play, and proximity. Horses in social housing show better welfare indicators, lower stress-related disease incidence, and less stereotypic behaviour. The management challenges of social housing — infection control, dietary management, injury risk — are real but solvable through appropriate facility design.