Pasture quality, quantity, and management profoundly affect horse welfare. Understanding the balance between nutritional provision, behavioral opportunity, and health risk guides good management.
Pasture provides horses with the behavioral opportunity to perform natural grazing, foraging, and movement behaviors that are fundamental to psychological welfare. The challenge for horse managers is balancing these welfare benefits against the metabolic risks of unrestricted access to high-sugar grass for susceptible individuals. Good doers and metabolically compromised horses can develop serious health problems from unrestricted pasture while being deprived of turnout entirely creates behavioral and psychological welfare problems. Track systems and controlled grazing provide a middle ground that maintains movement opportunity and behavioral expression while managing calorie intake.