Horses are highly social animals for whom isolation causes genuine psychological suffering. Understanding and meeting their social needs is a fundamental welfare requirement.
Horse isolation is one of the most widespread welfare problems in equine management. The combination of individual stabling, limited turnout, and separation from conspecifics is standard practice across much of the equestrian world, yet it contradicts everything we know about equine social needs. Horses kept in isolation without social contact develop stereotypies and show elevated stress hormones as evidence of ongoing psychological suffering. Changing this requires shifting industry norms around stable management - a cultural challenge as much as a knowledge one.