- In 2024, we asked for your help in completing a national survey that gathered top equine welfare concerns. Your voice was heard, and responses from this survey were used to create a draft Equine Code of Practice.
- The public comment period for the National Farm Animal Care Council’s (NFACC) Equine Code of Practice is now open until March 12, 2026
- The Equine Code of Practice provides a guideline for the on-farm care and handling of horses and donkeys raised in Canada.
- While this draft provides many much-needed updates to the Equine Code of Practice, there are still changes to be made to improve equine welfare.
- Note that the code does not include transport, such as the live export of horses for slaughter; it only includes on-farm practices and deciding if individual horses are fit for transport.
TAKE ACTION: Join us in providing feedback on the draft code on the issues that are important to you; everyone can participate!
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Top Welfare Priorities
We encourage you to read through the draft Equine Code of Practice and provide feedback on the issues that matter most to you if possible.
However, we have prepared the VHS’s top welfare priorities with section headers and tips for submitting your feedback if you are short on time and would like guidance. REMINDER: do not copy and paste the text below, as duplicate submissions will be ignored by NFACC.
Section 2.3.1 – Indoor space allowance
Comment on Requirements:
Tie-stalls should be banned, which keep animals tethered in one place and prevent them from moving freely, socializing, or behaving naturally, often leading to physical and mental health problems. (Popescu et al., 2019; Yngvesson et al., 2019).
Section 6.5.1 – Stocking density
Comment on Requirements
Currently, there are no requirements about how much space horses need or shelter access in feedlots or other similar environments. Clear minimum standards should be set, based on research, to give horses enough room, reduce stress, fighting, and injuries, and protect them from harsh weather.
Comment on Requirements
Currently, there are no minimum requirements for turnout (giving equines free access to pasture or paddock), social opportunities, and enrichment in the draft code.
Turnout and enrichment allow horses to express natural behaviours and provide mental stimulation, including grazing, freedom of movement and social interaction.
Minimum requirements should include:
Turnout: Horses should be allowed outside for at least 12 hours each day (Bell et al., 2001). They need enough space to move freely at their own pace and to get away from other horses if there is aggression.
Enrichment: Horses should have regular contact with other compatible horses, a variety of toys and feeding options, and opportunities to do natural things like rolling in pasture or using scent and scratching stations.
Comment on Recommended Best Practices
Horses are easily frightened and may react by bolting or becoming aggressive. To keep both people and horses safe, it should be a requirement to avoid loud noises, sudden movements, or other actions that could scare them.
Comment on Requirements
Hot and freeze branding are painful and stressful for horses and can have lasting effects on their behaviour. Since there are safer ways to identify horses, like microchipping, branding should no longer be allowed. Instead, clear visual identification methods, such as coat markings, hair patterns, colour differences, scars, or properly fitted leg bands, should be used.
Section 8.2 – Guidelines for training horses
Comment on Recommended Best Practices
It should be required to use the First Training Principles when training and handling horses (refer to Appendix L – Handling Horses and How Horses Learn).
Equestrians often use training methods that compromise equine welfare to achieve competition-related goals. Training horses should never harm their well-being and should match what they are physically and mentally able to do.
Using proven, humane training methods helps keep both horses and trainers safe and reduces problem behaviours.
Section 9.5.4 – Weaning
Comment on Recommended Best Practices
It should be a requirement that foals are not weaned before 6 months of age, and when possible, weaning should wait until after 9 months. Gradual weaning helps reduce stress and supports healthy growth and development in young horses (Henry et al., 2020).
Comment on Requirements
People who assess an animal’s suitability for transport should receive proper training, and their assessments should be recorded and documented so there are clear, reliable records.
Comment on Recommended Best Practices
Recommendations (a.), (b.), (c.), (d.), (e.) should be requirements given the high stress of loading and unloading for equines.
Comment on Recommended Best Practices:
Horses may hide signs of pain when people are watching (Torcivia & McDonnell, 2020), so recently transported horses should be closely monitored for dehydration, injuries, colic, fever, or breathing problems, especially after long trips or when horses from different places have been mixed.
Comment on Recommended Best Practices:
There should be a recommended practice of video monitoring recently transported horses.
Section 11.1 – Change or end of career
Comment on Requirements:
Every equine industry should have a transition plan for what happens to horses at the end of their working careers, and having this plan should be required for operation.
Section 12.2 – Methods of euthanasia
Comment on Requirements:
Euthanasia must be carried out in a way that causes no pain or fear, and horses must be made unconscious immediately.
Tips for submitting
To make your submission impactful, and to ensure that it is reviewed by NFACC, consider these tips before submitting your feedback:
- IMPORTANT: Do not copy and paste wording, as duplicate responses and/or profanity or derogatory language will not be considered by NFACC.
- Keep responses relevant to the draft code. Issues involving transportation, such as live horse export, will not be considered by NFACC.
- Provide references and examples whenever possible.
- Reference exact wording in the draft code that you would like to see changed and how you would like it changed
- Make it personal, the committee members are interested in how this code impacts you
- Consider looking through the submission form for formatting style before you begin drafting your feedback
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak up for equids in Canada.
Bell R.A., Nielsen B.D., Waite K., Rosenstein D. & Orth M. (2001) Daily access to pasture turnout prevents loss of mineral in the third metacarpus of Arabian weanlings. Journal of Animal Science 79:142-1150.
Henry, S., Sigurjónsdóttir, H., Klapper, A., Joubert, J., Montier, G., & Hausberger, M. (2020). Domestic foal weaning: Need for re-thinking breeding practices? Animals 10(2): 361. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020361
Popescu, S., Lazar, E. A., Borda, C., Niculae, M., Sandru, C. D., & Spinu, M. (2019). Welfare quality of breeding horses under different housing conditions. Animals 9(3): 81. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9030081
Torcivia, C., & McDonnell, S. (2020). In-Person Caretaker Visits Disrupt Ongoing Discomfort Behavior in Hospitalized Equine Orthopedic Surgical Patients. Animals 10(2): 210. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020210
Yngvesson, J., Rey Torres, J. C., Lindholm, J., Pättiniemi, A., Andersson, P., & Sassner, H. (2019). Health and body conditions of riding school horses housed in groups or kept in conventional tie-Stall/Box housing. Animals 9(3): 73. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9030073
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