The EA National Equine Behaviour, Safety and Welfare Study

Purpose

The EA National Horse Behaviour, Welfare and Safety Study will allow EA members to monitor their own horses’ behaviour and welfare. It will also enable EA members to contribute to horse welfare which in the 2020-2021 national EA survey revealed as one of the major concerns of our members, officials, coaches, and committees. It will further direct EA educational efforts where they are needed most and where they will have the most benefit for rider safety and equine performance.

Background

Dangerous ridden behaviour in horses, such as bolting, rearing, and bucking, are common and may reflect various aspects of our horses’ immediate experience, history and health. Such behaviours can have a major impact on human safety and horse welfare.

Dr Kate Fenner, who presented at the National Health and Safety Conference 2021, developed the E-BARQ as her PhD project with the University of Sydney. The Equine Behavior Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) is the only validated behavioural assessment tool currently available, free of charge, to all horse owners and caregivers. Results from the project have already shown how behaviour is intricately linked to both human safety and horse welfare. E-BARQ allows horse owners, riders and trainers to see how their horses measure up against thousands of others in the E-BARQ database.

Equestrian Australia is now taking an international lead with the National Equine Behaviour, Safety and Welfare Study, using E-BARQ to address four central questions:

Research questions:

1. Do competition and pleasure horses have different behavioural profiles?
2. Which equestrian disciplines have the safest horses?
3. How can E-BARQ inform EA’s educational initiatives?
4. How can we monitor horse behaviour, safety, and welfare over time to assess the effects of education?

How E-BARQ could help:

• EA can work with the E-BARQ team across the University of Queensland, University of Sydney, and University of New England to lead this world-first study.
• By asking members to use E-BARQ to describe their horses’ behaviour, EA can quickly identify behavioural problem areas in the current horse population.
• EA members can benchmark their horses’ behavior and monitor their progress over time.

Using E-BARQ is free of charge, here's what EA members need to do to participate in this research:

E-BARQ is a free tool, available to all EA members and horse owners. E-BARQ participants will benefit immediately by receiving feedback on their horses in the form of a Share-&-Compare graph. The graph will show E-BARQ participants how their horses’ behaviour compares to the E-BARQ population, and, if owned by an EA member, how their horse compares to other EA members’ horses.

EA members can complete an E-BARQ questionnaire on each of their horses within 20-30 minutes. All horses, of any age, breed or discipline and both ridden and unridden, are eligible to participate in the EA National Equine Behaviour, Safety and Welfare Study. 

Check out this video with Dr Kate Fenner explaining more about E-BARQ

Take E-BARQ Survey Now When you create your own personal account, use the EA-specific code: EAM