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Out of a representative sample of 1861 Swiss horse yards, 622 horse keepers (35.2%) with 2536 horses, ponies and donkeys sent back a questionnaire about general farm characteristics, their horse-specific training, horse stock, housing conditions, intraspecific social contacts, feeding, ability to move freely, use of the horses and management. 83.5% of horses were kept individually (thereof 18.3% tethered, 32.3% in a loose box indoors, 28.4% in a loose box outdoors, and 4.5% in a loose box with permanent access to a paddock or an individual pasture), and 16.5% lived in group housing systems. 36% of the horses had daily access to a pasture, 62.8% depending on the weather, and 1.2% never at all. Individually housed horses pastured significantly less than horses kept in groups. The mean use per week was 4.5 hours, depending on breed, type of use and housing system. Only 50% of the horse keepers were trained with respect to horses or farm animals (e.g. professional training graduation, licence, military service, veterinarian, farmer). In Switzerland, horses are still housed and fed in a traditional way, despite considerable recent changes in the amount and type of use (65.1% leisure horses, 34.9% sport and working horses); this may result in health and behavioural problems. Therefore, information and education of horsewomen and horsemen should be emphasized in the future. For the transfer of knowledge, veterinarians are of high importance

Ability. --- Access. --- Analysis. --- Animal. --- Animals. --- Behavior. --- Behavioural problems. --- Boxes. --- Breed. --- Contact. --- Demographic survey switzerland. --- Donkey. --- Education. --- Farm animals. --- Feeding. --- Group housing. --- Group. --- Groups. --- Health. --- Horse. --- Horses. --- Housing condition. --- Housing conditions. --- Housing system. --- Housing. --- Information. --- Kept. --- Management. --- Pasture. --- Ponies. --- Pony. --- Questionnaire. --- Social contact. --- Social. --- Switzerland. --- System. --- Systems. --- Time. --- Training of keepers. --- Training. --- Use. --- Veterinarians.

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The guidelines of the Federal Ministry of User Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture (BMVEL) regarding "horse keeping with respect to animal welfare" are from 1995 (BMELF, 1995). Therefore, they are not suitable for modern horse keeping. The Veterinary Association for Animal Welfare (TVT) held it to be necessary to rework the guide-lines in light of 1) many subsequent investigations concerning horse keeping, and 2) the species-specific needs of horses in practice. Each chapter of the BMELF (1995) guide-lines was revised such that the literature and practical experiences were updated. Several chapters (recumbency resting behaviour, fences, underground outdoor and in stables, litter) were added in the position paper of the TVT to reflect the increasing use of boxes with paddocks, loose housing systems with open yards, pasture and winter yards as housing conditions. Keeping horses outdoors permanently during winter is possible because horses have very good thermoregulatory capabilities so that they are able to adapt themselves to cold conditions. However, in light of animal welfare, the holding system must include adequate shelter (natural or artificial). Shelters should protect against wetness, heat, cold and wind, and must be sufficiently large and high, with a dry and clean underground. In keeping horses outdoors permanently, the paths to the feeding and watering areas and to the shelter must be dry. The food must also be protected against mould and soiling. Keeping horses permanently without adequate shelter or in deep marsh without any dry places is against the Animal Protection Act

Agriculture. --- Animal protection. --- Animal welfare. --- Animal-welfare. --- Animal. --- Area. --- Artificial. --- Association. --- Behaviour. --- Boxes. --- Experience. --- Feeding. --- Food. --- Heat. --- Horse. --- Horses. --- Housing condition. --- Housing conditions. --- Housing system. --- Housing. --- Investigation. --- Light. --- Loose housing systems. --- Natural. --- Need. --- Needs. --- Nutrition. --- Paper. --- Pasture. --- Position. --- Protection. --- Recumbency. --- Shelter. --- Shelters. --- System. --- Systems. --- Time. --- Veterinary. --- Welfare. --- Winter housing.

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Environmental enrichment is intended to improve the welfare of laboratory animals. However, regarding male mice, numerous studies indicate an increase in aggressive behavior due to cage structuring. On the one hand, this might be a problem concerning animal welfare. On the other hand, enrichment is though to hamper environmental standardization and to increase variability of data. Furthermore, increasing fights, arousal, and/or injury in enriched housed animals might superimpose other (positive) environmental effects on behavior and physiology. Therefore, the present study investigated effects of environmental enrichment on behavioral, endocrinological, and immunological parameters in male mice of the docile inbred strain ABG. From weaning until day 77 +/- 3 of life, animals were kept in stable sibling groups of four under three different housing conditions: (A) nonstructured Makrolon type III laboratory cages ("standard housing" = S); (B) equivalent laboratory cages that were enriched with a box and scaffolding ("enriched housing" = E); and (C) spacious terrariums that were structured richly (" super-enriched housing"= SE). No differences in agonistic behavior, levels of plasma corticosterone (CORT), and activities of adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) existed among S-, E-, and SE-housed ABG males. Play behavior and general activity increased significantly with increasing enrichment. Concerning immunological parameters, males of both forms of enriched housing showed significantly lower percentages of CD4 and CD8 cells compared to S-housed mice. However, regarding the ratio of CD4/CD8 cells, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IFN-gamma, IgGI, and IgG2a, no significant housing-dependent differences were found. Enrichment did neither hamper standardization nor negatively influence the variability of physiological parameters. In summary, using a docile strain of mice revealed the positive effects of environmental enrichment also on male mice. The lack of adverse effects on behavior

Activity. --- Adrenal tyrosine hydroxylase. --- Adrenal. --- Adrenocortical system. --- Adrenomedullary system. --- Aggression. --- Aggressive-behavior. --- Aggressive. --- Agonistic. --- Animal welfare. --- Animal-welfare. --- Animal. --- Animals. --- Arousal. --- Behavior. --- Boxes. --- Cage enrichment. --- Cage. --- Cages. --- Cell surface antigens. --- Corticosterone. --- Cytokines. --- Enriched. --- Enrichment. --- Environmental enrichment. --- Fight. --- Group. --- Housing condition. --- Housing conditions. --- Housing. --- Immune system. --- Immunoglobulins. --- Increase. --- Injuries. --- Injury. --- Kept. --- Laboratory animals. --- Laboratory cages. --- Laboratory-animals. --- Laboratory. --- Level. --- Life. --- Male laboratory mice. --- Male mice. --- Male-mice. --- Male. --- Males. --- Mice. --- Mus-musculus mammalia. --- Parameters. --- Physiological. --- Physiology. --- Plasma corticosterone. --- Plasma-corticosterone. --- Plasma. --- Play. --- Rats. --- Rattus-norvegicus. --- Social stress. --- Standardization. --- Stress. --- Time. --- Tyrosine-hydroxylase. --- Tyrosine. --- Variability of experimental results. --- Variability. --- Weaning. --- Welfare. --- Wild house mice.