Animal category: Equines

Animal welfare during transport: Update on the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005

European Parliamentary Research Service

Published in 2025

European Parliament study assessing the implementation of Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005 on animal transport, revealing  continued compliance problems, particularly for vulnerable animals. It recommends that regulatory definitions should be clarified, while inspections and data recording should be harmonised to improve the effectiveness of the legislation.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Equines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

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Using deep learning models to decode emotional states in horses

Phelipon, R., Lansade, L. & Razzaq, M.

Published in 2025

Study using machine learning models to predict the emotions of ridden horses on the basis of image analysis, comparing different cropping and training methods for convolutional neural network models. The results showed that cropped images of heads were sufficient to provide very good prediction levels (87% accuracy), and that the features used by the model for interpretation were similar to those used by experts.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

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L’enrichissement du milieu de vie

Céline Tallet and Violaine Colson

Published in 2025

Article on environmental enrichment in captive animals. Conditions in captivity restrict the satisfaction of animals' physiological and ethological needs. Lack of stimulation and stressful practices can be detrimental to their welfare and affect the quality of scientific research carried out on these animals.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Cattle, Goats, Equines, Sheep, Fish, Pigs, Rodents, Poultry

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Assemblée nationale : réponse écrite à la question n°3103 : Soutenir le droit à l’abattage à la ferme

Question: Mr Jean-Philippe Tanguy (Somme (4th district) - Rassemblement National). Answer: French Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.

Published in 2025

Following the loss of local abbatoirs; call by a Deputy for the expansion of the practise of on-farm slaughter, which is less stressful for animals and better adapted to local conditions. In response; the government refers to the European health framework, and expresses its support for mobile abattoir projects that comply with the rules: It has also launched a plan to strengthen local abattoir networks.

Document types: Regulation/Certification

Animal categories:Cattle, Goats, Equines, Sheep

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Face readers

Christa Lesté-Lasserre

Published in 2025

Article reviewing the multiple potential benefits of AI for the analysis of animals' facial expressions and detection of signs of pain or complex emotions, in which it sometimes performs better than human experts. Researchers are developing algorithms capable of interpreting the emotional states of dogs, cats, horses and primates using deep learning and annotated image databases. However, scientists remain wary of the lack of transparency in the decisions made by AI, and are seeking to combine facial analysis with other indicators to refine the assessment of animal welfare.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories:Canine, Equine, Feline

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Pain, Identification, Wellfare indicators

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Application of the horse grimace scale in horses with dental disease: Preliminary findings

Amelia E. Sidwell, Marco Duz, Bradley Hill, Sarah Freeman, Sam L. Hole

Published in 2025

Scientific article investigating whether use of a pain scale based on facial expression is an objective and reliable method of assessing dental pain in horses. It concludes that tools designed to identify acute pain lack reliability if used to assess chronic pain, such as dental pain. A more dental-specific ethogram is needed to accurately identify dental pain in horses.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Pain, Behavioural disorders

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EFSA Opinion - Welfare of horses during killing for purposes other than slaughter

EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare

Published in 2025

New EFSA Opinion on the welfare of horses during killing for purposes other than human consumption, whether indivudally or on a large scale. The Opinion details three phases: pre-stunning, stunning and bleeding. It identifies potential hazards and describes stunning and killing methods (captive bolt, firearm, lethal injection). Potential risks, preventive measures and animal welfare measurement criteria are described, along with practices deemed unacceptable on welfare.

Document Types: Opinions

Animal categories: Equines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Consciousness, Pain, Brain integration, Fear, Stress

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EFSA Opinion - Welfare of horses at slaughter

EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Welfare

Published in 2025

New EFSA opinion on the welfare of horses at slaughter for human consumption. The opinion details three phases: pre-stunning, stunning and bleeding. It identifies potential hazards and describes stunning and killing methods (captive bolt, firearm, lethal injection), and proposes measures to assess animal welfare consequences. Practices deemed unacceptable on welfare grounds are also listed.

Document Types: Opinions

Animal categories: Equines

Keywords:Animal-based measurements, Anxiety, Consciousness, Pain, Brain integration, Fear, Stress

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Horses are worthy of care: Horse sector participants' attitudes towards animal sentience, welfare, and well-being

Julie M Fiedler, Margaret L Ayre, Sarah Rosanowski, Josh D Slater

Published in 2025

Analysis of surveys carried out among professionals in the equestrian sector, revealing widespread recognition of equine sentience (99.9% of respondents). Two Subjects emerge: sentience is a pathway to understanding the mental state, welfare and well-being of horses, and humans have a moral obligation to consider it.

Document Types: Scientific paper

Animal categories: Equines

Keywords: Animal mediation, Consciousness, Educations, Human-animal relationships, Welfare indicators,Working animals

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The Interface of Caretaker and Animal Well-being As a Critical Component of Sustainability

Edwards-Callaway, L. N. & Sullivan, P. A.

Published in 2024

Study exploring welfare, both human and animal, as one of the pillars of sustainability in the farmed animal industry. This pillar is often neglected in favor of the environmental and economic pillars.

Document Types: Scientific review

Animal categories: Bovines, Caprines, Equines, Ovines, Porcines, Poultry

Keywords:Adaptation of the animal to the environment, Animal-based measurements, Societal issues, Environment, Welfare indicators, Living environment, One Welfare, Human-animal relationships, Stress, livestock farming systemsBehavioural disorders

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