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Equine welfare describes the acceptable conditions of life and use for domesticated horses, in contrast to suffering produced by voluntary or involuntary actions of others, whether through physical abuse, mutilation, neglect, or other forms of ill treatment. Debates about the welfare and abuse of horses are recent. In the nineteenth century, when the sight of a horse dying while working was commonplace, the first wave of awareness was born with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the publication of the novel ''Black Beauty'' in England. France followed suit with the creation of the French League for the Protection of the Horse and the passage of the Grammont Law in 1850. Similar concerns over animal welfare developed in the United States. The debate intensified and extended throughout North America and Europe over the next century, particularly regarding the use of the horse during war, the use of horses as working animals on city streets, sports training, horse slaughter, and conditions of horse breeding and keeping. In the United States, the practice of soring resulted in the passage of the Horse Protection Act of 1970 and various organizations protested against abuses in horse racing and rodeo. In the early twenty-first century, these issues remained in the public eye and new controversies arose, especially about training methods such as Rollkur, problems in the field of endurance riding, stable confinement, and the presence of carriage horses in modern cities such as New York. The definition of "well-being" is complex as regards the horse. Horses are very quiet and show few signs of discomfort, which makes the detection of pain particularly difficult. Theorists in the western world once went so far as to consider the horse as incapable of feeling pain. The horse is also a sociable creature, designed by evolution to spend most of it time grazing in a natural setting. Horses develop stereotypic behaviors and other problems when kept in isolation, unable to graze, or if subjected to prolonged confinement in a stable. The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) now prohibits certain specific training methods, including poling and Rollkur, as have several countries, notably Switzerland. Many nations have passed assorted laws to protect horses from practices that include tail docking, transportation for excessive lengths of time, and artificial aids in horse racing or other equestrian competitions are subject to bans or national or European limitations. Transportation to slaughterhouses is regulated. In the context of increased research on equine welfare, new practices such as natural horsemanship, barefoot hoof care, and even refusal of riding have developed. These suggest a major concern for the welfare of the horse will continue into the future. ==History== The domestication of the horse enabled mankind to use this animal for a variety of tasks: labour, transportation, war... Once the horse loses its usefulness, it could even be slaughtered and turned into food for humans. Even, from the antispecist point of view, developing the species in slavery to be a worker. Pierre Enoff suggests that globally, this situation is more akin to a bondage that imposes prison-like conditions on the horse, as opposed to a symbiotic relationship between human and animal. The Italian ethnologist Sergio Dalla Bernardina explains the horse's situation by the desire of part of the human population to be "master" and to tyrannize living beings. "Those who like total submission prefer dogs or horses. Those who prefer light submission pick cats". The injuring, mutilating and putting to death of horses (witness the sacrifices, horse slaughtering, horse baiting, and the organization of stallion fights) are extensively documented in numerous regions of the world. Horses were routinely killed on the field of battle, branded, cut on the ears in order to facilitate quick recognition, spurred, or docked (have their tails amputated) from the 17th century to prevent the tail from becoming stuck in the harness.〔 However, along with this treatment develop beneficial horse-human interaction for the animal, with many examples of worship. The detention of a horse implies the need to support themselves. From the perspective of the scientist David W. Ramey, the human-horse relationship has been beneficial to both species. The consideration of equine welfare as a concept is recent in history. The Western religious and philosophical conception of animals has long denied that they have any sensation of pain, following the theory of the animal machine described by René Descartes in the 17th century. However, Islamic civilization of the period held a strong respect for the horse, according them (among other things) the possibility of spending the night in their masters' tents. At the beginning of the 21st century, the horse is largely recognized by biologists (and by the scientific world generally) as being a "sensible being". The horse is now idealized by many cultures, thanks to his attraction emotionally. This evolution accompanies that of all of Western society, beginning from the mid-20th century with the animal welfare movement, having a greater recognition for their individuality. A common error is the belief that advances in respect for equine welfare arise from ethical and scientific considerations. In reality, these advances are derived almost exclusively from demands of activists and the general public.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Horse welfare」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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