Welfare Rules for Horses
Food & Water
Horses should always have access to food and fresh water when stalled or out in the pasture. Water should always be accessible via a trough, half barrel or naturally replenishing source (eg. a lake running through a pasture). Food should always be accessible via natural forage (grazing on grass), or provided forage (timothy bales, alfalfa bales and quality bales). Hard feed is not a requirement however is encouraged for horses that are in work or are currently underweight.
Stalls
A stall for a horse should be adequately sized, allowing the horse to eat, drink and rest comfortably.
Footing
Stalls should have comfortable footing, with at least 50% of the stall being some form of bedding material (shavings are recommended, however substitutes such as straw are also permitted). The remainder of the stall floor should be a safe, non-slip material such as mats.
Security
A secure stall should have no escape points for the horse to exit the stall, bar the exception of entryways/exits. Owners should double check their horses stall has no escape points or step ups to get over walls from certain items in the stable (eg. a horse may use a feeder or a bale of hay to step up onto a wall and exit). Players may use barriers to block up spaces where horses could possibly escape.
Size
The bare minimum stall size for any SWEM horse regardless of their use is 7x7, this is to ensure horses have adequate space. Stall sizes do not include walls, however decoration and essentials inside of the stall do not take away from their floor space. We encourage you to provide as much space as possible for your horse.
Occupancy
Horses are not allowed to be housed in the same stall with the exception of a dam and her foal(s).
Divides
Stallions and mares present in the same barn should have a clear division in the stable. Stallions should not be turned out with mares, however they can be turned out with each other, or turned out with geldings.
Runs
A run may be attached to a stall to provide a horse time outside, allowing them to socialize and graze without a pasture. Horse runs must be a minimum of 6x6 and
Pastures
Pastures offer a safe space for your horse(s) to be turned out and allow them to graze and socialize freely.
Security
All pastures must be secured through suitable gates, all entrances must be at least 2b wide and 4b high. Pasture fences must be at least 1.5b+ tall to prevent horses from escaping or other animals from entering. Please keep into consideration placements of food and water stations to prevent animals from escaping.
Size
Pastures must be a suitable size for the number of horses it keeps. The base size for a pasture containing a single horse must be at least 15bx15b, each horse added to the pasture requires an additional 225b of space. Floorspace counts as any usable space including feeders, decoration and enrichment, but excludes walls/fences.
Footing
Suitable footing for pastures consists of natural and soft blocks (e.g., grass/dirt). Pastures may incorporate small amounts of harder blocks into the soil for decoration purposes but this should not make up the majority of the animals' available area.
Terrain
Pastures should avoid having any harsh slopes or terrain that could potentially injure your horse unless it is appropriately fenced or barricaded off.
Shelter
Regardless of use, all pastures must provide at least 4bx4b of shelter. Each horse present in the pasture requires an additional 16b of shelter. Shelter may be built or natural (trees, caves, overhangs, etc.).
Occupancy
Pastures may house as many horses as they have adequate space and shelter for. Stallions should under no circumstance be turned out with mares. Horses may be turned out with docile animals (e.g., cows/sheep) permitting you meet the welfare needs for all animals present in the pasture.
Calculating Pasture Area
You will need to calculate the area of your pasture to determine how many horses can be turned out. Length x width (excluding fences) = the area of your pasture, divided by 225 = how many horses you may turn out into that pasture. For example, a pasture measures 30b x 30b, this equals 900b of space - to calculate how many horses I can store in this pasture I would divide the 900 by 225. This means I can adequately house 4 horses in this pasture. If an answer does not equal a whole number, you must use the previous whole number. Eg. 4.2 or 4.8 means I can still only have 4 horses turned out, as I cannot have part of a horse.