Equine welfare experts look beyond 'no harm' with the Five Domains Model

Writing in the United States for the veterinary publication The Horse, equine behaviourist Justine Harrison, who is based in north-west England, has set out why many in the welfare field are moving beyond the long-standing Five Freedoms framework when assessing how horses are cared for. The Five Freedoms, introduced in 1979 by the UK's Farm Animal Welfare Council, focus on preventing hunger, discomfort, pain, fear and the inability to express natural behaviour. Harrison's point is a simple one: avoiding harm is a baseline, not a guarantee that a horse is actually doing well.

The alternative she discusses, the Five Domains Model, was developed by the animal welfare scientists David Mellor and Christopher Reid in 1994 and has since become a widely used reference point in welfare science internationally. It looks at nutrition, environment, health and behaviour, and treats how these four areas combine to shape a fifth domain: the horse's mental state. Rather than stopping at "is this horse free from suffering", the model asks owners and carers to consider the animal's day-to-day experience, including rest, choice and social contact with other horses, and whether, taken together, it adds up to what Harrison calls "a life worth living."

For owners and breeders, the practical shift is away from treating welfare as purely a veterinary or housing checklist and towards everyday management decisions: turnout, companionship, routine and the freedom to make some choices for themselves. None of this replaces sound nutrition, veterinary care or safe housing, but it is a useful reminder that ticking the basic boxes is the start of good welfare, not the end of it.