Fitness for purpose evaluation of stables in current use in the UK

The UK has an estimated 988,000 horses, many of which are stabled as a standard management practice. Stables are a building, buildings, or a portion of a building that are used for the housing and feeding horses, cattle and other domestic livestock. For the purpose of this thesis, cattle and other domestic livestock will be excluded. Today, horses in the UK are stabled in a variety of accommodation, including purpose built historic and modern stables, and stables integrated into buildings converted from an alternative use. This raises concerns considering the physical and psychological wellbeing of the horse, and associated management practices, resulting in the research question: Are stables fit for purpose for the modern Equidae? The research aimed to explore and investigate the concept of suitability - Fit for Purpose of stabling currently utilised within the UK in order to formulate a revised Fitness for Purpose framework which stabling can be assessed against. The research takes a pragmatism philosophy, with a combined deductive and inductive approach utilising cross sectional time horizon case studies with triangulated mixed methods research techniques. Multiple case study fieldwork sites were selected to demonstrate extreme, unique, typical and representative examples enabling conclusions to be holistic, representative across all stables and embedded, representative of the sub-units studied. Data was analysed against age, number of horses, type of horse, dimensions, floor area and wall length, Fitness for Purpose, construction attributes, and social interaction and free exercise The research revealed significant questions concerning stable size and also opportunities for Social Interaction and Free Exercise, thus overall Fitness for Purpose. A Fitness for Purpose framework for future use was developed, along recommended strategies that could improve stabling in current use. The contribution to knowledge concerned a number of areas: the holistic literature review; practical case study field work; case study data analysis (stable accommodation utilised by the modern Equidae, and the level to which this accommodation is Fit for Purpose for the Modern Equidae housed within it). The Revised Fitness for Purpose Framework is a vital contribution to knowledge aspect of this research.