Improving Equine Welfare through Human Habit Formation

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Human habitual behaviours are strong, long lasting and require less mental energy to perform than other behaviours, and these characteristics present an opportunity for developing pro-animal welfare habitual behaviours (PAWHBs) that benefit horses and donkeys. The routine nature of equine care lends itself to positive habit formation in people. This study addresses a gap in evidence and understanding of the impact of an intervention designed to develop PAWHBs in equine carers. People caring for horses and donkeys were asked to perform an enrichment behaviour with an equine in the form of scratching them in a consistent context linked to an existing routine behaviour. The findings indicated that linking new behaviours to existing routine behaviours can aid the development of pro-animal welfare habits. This also highlighted the role of the equine in triggering the new behaviour to be performed, the potential mutual benefit from engaging in the scratching behaviour for human and equine animal, and the positive emotions resulting from the action, which in turn promotes the repetition of behaviour. The findings mirror the theory of the habit loop: a cue to do a behaviour, the performance of the behaviour in response to the cue, and then the reward for doing the behaviour. ABSTRACT: This paper explores the potential for interventions to develop pro-animal welfare habitual behaviours (PAWHBs) in people to improve the lives of animals. Human behavioural research indicates that opportunities exist to deliver lasting change through developing positive habitual behaviours. The routine nature of many equine care and management practices lends itself to habit formation and maintenance. This proof-of-concept paper aims to evaluate a theory-based intervention of developing and maintaining a PAWHB in people caring for equines. Qualitative research methods were used. A 30 day PAWHB intervention (PAWHBInt) of providing enrichment to an equine by scratching them in a consistent context linked to an existing routine behaviour was undertaken. Participants (n = 9) then engaged in semi-structured interviews that were analysed using thematic analysis, where the participants self-reported the outcomes they observed during the intervention. The study findings suggest that the PAWHBInt had a positive impact on human behaviour and habit formation. The research helps to address the dearth of evidence regarding the application of habit theory to equine welfare interventions and emphasised linking a desired new behaviour to an existing routine behaviour when developing PAWHBs. The research also highlights the role of mutual benefit for human and equine, and emotion in providing feedback and potential reward, supporting the link to the cue-routine-reward principle of habit theory.