In terms of animal welfare, the need to learn the best methods for use and care remains a major concern. It is generally recognized that stress alters behaviour and many environmental features clearly create stress. It is also evident that altered behaviour is one of the principal signs of stress in horses. In the persistent absence of novelty some individuals exhibit certain behavioural processes and these can emerge in the form of persistent repetition of abnormal or stereotyped behaviours. The alternative outlets of the impelled energy are various forms of behavioural abnormalities which reveal impaired adaptation and situational illhealth.
Monotonous constraint is usually the stimulus to such behaviour.
A whole range of abnormal behaviour is manifest as distinct major syndromes in horses. They show symptoms resulting from deficiencies in husbandry and those symptoms obstruct the full range of the common self maintenance acts that normally keep the animal healthy. Some attempt must be made to understand and assess emotional feelings in horses. Although it is contended that many of the subjects currently taught to veterinary students already embrace aspects of animal behaviour, it is clear that equine ethology must be taught formally and comprehensively in the veterinary curriculum. The working veterinarian is regularly presented with clinical cases that are symptomatically behaviourbased.