Horses were domesticated for more than 5000 years and have been one of the most emblematic species living alongside humans. This long-shared history would suggest that horses are well known and well understood, but scientific data raise many concerns about the welfare state of most domestic horses suggesting that many aspects have been largely misunderstood. In the present review, we will examine some of the possible human factors that may explain the huge prevalence of welfare problems, despite horses being of special importance to humans. First of all, as horses are non-verbal, current management practices rely upon what one thinks is good for them, which opens the way to subjective interpretations and projections, based on one’s own subjective experience but probably still more on cultural/social norms and influences, traditions and beliefs. The lack of recognition, identification, or even the misinterpretation of signals are other potential reasons for welfare issues. Lastly, the over-exposure to animals with expressions of compromised welfare may lead to lower sensitivity of owners/professionals. That is why we lastly suggest that instead of simply providing information on what to do, we should promote validated visible indicators that leave less room for personal interpretation.

中文翻译：

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检测非语言物种的福利：马福利评估中的社会/文化偏见和困难

马被驯化了 5000 多年，是与人类共存的最具象征意义的物种之一。这段悠久的历史表明，马是众所周知的，也很容易理解，但科学数据引发了对大多数家养马的福利状况的许多担忧，表明许多方面在很大程度上被误解了。在本综述中，我们将研究一些可能的人为因素，这些因素可以解释福利问题的普遍存在，尽管马对人类特别重要。首先，由于马是非语言的，当前的管理实践依赖于人们认为对它们有益的东西，这为基于自己的主观经验的主观解释和预测开辟了道路，但可能更多地取决于文化/社会规范和影响、传统和信仰。缺乏识别、识别，甚至对信号的误解都是福利问题的其他潜在原因。最后，过度接触表现出福利受损的动物可能会导致主人/专业人员的敏感性降低。这就是为什么我们最后建议，与其简单地提供关于做什么的信息，我们应该推广经过验证的可见指标，为个人解释留下更少的空间。