National Horse Forage Survey

Mariette van den Berg is a postgraduate student at the University of New England currently undertaking a PhD degree in equine nutrition. The main focus of her study is foraging behaviour and diet selection in horses and the use of fodder trees and shrubs as forage enrichment for domesticated horses in Australia.

This research will help the horse industry to better understand the potential use of alternative and suitable forage sources and the affect of forage enrichment on the behaviour of horses in closed equine systems. The first stage of the research program is to conduct a national horse forage survey. This survey will allow researchers to collect data on how horses are managed and identify if browsing is a common behaviour in domesticated horses in Australia. The survey is available online (link) and takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. The survey is approved by Human Ethics Committee. Click this link for more information http://surveys.qualdata.net.au/s3/horseforage-survey The results will be published online and in the horse magazines where the survey link has been featured.