What do welfare assessment results tell us?

Depending on the sampling plan used, Brooke can use the Welfare Assessment to look at different equine populations e.g. animals it is planning to work with, animals it is currently working with, animals it may want to work with in the future. As the results of a welfare assessment are repeatable and reliable when collected by trained assessors, comparisons can be made over time and between different equine populations. Welfare assessment results can be used in a number of different ways in order to support programming and to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of Brooke’s work.

The Welfare Assessment is particularly valuable as a tool for monitoring the impact of Brooke’s work from the animals’ point of view. It provides a means of collecting animal based indicators using a method which is objective and repeatable allowing results to be compared over a given time period.

Before carrying out a welfare assessment the way in which the results are going to be used is identified and therefore the question which it is hoped the results will answer is formulated e.g.
• Has there been an improvement in the welfare state of working equines as a result of a specific intervention?
• Has there been an improvement in the welfare state of animals of a particular work type?
• Has there been improvement in a particular high priority welfare issue for which targets have been set at the start of the project?
Once the question has been formulated and the equine population which it is referring to has been identified, an appropriate representative sampling technique can then be devised.

By being representative in our sampling technique, and by the continued focus on maintaining the high quality observational skills of assessors, at the end of an assessment the team are able to confidently identify the prevalence (percentage of animals) of animals suffering from each welfare issue.