Study area

Banja Shekudad district is one of the districts in Awi administrative zone of Amhara Regional State. The district is situated at latitude of 11°10′ north and longitude of 36°15′ east in a distance of 122 km away from the regional town Bahir Dar to the south and 447 km from Addis Ababa to the north with an altitude range of 1900–3300 above sea levels. The annual rainfall of the district ranges from 2200 to 2400 mm daily temperature of 15–26 °C the overall area coverage of 47,915.809 thousand hectares. In terms of land-use pattern, about 65% of the area is cultivated land and planted settlements and wastelands account for about 10, 8 and 17%, respectively [8].

Ankesha Guagusa district is one of the districts in Awi zone, Amhara Regional State. The district is situated at altitude of the coordinates of 10°31′46″ to 10°41′32″ north and 36°36′18″ to 36°59′33″ east and 139 km away from the regional town (Bahir Dar) and 421 km from Addis Ababa. The annual rainfall of the area ranges from 1000 to 2000 mm with the daily temperature of 15–20 °C. The altitude of the district ranges from 1500 to 2800 m above sea level with total area of 95,503 ha (Fig. 1).

Methods of data collection and analysis

Household characteristics of respondents

Educational characteristics of respondents

Land and livestock holding

Purpose of horse husbandry in the study districts

Feeds and feeding of horses

Water and watering frequency of horses

Housing, breeding and health care of horses

The major health problems of horses observed were cough and digestion colic. Although some of respondents (35% in Banja Shekudad district and 31.8% in Ankesha Guagusa) were used modern veterinary service and drugs to treat their horses against prevailing diseases, it is evident that most of respondents (47% in Banja Shekudad and 54.2% in Ankesha Guagusa districts) used home-made treatment for their horses.

Training on horse husbandry

The majority of horse owners have no training in relation to horses husbandry, while few (24.12% in Banja Shekudad and 33.78% in Ankesha Guagusa districts) have got some horse-specific training mainly related to feeding and health care of horses.

Constraints of horse husbandry

The major constraint noted by all respondents in both districts is shortage of land for horse grazing and feed production. Another is lack of access to credit to buy horse and inputs required for horse management, and incidence of disease is among mentioned problems during group discussion conducted in two sessions with respondents.

Household characteristics

The sex characteristics of respondents showed that the respondents in both districts were male-headed households that might be due to the fact that males are closely related to livestock handling and management. The male-headed household characteristics of respondents in both districts were in agreement with Asmare et al. [11] and Wolelie et al. [12] for different parts of Ethiopia. The age structure of household heads in both districts was similar in both sexes. The results of both districts were similar to the reports of Solomon et al. [13]; Asmare et al. [11] who reported the average age of respondents was 43.2 ± 1.0 years for Metekel Zone, north-western Ethiopia. The average family size of respondents in both districts in the present study was comparable with Asmare et al. [11] but lower than districts (Mandura and Pawe) of Metekel zone of Benishangul-Gumuz region ranging 6.04–6.94 [14]; the reports by Tesfaye [15] with overall mean family size of 5.7 persons in Metemma district in Northwest Ethiopia and national average (5.20).

Educational characteristics of respondents

The educational statuses of majority of respondents in both districts were found illiterate, which might be associated with poor education access in the area. The educational characteristics of horse owner respondents were almost to the reports of earlier reports in Ethiopia [11, 12, 16] for different districts of Ethiopia. This might be due to various factors such as access to education, awareness about the importance of education and other related factors. However, it is important to note that from technology adoption, this higher population of the illiterate class in both districts will have a disadvantage on the acceptance of new technologies like trainings, improved agricultural technologies and adopting them for better live improvement. In other words, adoption of improved technologies should also consider the literacy condition of farmers. Studies by Appleton and Balihuta [17] indicated that education is the main issue in agricultural development. (In particular, primary and secondary schooling had higher impact on agricultural development compared to any other level of education.)

Land and livestock holding characteristics

Mixed crop–livestock was the characteristic farming system in study districts with more or less similar features. The average landholding of Banja Shekudad districts was 0.84 ha per household, while that of Ankesha Guagusa district was 1.12 ha per household. The landholding per household in both districts was small as compared to the national average of the country. This might be hindrance to respondents in practicing improved fodder production for horses and other livestock in the area. The size of landholding per household of both districts is lower than Asmare et al. [11] for Burie-Zuria district in north-western Ethiopia, which was 1.4 ha per household. Moreover, the landholding status of both districts was lower than earlier reports and lower Yayeh et al. [18] in which the landholding of 0.98 ha for Debre Marqos district, Amare [19] with a report of 1.14 ha in Fogera district both are in the same region. Overall, the landholding in both districts is lower than the national average landholding size of 1.6 ha reported by FAO [20], which may in turn affect improved forages.

Horses are the dominant livestock species in Ankesha Guagusa, while cattle are dominant in Banja districts. This observation concurs with the report of Gizachew [21] that generally, equines are the most widely distributed animals in higher and medium highland zones. The average horse holding of respondents in both districts is higher than different reports [22, 23] for central highlands of Ethiopia.

Purpose of horse husbandry

The purpose of horses for the households in the study areas elucidates that horses are used for many activities in both districts mainly for ploughing and as pack animals. The result noted the land cultivation or ploughing using horse power has given much emphasis in the current study area, which is in agreement with earlier reports [12, 22, 24, 25]. The result was also in line the studies [26, 27] who reported equines can be used for different roles in the farm family daily chores such as transportation of goods by pack and cart due to their sturdy nature and manageable behaviour.

Feed and feeding of horses

The activity of feeding of horses in both districts was almost similar in that grazing on natural pasture and supplementation using home-grown feeds. This home/homestead feeding is an interesting feature of livestock feeding, which in turn has enormous advantage to promote fodder development and using cut-and-carry system, thereby reducing free grazing. Regarding the amount of supplement given to horses, the type and amount of feed fed requirement varies according to the workload of the horses. The finding agrees with different results [25, 28, 29]. Similar reports also made by other researchers [30, 31]. Feed shortage during the dry season and disease were the major constraints for horse production and agree with the reports of other authors for different livestock species. However, in the study area the overall horse feeding and supplementation practice were not quantified, which needs further research in the field.

Water and watering frequency of horses

The majority of respondents in both districts provide water twice a day in dry season and once in the wet season. The provision of adequate quantities of clean drinking water is a major prerequisite for satisfactory milk production, growth and animal health [32], but the minimum amount required is affected by various factors and therefore seldom known exactly. The availability and accessibility of water resources have a significant impact on the production and productivity of livestock in general and horses in particular. Source of water for horses and frequency of watering is in agreement with Ayza et al. [16]) and Beriso et al. [33] for other species of livestock in different areas of Ethiopia. Letting horses to drink water at least once a day was common feature of all respondents (100%) in both districts, which is in agreement with earlier reports [24].

Housing, breeding and health care of horses

In the study districts, the majority of respondents do not have separate houses for horses in both districts. That means horses were kept within the family house of respondents like the earlier results for horses [21, 26] and other species of livestock [16]. This might be due to lack of awareness and shortage of resources to construct separate horse houses in the study areas. The season of breeding of horses in both districts is early wet season in all respondents (100%) in both districts. Although breeding management of horses like other animals has very much economic benefit, breeding of horses in all respondents is by the horses themselves without any human intervention. Like other livestock species [34, 35] in most production systems of Ethiopia, no planning of breeding and human-assisted breeding of horses in most cases. According to respondents, horses breed early rainy season in both districts, which might be associated with availability of feed resources associated with the rainy season. The major problems of horses observed are cough and digestion colic in both districts. From overall respondent in both districts, only few get modern veterinary service, while majority use traditional medication for their horses. This might be due to lack of awareness and shortage of capital to afford veterinary services. The finding is in agreement with other equines species such as donkey health management reports in Ethiopia [36, 37] in which few equine species get annually veterinary care and owners also provide home-made treatment ailments to their animals.

Training on horse husbandry

Even though training access is crucial in improving animal husbandry including horses, majority of horse owners have got no training related specifically to horses, while few have some horse-specific training. It is noted that training on livestock husbandry is essential to livestock owners to increase production and productivity of their stock. This finding agrees with earlier reports of Asmare et al. [11] for cultivated forage production and management in selected areas of Ethiopia. It is noted by Ampaire and Rothschild [38] that training on livestock husbandry is essential to livestock owners to increase production and productivity of their stock. Overall, the importance of training of farm households in developing countries (including Ethiopia) also indicates that training has useful effect to improve farm productivity [38–41].

Constraints of horse husbandry

Feed shortage during the dry season and disease were the major constraints for horse production in both districts. Shortage of feed during dry season might be due to expansion of crop land and decreased feed or fodder production, which can be used for feeding of horses. In Ethiopia, expansion of crop farming in grazing areas was a major problem for horse grazing as reported for other species of livestock [42]. The problem of disease and illness in horses might be linked to lack of awareness on horse healthcare management and improper nutrition of horses. The overall result of this finding agrees with the reports of other authors for different livestock species [11, 13, 16]. The constraints of reported in this study call more research and intervention in horse management in the study districts to exploit the potential of horses in the livelihood of poor farmers in the areas.