Horse breeding in organic farming in South Bohemia

The theoretical part of bachelor thesis describes conditions of horses bred in organic farming system. The assessment of horse breeding on organic farms in South Bohemia based on questionnaire and interviews with farmers represents the practical part. 70 farmers were willing to provide the required information. It was found out, that respondents had bred 36 breeds mostly in small numbers of horses per farm. 41.4 % of respondents used alternative medical treatments in horse medical care. The most favorite were herbs and homeopathy. Outdoor management systems prevailed and 70 % of farms provided shelter to their horses on pasture or paddock. Individual hand mating and artificial insemination were common ways of reproduction on the farms. Foaling took place on pasture as well as in stable. 48.6 % of respondents used natural horse training methods. Horses were mostly used for tourist and recreational riding and for landscape maintenance. The main business activity on farms was cattle farming (64.3 %). 24.3 % of farms consider their horse farming to be profitable