Nearly half of the pleasure horses examined in a recent study were found to be obese.
Nearly half of the pleasure horses examined in a recent study were found to be obese. Overweight horses seem to be becoming more common. This is despite the fact that obesity is recognized as causing significant problems in horses. Laminitis, hyperlipemia and strangulating lipoma are among the conditions that have been reported in overweight animals. Obesity is also likely to aggravate bone and joint injuries, reduce exercise tolerance and interfere with breeding. |  |
Although obesity is important from the point of view of horse welfare, we don't really know how common a problem it is. To supply some of the answers, Dr Cathy Wyse and her colleagues at the Glasgow Veterinary School assessed the prevalence of obesity in pleasure horses in southwest Scotland.
Their study, published recently in the Veterinary Record, surveyed 319 horses. These were all horses kept for pleasure riding that lived within 30 miles of the veterinary School.
Horses were assessed for body condition score on a scale from 1 (very poor) to 6 (very fat). The researchers found that 10% of the horses were very fat (body score 6); 35% were assessed as fat (body score 5).
Horses with a condition score of 5 (fat) or 6 (very fat) were classed as obese. So, overall, 45% of the horses in this study were found to be obese.
Perhaps more concerning was the finding that owners were not very good at assessing whether or not their horses were obese.
Owners were also asked to condition score their horses. They were given no instruction on how to decide on the score, neither were they told of the score that the investigators had reached.
There was only moderate agreement between the professionals and the horses owners. The difference was mainly due to owners underestimating the body condition. Owners of fat horses were most likely to underestimate their horse's body score. Only 50% of owners of fat horses agreed with the professional body score.
Admittedly this study took in only a small section of the equine community. It included only horses kept for pleasure riding - competition horses were excluded. Also, the study was conducted in summer when horses were more likely to put on weight. So the overall picture may not be quite as bad as it seems.
However, the research confirms that obesity is a common problem in pleasure horses. It shows that horse owners often have poor ability to assess their horse's condition accurately.
The reports authors suggest there is a need for simple and quantitative methods for assessing body condition in horses. These would help in educating owners and managing obesity in horses.
Reproduced with kind permission of Mark Andrews BVM&S CertEP MRCVS
© Copyright Mark Andrews - Equine Science Update 2008
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Added on: 03/06/08.
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