Obesity is high in UK’s pleasure horses
Posted: Wednesday, September 14, 2011
by The Old Gray Mare
www.DressYourHorse.com
Just recently I was reviewing horse subjects that I wished to write about and came across my notes on horse obesity.
The shocking statistic is that over one in five pleasure horses are deemed to be overweight. Horses carrying too much weight frequently come down with equine metabolic syndrome or serious laminitis.
The University of Nottingham’s School of Veterinary Medicine, in their landmark pilot study of horse obesity, estimates that horses are just as likely to be overweight as their human owners. The results are available in the online Veterinary Record.
Nottingham’s study was conducted by Helen Stephenson, England. Stephenson is a third-year veterinary student and specializes in treating horses.
Questionnaires were sent to 500 horse owners who kept their horses for pleasure use only. One hundred sixty owners responded and the final tabulation came up with one in five horses considered to be obese and overweight.
Veterinary Surgery Specialist Dr. Sarah Freeman supervised the research study. Says Dr Freeman, "This provides the first snapshot of the prevalence of obesity in horses in the UK and an insight into owners' management of bodyweight in horses. Obesity is linked to a number of different diseases, including arthritis, laminitis and equine metabolic syndrome.”
Dr. Freeman wants to conduct further research to determine frequency and risk factors in performance horses as well.
Using a numbering grade between zero to five, with 3 or more indicating overweight à obesity, owners were asked to grade their horses’ weight and body condition. Horse forage ranged from all grass to a mixture to concentrate feed supplemented with hay.
To evaluate the owners’ assessment of their horses’ weight and overall body condition, the researchers performed an independent study of 15 randomly chosen horses from the respondents and performed this grading system on them. In this way, they evaluated whether the owners had over- or under-estimated body condition. Their results confirmed that over half of the 15 owners had under-evaluated their horses and confirmed that the percentage of obesity among pleasure horses exceeded findings.
Stephenson says, “Increasing incidence of obesity is a multi-species problem, affecting both humans and their companion animals. I feel that addressing this issue is an important role for the profession, and I hope to do my part when I go into practice."
The more I think about my horses and their conditioning, and my own, we’re all going on diet and an exercise regimen.
The Old Gray Mare writes for www.DressYourHorse.com and her Blog sites.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)I was just observing in the specials on Robin Hood that the "Formula 1" Knight's horses never had riders until the day of battle, and that the shorter stubbier horses got the yeoman riders. The horses developed an extra gait called "ambling" and it allowed them to go forever. Maybe more and more "ambling" should be done by all.Oh yes. Ambling. Step to the head of the line Heidi. I need to do some ambling. Or an energizer battery right about now. Spending the day being a genuine taxi - seems like for just about everyone today. Think I'll tell them to practice walking. Duty calls!
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