Orthopaedic health status of horses from 8 riding schools–a pilot study.
Abstract: Orthopaedic injury is the most common reason for lameness and wastage in sport and leisure horses. Studies on racehorses have shown differences in injury risk between trainers and training strategies. The aim was to study between riding school variation in orthopaedic health status by clinical examination and horses age, and control for change of examiner, in schools with previous high (n = 4) and low (n = 4) insurance utilisation. Methods: Horses (n = 99) at 8 riding schools were examined for conformation, movement in all gaits, standing flexion tests and palpation by two veterinary surgeons (in some schools only one). Indexes of findings were created for total health, movements, limbs, conformation and back palpation. Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that findings increased with age (walk, trot, canter, conformation left hind limb, palpation fore limbs, hooves and flexion tests) or decreased with age (conformation right fore limb). Significant differences in findings were found between riding schools and examiner for seven and eight criteria each (partly overlapping). Increasing indexes were significantly associated with one examiner (total health, movements, back palpation), increasing age (total health, movements) or more time at the school (limbs). The back palpation index was highest at 5 < 8 years since acquisition. Conclusions: The age distribution differed markedly between riding schools and age affected several types of findings. This, combined with the two opposite groups of insurance use, shows that schools with low insurance utilisation had previously been able to "avoid" using the insurance, maybe even on similar types of cases if these were more promptly/differently handled indicating differential coverage of disease data in the insurance database. The examiner effect was clearly demonstrated. For some findings, the amount of clinical observations differed by school, even when examiner and age was adjusted for. Most findings were of minor importance, including slight movement irregularities. Orthopaedic status varies between riding schools. We hypothesize that this is associated with management factors that warrant further study.
Publication Date: 2010-08-20 PubMed ID: 20727185PubMed Central: PMC2939618DOI: 10.1186/1751-0147-52-50Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
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The research article investigates the orthopaedic health status of horses in eight different riding schools to determine the correlation with varying managerial factors in each school. It aims to understand the impact of age, examination variations, and insurance utilisation on orthopaedic injuries.
Research Methodology
- The study analyses the orthopaedic health of 99 horses across eight different riding schools.
- The horses were thoroughly examined for their conformation, movement in all gaits, standing flexion tests, and palpation by two veterinary surgeons. In some schools, only one examiner was present.
- Indexes for various factors such as total health, movements, limbs, conformation, and back palpation were created.
- The schools were categorised into two: those with high insurance utilisation and those with low insurance utilisation.
Findings and Analysis
- According to the logistic regression analyses, the findings increased with age for aspects like walk, trot, canter, left hind limb conformation, fore limb palpation, hooves, and flexion tests.
- Notably, conformation right forelimb decreased with age.
- Significant differences were observed between riding schools and examiners for seven and eight criteria, respectively, with some overlap.
- Increased indexes showed a significant link with one examiner (total health, movements, back palpation), increasing age (total health, movements), or extended time at the school (limbs).
- Meanwhile, the back palpation index was the highest at five to eight years since the horse’s acquisition.
Conclusions
- The study highlights that age varies within riding schools, and this age variation contributes to differences in findings.
- Schools with low insurance utilisation had been successful at avoiding the use of insurance, possibly due to better management or different handling strategies for injuries or cases.
- The effect of the examiner was also clearly noticeable. The quantity of clinical observations differed by school, even when examiner and age were accounted for.
- Most of the findings, including slight movement inconsistencies, were of minor importance.
- However, the research concluded that orthopaedic health varies between riding schools, suggesting that managerial factors in each school play a significant role in orthopaedic health. The researchers propose further studies to ascertain these contributing factors.
Cite This Article
APA
Egenvall A, Lönnell C, Johnston C, Roepstorff L.
(2010).
Orthopaedic health status of horses from 8 riding schools–a pilot study.
Acta Vet Scand, 52(1), 50.
https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0147-52-50 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7054, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. agneta.egenvall@kv.slu.se
MeSH Terms
- Age Factors
- Animal Husbandry
- Animals
- Extremities / physiopathology
- Gait / physiology
- Horse Diseases / physiopathology
- Horses
- Lameness, Animal / physiopathology
- Logistic Models
- Pilot Projects
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Citations
This article has been cited 4 times.- Dyson S, Pollard D. Determination of Equine Behaviour in Subjectively Non-Lame Ridden Sports Horses and Comparison with Lame Sports Horses Evaluated at Competitions. Animals (Basel) 2024 Jun 20;14(12).
- Egenvall A, Roepstorff L, Peterson M, Lundholm M, Hernlund E. The Descriptions and Attitudes of Riders and Arena Owners to 656 Equestrian Sport Surfaces in Sweden. Front Vet Sci 2021;8:798910.
- Dyson S, Pollard D. Application of a Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram and Its Relationship with Gait in a Convenience Sample of 60 Riding Horses. Animals (Basel) 2020 Jun 17;10(6).
- Jönsson L, Roepstorff L, Egenvall A, Näsholm A, Dalin G, Philipsson J. Prevalence of clinical findings at examinations of young Swedish warmblood riding horses. Acta Vet Scand 2013 Apr 18;55(1):34.
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