Veterinary-care events and costs over a 5-year follow-up period for warmblooded riding horses with or without previously recorded locomotor problems in Sweden.

The research investigated the veterinary-care events and costs for Swedish warmblood riding horses with and without previously recorded movement issues over a period of 5 years. It was found that horses with previous locomotor problems continually needed more veterinary care, thereby incurring higher costs.

Research Objective

• The researchers aimed to figure out the quantity, type, and expense of veterinary care over a five-year period for Swedish warmblood riding horses. This study was particularly interested in horses with and without previously recorded locomotor problems.

Research Design and Methodology

• The researchers chose horses having full insurance for both veterinary care and life during 1997 as the study population.
• The horses were observed from January 1998 until December 2002.
• The segregation was carried out in two cohorts. The ‘exposed cohort’ (LP-cohort) included 1558 horses that had experienced at least one veterinary-care event due to locomotor problems in 1997. Conversely, the ‘exposure-negative cohort’ (LN-cohort) was composed of 16,513 horses that did not show any recorded locomotor problem during 1997.

Results and Findings

• The researchers used stratified incidence proportions and a repeated-measures multivariable-logistic regression model to analyze the outcome. Both of these produced similar conclusions.
• An interaction between the years and cohorts showed that the first year of follow-up had more significant odds ratios (ORs), but the difference reduced over the subsequent years.
• Horses with a life-insurance value of more than 30,000 SEK in both cohorts had comparatively larger odds ratios (ORs). For those with life insurance values of less or equal to 10,000 SEK, the respective ORs were lower.
• Estimated yearly costs for veterinary care for locomotor problems per horse varied between 880 to 1320 SEK (roughly $100 to $150 USD) in the LP-cohort and between 410 and 580 SEK ($46 to $66 USD) in the LN-cohort.

Conclusion of the Study

• Horses that showed locomotor problems were found to require significantly more veterinary-care events and had much higher related costs throughout the follow-up period.