The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.
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11 September 2016 THE HORSE TheHorse.com For additional news items, see TheHorse.com/News Assessing Equine Welfare Objectively We all interpret horse welfare differently, depending on our ideas as well as the type of community the horse and his owners reside in. The key point in welfare assessment is not to point out what is right or wrong, but how we can influence change for both human and equine welfare. An objective assessment can present a clearer picture of what steps we must take to improve an animal's welfare. Base the objective welfare assessment on science, looking at three aspects: physical, mental, and naturalness. When placed into a framework of analyzing "input" factors (such as management, environment, and genetics) and "output" factors (such as clinical signs and behavior), these aspects can help veterinarians score animal welfare objectively and effect change for the better. Learn more about assessing welfare objectively and effecting change at TheHorse.com/37931. —Siraya Chunekamrai, DVM, PhD, WEVA Regional Ambassador—Thailand weva ISTOCK.COM "There were individual horses who showed improvement following treatment in this study, but there were also individuals (in a control group) who showed improvement without treatment," said Katherine Rob- inson, BSc, DVM, MVSc, Dipl. ABVP, of the University of Saskatchewan's Western College of Veterinary Medicine. The team cautioned that their study included only nine horses, which could have affected the resulting statistics. Robinson and co-author Steve Manning DVM, MSc, Dipl. ACT, also of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, recommended that owners consult their veterinarians before deciding on specific treatments. Tradi- tional treatment options, such as therapeutic farriery, rest, extracorporeal shock wave therapy, navicular bursa injection, and coffin joint injection, might be more effective for some horses than acupuncture, the pair added. Learn more at TheHorse.com/37766.—Katie Navarra resolution in 93% of the treated ears and, moreover, the (causative virus Equus caballus papillomavirus) was not observed in 71.4% of the treated ears after treatment." Oliveira Filho said vets should explain the side effects to owners when prescrib- ing the drug and take steps to ensure the horse receives the entire treatment course. More research is needed to see if ap- plying lower imiquimod concentrations—in an effort to limit inflammation—would still be effective, he said. Learn more at TheHorse.com/37780. —Katie Navarra In their study of 108 horses with strangles, Boyle and colleagues found that 72% had a fever, 62% had mucopurulent (containing pus and mucus) nasal discharge, and 22% had external abscesses in the jaw area. Horses with nasal discharge and those with external abscesses were 6.8 and 52.78 times more likely to have strangles, respectively, than horses with respiratory disease not displaying those clinical signs. Regarding potential complica- tions, Boyle and colleagues found that 64% of the 50 horses that un- derwent guttural pouch endoscopy had empyema (pus accumulation). Just 6.5% of horses developed purpura hemorrhagica (an immune-mediated inflammation of blood vessels causing swelling of the belly and limbs and pinpoint bleeding on the gums), and 2% of horses developed bastard strangles (abscess formation in other parts of the body). "Very few horses had the classic triad of signs; however, the lack of classic signs does not rule out the possibility of strangles," Boyle concluded. "The horse's travel history and environment should be considered when determining whether there is a need to test for strangles. A high percentage of horses will develop empyema, so guttural pouch endoscopy is recommended at the end of the course of disease to make sure the horse is not a carrier. Finally, we found less horses affected by bastard strangles than previous reports." Get more study findings at TheHorse.com/37761. —Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc It's no secret: Riding and handling horses can be risky business. But being aware of the risks associated with horse care, handling, and riding and using protective equipment are two dif- ferent things. Some equestrians choose to use safety equipment daily, while others rarely or never do. So what's behind their decisions? To find out, Christina-Maria Ikinger, MSc, a PhD student at the University of Gottingen, in Germany, and colleagues col- lected online survey responses from 2,572 German equestrians. The survey garnered several interesting results, Ikinger said, including the finding that neither rider gender nor severity of a witnessed riding accident influ- enced safety behavior. Factors that most influenced safety equipment use were the respondents' attitudes toward safety equipment and the safety- related behavior of other horse owners and riding pupils from their stables, Ikinger said. "We believe the obtained results (will) help to identify starting points for the promotion of risk preventive behavior and to identify high-risk groups within equestrianism," Ikinger said. Find out what other factors increased the likelihood of equestrians using safety equip- ment at TheHorse.com/37851. —Casie Bazay, NBCAAM What Influences Rider Safety Behavior? THE HORSE STAFF