Drs. Jennifer Moore, Paul Siciliano and Shannon Pratt-Phillips used 10 horses that they separated into two groups: one group included six horses that had body condition scores of more than 7; the other group included leaner horses with body condition scores of 4 or 5. Over the course of 25 days, both groups transitioned from a diet that relied heavily on grazing to one that was based on free-choice hay. Once the horses were transitioned over, the scientists monitored their hay intake and metabolic state for the next 11 days.

Horses had blood drawn regularly throughout the study. Fecal samples were also collected from each horse to determine dry-matter digestibility and gross energy digestibility. The horses also wore heart rate monitors that had GPS trackers that collected data to calculate each horse's energy expenditure.

The study team found no significance difference in the energy intake and expenditures between the two groups of horses. Interestingly, the obese horses were more active for longer periods of time than the lean horses. They also spent less time eating. The scientists concluded that obesity in horses does not appear to be related to excess food intake or reduced activity; obesity is most likely related to metabolic issues.

Read more at EQUUS magazine.

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The research team, which included Drs. Fiona Rioja-Lang, Melanie Connor, Heather Bacon and Cathy Dwyer, asked 19 equine welfare experts what they felt were the UK's main equine welfare issues. Respondents provided 84 issues, which were then discussed in a two-day meeting to prioritize the list of issues.

The conference attendees determined that the most prevalent issues facing the equine population as a whole included lack of biosecurity and disease surveillance. The next most-concerning issues included delayed euthanasia; lack of owner understanding of equine welfare; the horse's frustration, fear and stress from their jobs; and obesity.

Delayed euthanasia was also deemed to cause the most suffering to individual hoses. Other concerns for individual horses included lack of owner recognition of pain behavior; internal parasites; obesity; and diets being fed that are unsuitable for equines.

These concerns highlight the need for owner education—many owners would be surprised to learn how many issues relate to them and not veterinary care. Other group welfare concerns that involve equine owners include unstable social groups, indiscriminate breeding and ill-fitting tack. Individual equine welfare concerns included overwork, overweight riders and the inability for horses to have normal social interactions with how they are managed.

Read more at The Horse.

Read the full article here.

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