Rate of obesity within a mixed-breed group of horses in Ireland and their owners' perceptions of body condition and useability of an equine body condition scoring scale.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Equine obesity is a significant health and welfare concern. The proportion of domestic horse populations that are overweight are as high as 45%. As the primary decision-makers for their horses' care, owners are theoretically ideally placed to identify whether their horses are appropriately conditioned, however, research in other countries has shown that many owners are unable to accurately judge their horse's body condition. In this study, through the comparison of body condition scoring (BCS) performed by an expert and the horse owners and interviews with owners, we aimed to identify the proportion of horses that were overweight or obese, to assess the accuracy of horse owners' BCS assessment both prior to and after receiving information and instructions on body conditi

SUBMITTER: Golding E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10077657 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature