A brief note on the information-seeking behavior of UK leisure horse owners

Hockenhull, Jo; Creighton, E. E. F.

doi:10.1016/j.jveb.2012.04.002

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In terms of preferred sources of information, these findings correspond with a recent study in the USA where 55% of the 74 veterinary surveyed considered equine nutrition to be ‘very important’ in their practice, with 78% reporting that they provided advice, particularly during routine health visits . This evidence corresponds to the results of an online survey, involving 1326 leisure owners in the UK in which participants identified veterinarians, as well as farriers as the most common source of information regarding health and nutrition compared to other sources such as books and magazines . However, this study did not distinguish between professional group, veterinarians or farriers, to which healthcare issues were directed.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Contracting for care – the construction of the farrier role in supporting horse owners to prevent laminitis

Lynden

Ogden

Hollands

2018

Equine Veterinary Journal

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Contracting for care – the construction of the farrier role in supporting horse owners to prevent laminitis

Lynden

Ogden

Hollands

2018

Equine Veterinary Journal

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“…The approaches used by horse owners to find information has been previously investigated . In the current study, the majority of participants’ knowledge was obtained from personal experience and information from veterinarians.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horse owners’ knowledge, and opinions on recognising colic in the horse

Bowden

Burford

Freeman

2019

Equine Veterinary Journal

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Summary Background Colic is the most common emergency problem in the horse. An owner’s ability to recognise colic and seek assistance is a critical first step in determining case outcome. Objectives The aim of this study was to assess horse owners’ knowledge and opinions on recognising colic. Study design Cross‐sectional study. Methods An online questionnaire was distributed to horse owners with open and closed questions on their knowledge of normal clinical parameters in the horse, confidence and approach to recognising colic (including assessment through case scenarios), and their demographics. Descriptive and chi squared statistical analyses were performed. Results There were 1564 participants. Many respondents either did not know or provided incorrect estimates for their horse’s normal clinical parameters: only 45% (n = 693/1540) gave correct normal values for heart rate, 45% (n = 694/1541) for respiratory rate and 67% (n = 1028/1534) for rectal temperature. Knowledge of normal values was statistically associated with participants’ educational qualifications (P<0.01). Owners said if they suspected their horse had colic they would assess faecal output (76%; n = 1131/1486), gastrointestinal sounds (75%; n = 1113/1486), respiratory rate (65%; n = 967/1486) and heart rate (54%; n = 797/1486). There was a lack of consensus on whether to call a vet for behavioural signs of colic, unless the signs were severe or persistent. The majority of participants (61%) were confident that they could recognise most types of colic. In the case scenarios, 49% were confident deciding that a surgical case had colic, but 9% were confident deciding an impaction case had colic. Main limitations Most respondents were UK based; risk of self‐selection bias for owners with previous experience of colic. Conclusions There was marked variation in horse owners’ recognition and responses to colic, and significant gaps in knowledge. This highlights the need for the development of accessible educational resources to support owners’ decision‐making.

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“…Horse owners were much more likely to choose other horse owners as a source of information whereas yard owners and especially veterinarians did not choose horse owners as regularly as part of their top three most likely sources of information to use. This was not an option covered in the previous studies [19,20]. These findings suggest that horse owners have a large influence on each other's knowledge, highlighting how easily social norms can shape behaviour as has been discussed by other authors [21].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…Unlike in the previous studies, online searches were a relatively popular source of information. In contrast, Hockenhull and Creighton's study [20] in the UK and Visser and Van Wijk-Jansen's study [19] in the Netherlands revealed that the internet was not found to be a primary source of information despite owners' online presence. However, as Dumitru et al [23] discovered in human medical health, these findings suggest a similar hypothesis that participants may be using the internet to find their bearings on a subject but do not then use it as their main way of delving deeper into a topic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Optimising the Efficacy of Equine Welfare Communications: Do Equine Stakeholders Differ in Their Information-Seeking Behaviour and Communication Preferences?

Pickering

Hockenhull

2019

Animals

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Information on the management of animals within domestic environments is freely available to animal owners and caregivers either online, or in paper form by request. However, awareness is growing within the animal welfare sector that simply providing written guidelines or educational material is not enough to affect a positive change in owners in relation to animal welfare. In the quest to improve equine welfare, understanding the way that owners and other stakeholders seek information and their communication preferences is key to effective dissemination of up to date equine welfare information and research findings. Three UK equine stakeholder groups—horse owners, livery yard owners, and equine veterinarians—were surveyed online to find out where they sought equine information. Their awareness of equine welfare Codes of Practice, how they respond when they are asked to give advice to horse owners and their communication preferences were included within the survey. All three stakeholder groups tended to seek information from people rather than from organisations, or digital and printed resources. Veterinarians were the most used information source across all three stakeholder groups This highlighted the importance of ensuring that equine veterinarians have access to up to date, evidence-based equine welfare information. While the majority of participants were aware of the equine welfare Code of Practice, fewer had actually read it, this was true particularly amongst horse owners. The primary reasons for this were the features of the Code as well as the issuing organisation. The stakeholders expressed a preference for information to be communicated in a neutral or positive way rather than focusing on negative aspects. Our findings suggest that industry professionals, particularly veterinarians, have an important role to play in knowledge transfer and the dissemination of research findings to horse owners. The efficacy of equine welfare communication could be improved if the information delivery preferences of equine stakeholders are were taken into consideration.

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A brief note on the information-seeking behavior of UK leisure horse owners

Cited by 29 publications

References 5 publications

Contracting for care – the construction of the farrier role in supporting horse owners to prevent laminitis

Contracting for care – the construction of the farrier role in supporting horse owners to prevent laminitis

Horse owners’ knowledge, and opinions on recognising colic in the horse

Optimising the Efficacy of Equine Welfare Communications: Do Equine Stakeholders Differ in Their Information-Seeking Behaviour and Communication Preferences?

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