Horse-related injuries: Causes, preventability, and where educational efforts should be focused

Camargo, Fernanda Carolina; Gombeski, William R.; Barger, Polly; Jehlik, Connie; Wiemers, Holly; Mead, James A.; Lawyer, Amy

doi:10.1080/23311932.2018.1432168

Cited by 21 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Of the 718 incidents reported from 2011 to 2017, over 91.6% (658) indicated that the person associated was mounted on a horse when the incident occurred, which is similar to previous accounts. 15 These mounted reports were analysed in this study ( table 1 ). Among the reports of mounted incidents, 25.0% of the riders were wearing protective vests, while 75.0% were not wearing one at the time the accident occurred.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of body protection vests and experience levels in prevention of equestrian injuries

Andres

Bushau-Sprinkle

Brier

et al. 2018

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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ObjectivesTo investigate the risk reduction and benefit of wearing body protection/safety vests in equestrian sports.MethodsA comparison of equestrians wearing body protective vests and those not wearing vests was performed using incident report data of 718 participants in the United States Pony Clubs during 2011–2017. Data obtained included age, gender, certification level of member, type of activity, description of incident, description of injuries, what protective equipment was worn and other possible contributing factors.ResultsWhile wearing body protective vests when riding on the flat or for show jumping was not correlated with a decrease in injuries, wearing vests for cross country was correlated with decrease in reported injuries (p=0.036) and showed a trend towards a lower incident severity level (p=0.062). Wearing body protection during cross country reduced the relative risk of injury by 56%. While the volume of incidents varied with a rider’s experience level, the number of serious injuries did not appear to correlate with lesser equestrian experience.ConclusionsWhile equestrian sports are considered to have a certain degree of risk associated with them, there are ways to make them safer. Wearing safety equipment, such as helmets and body protection, and obtaining education and experience can lessen the chance of incurring serious injuries.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of body protection vests and experience levels in prevention of equestrian injuries

Andres

Bushau-Sprinkle

Brier

et al. 2018

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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“…People who ride horses will often say that the horse spooked and threw the rider for no reason. Spooking occurs when a horse suddenly and unexpectedly has a fear reaction that throws the rider (Carmargo et al, 2018). It is a major cause of horse accidents (Carmargo et al, 2018).…”

Section: Livestock Perception Of Small Visual Changes In the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spooking occurs when a horse suddenly and unexpectedly has a fear reaction that throws the rider (Carmargo et al, 2018). It is a major cause of horse accidents (Carmargo et al, 2018). It is likely that there was a change in the environment that the rider did not notice Corgan et al (2021) habituated young colts and fillies that were trained to lead to a children's plastic playset.…”

Section: Livestock Perception Of Small Visual Changes In the Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Visual, Auditory, and Physical Environment of Livestock Handling Facilities and Its Effect on Ease of Movement of Cattle, Pigs, and Sheep

Grandin

2021

Front. Anim. Sci.

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The visual, auditory, and physical environment livestock are handled in will have an effect on the ease of movement through races and corrals that are used for veterinary treatment, loading trucks or at slaughter houses. When livestock refuse to move easily through a handling facility, people are more likely to use electric goads (prods) or other aversive methods to move them forward. This is a major animal welfare concern. Modification of the environment can improve livestock movement and reduce aversive handling methods. In existing facilities used for handling cattle, pigs or sheep, simple changes such as, adding a light to a dark race entrance or reducing loud intermittent noise may improve livestock movement. Eliminating distractions such as, a noisy truck near a lairage can also facilitate cattle movement and reduce stopping or turning back. In an outdoor facility, sharp shadows on the floor were more likely to be associated with cattle stopping compared to no shadows or soft faint shadows. The installation of small solid walls to prevent approaching animals from seeing either moving equipment, vehicles or people in front of them may also improve forward livestock movement. Non-slip flooring is essential to prevent slipping and falling during handling. Rebuilding or completely redesigning an existing facility is often not required. Outcome based indicators should be used to assess continuous improvements in handling. Some of the commonly used measurable of handling are slipping and falling, stopping, turning back, vocalization during handling and electric prod use. Collecting data both before and after an environmental modification can be used to determine its effectiveness.

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“…Spooking was associated with 27% of horse accidents [ 1 ]. Researchers have described “spooking” as “horse reacted in fear of something, unseating the rider” [ 1 ]. Another study showed that injuries to riders were more likely to occur “when the horse behaved in an unexpected manner” [ 2 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Reaction to a Complex Rotated Object in the American Quarter Horse (Equus caballus)

Corgan

Grandin

Matlock

2021

Animals

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It is dangerous for both riders and horses when a horse suddenly startles. Sometimes horses do this in familiar environments because familiar objects may look different when rotated. The purpose of this study was to determine whether horses that had been habituated to a complex object (children’s playset) would react to the object as novel when rotated 90 degrees. Twenty young horses were led past the playset 15 times by a handler. Next, the rotated group was led past the rotated playset 15 times. Each time the horse was led by the object was a pass. The behavioral responses observed and analyzed were ears focused on the object, nostril flares, neck raising, snort, avoid by stopping, avoid by moving feet sideways, and avoid by flight. An increasing reactivity scale was used to quantify behavioral responses. A two-sample t-test was performed on the reactivity scores comparing the first pass by the novel object to the first pass by the rotated object. The horses in the rotated group reacted to the rotated orientation similarly to the first exposure (p = 0.001, α < 0.05). Being aware of potential reactions to changes in previously familiar environments can help keep the handler safer.

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Horse-related injuries: Causes, preventability, and where educational efforts should be focused

Cited by 21 publications

References 21 publications

Effects of body protection vests and experience levels in prevention of equestrian injuries

Effects of body protection vests and experience levels in prevention of equestrian injuries

The Visual, Auditory, and Physical Environment of Livestock Handling Facilities and Its Effect on Ease of Movement of Cattle, Pigs, and Sheep

Evaluating the Reaction to a Complex Rotated Object in the American Quarter Horse (Equus caballus)

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