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 condition scoring, and to identify common themes amongst owners’ views regarding BCS assessment and the Henneke BCS system. Results Forty-five percent of the horses in this study were overweight or obese. The agreement between the owners and an equine veterinarian regarding the horses’ BCS was fair to good both prior to (κ = .311, P < 0.001; ICC = .502, P < 0.001) and after (κ = .381, P < 0.001; ICC = .561, P < 0.001) receiving information and instructions on scoring. Three quarters of the owners who took part in the study did not use any method of monitoring their horse’s body condition. Thematic analysis of owner responses was varied, with the most common theme being an awareness of the need to monitor or make changes to their horse’s condition with responses in this theme split between owners who felt in control and those who did not. Owner feedback on the utility and useability of the scorning system was that it was useful however parts are too technical or need improvement. Conclusions Equine obesity is a significant problem in this population in Ireland. Horse owners’ ability to accurately judge their horse’s condition does not improve with provision of instructions on body condition scoring. These results combined with owners’ feedback on the Henneke BCS system indicate that it is not a tool that can be reliably used by owners.

‘It’s more emotionally based’: Prince Edward Island horse owner perspectives of horse weight management

“…Despite this, owners commonly chose to keep their horses over- rather than underweight due to their conflicting perceptions about horse weight. The literature consistently reports that horse owners are not always accurate interpreters of their horses’ body condition, specifically suggesting owners to be worse at identifying over- compared to underweight horses (Wyse et al 2008 ; Potter et al 2016 ; Morrison et al 2017 ; Golding et al 2023 ). This may be related to previous literature reporting the normalisation of overweight horses (Morrison et al 2017 ).…”

Obesity and obesity‐associated metabolic disease conditions in Connemara ponies in Ireland

“…The sample size required to estimate apparent prevalence with a given precision was calculated. The following formula was used to calculate the sample size: n = (Z 2 Â P(1 À P))/d 2 where n = sample size, Z = statistic for level of confidence (1.96 for a 95% level of confidence), P = expected prevalence of obesity (apparent prevalence) (conservative estimate of 25% based on limited studies), 8,10,11,18 d = delta precision (5% so d = 0.05) the half-width of the CI (error margin). The calculated sample size was 285 ponies.…”

“…10 The only study of obesity in horses and ponies in Ireland found that 45.0% of 60 leisure horses and ponies of different breeds were overweight. 11 The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of obesity in the popular native Irish Connemara pony breed and to determine if evidence of ID or laminitis in these ponies could be predicted by morphometric (body condition score [BCS], cresty neck score [CNS], regionalised adiposity) or metabolic (triglyceride and glucose concentrations) markers. Since IR at the tissue level was not assessed in this study, increased BIC or an abnormal insulin response post carbohydrate challenge, referred to collectively as hyperinsulinaemia, were used to provide evidence of ID.…”

Highlights of recent clinically relevant papers

“…In this study, Emma Golding and co‐workers in Ireland and Israel investigated the 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 (BCS) scale .…”