Relationship between live body condition score and internal kidney, pelvic, and heart fat measurements in equine carcasses

Burrows, A.M.; Baker, L.A.; Holmes, L.D.; McEvers, T. J.; Nonella, K.J.; Pipkin, J.L.; Tennant, Travis; Tisdale, Z.M.; Voyles, A.H.; Lawrence, T.E.

doi:10.1016/j.jevs.2013.03.096

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Obesity is also associated with susceptibility of developing laminitis [74][75][76] and reduced survival rate in laminitis cases [76][77][78]. Equine obesity was also found to cause accumulation of adipose tissue around key internal organs such as the kidneys and the heart, which may interfere with their functions [79,80]. Obesity also appears to affect reproduction in horses, in particular it appears to cause mares to continue cycling during the winter months, instead of going into anestrus [81], likely as a result of altered metabolic and other endocrine signals [82].…”

Section: Health Risks Of Adipositymentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Adiposity on Exercise Performance in Horses

Pratt-Phillips

Munjizun

2023

Animals

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There is ample research describing the increased risk of health concerns associated with equine obesity, including insulin dysregulation and laminitis. For athletes, the negative effect of weight carriage is well documented in racing thoroughbreds (i.e., handicapping with weight) and rider weight has been shown to impact the workload of ridden horses and to some degree their gait and movement. In many groups of competitive and athletic horses and ponies, obesity is still relatively common. Therefore, these animals not only are at risk of metabolic disease, but also must perform at a higher workload due to the weight of their adipose tissue. Excess body weight has been documented to affect gait quality, cause heat stress and is expected to hasten the incidence of arthritis development. Meanwhile, many equine event judges appear to favor the look of adiposity in competitive animals. This potentially rewards horses and ponies that are at higher risk of disease and reinforces the owner’s decisions to keep their animals fat. This is a welfare concern for these animals and is of grave concern for the equine industry.

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Section: Health Risks Of Adipositymentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Adiposity on Exercise Performance in Horses

Pratt-Phillips

Munjizun

2023

Animals

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“…To date and to the authors’ knowledge, only one study has described associations between BCS and internal adiposity, whereby a strong, positive association was described between kidney, pelvic and heart fat with BCS in a group of horses and ponies presented for slaughter [25]. It was noteworthy that while obesity is prevalent among horses and ponies in the UK leisure sector [8], the population of animals presented for slaughter at a commercial abattoir in the current study was at variance with this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current study firstly describes the development and testing of a novel fat scoring system for Equidae ; the EQUIFAT scoring system, and secondly it demonstrates the application of the EQUIFAT scoring system to describe the relationship between internal adiposity and external body condition score. To date and to the authors’ knowledge, only one study has described associations between BCS and internal adiposity, whereby a strong, positive association was described between kidney, pelvic and heart fat with BCS in a group of horses and ponies presented for slaughter [ 25 ]. It was noteworthy that while obesity is prevalent among horses and ponies in the UK leisure sector [ 8 ], the population of animals presented for slaughter at a commercial abattoir in the current study was at variance with this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

EQUIFAT: A novel scoring system for the semi-quantitative evaluation of regional adipose tissues in Equidae

Morrison

Harris²,

Maltin

et al. 2017

PLoS ONE

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Anatomically distinct adipose tissues represent variable risks to metabolic health in man and some other mammals. Quantitative-imaging of internal adipose depots is problematic in large animals and associations between regional adiposity and health are poorly understood. This study aimed to develop and test a semi-quantitative system (EQUIFAT) which could be applied to regional adipose tissues. Anatomically-defined, photographic images of adipose depots (omental, mesenteric, epicardial, rump) were collected from 38 animals immediately post-mortem. Images were ranked and depot-specific descriptors were developed (1 = no fat visible; 5 = excessive fat present). Nuchal-crest and ventro-abdominal-retroperitoneal adipose depot depths (cm) were transformed to categorical 5 point scores. The repeatability and reliability of EQUIFAT was independently tested by 24 observers. When half scores were permitted, inter-observer agreement was substantial (average κw: mesenteric, 0.79; omental, 0.79; rump 0.61) or moderate (average κw; epicardial, 0.60). Intra-observer repeatability was tested by 8 observers on 2 occasions. Kappa analysis indicated perfect (omental and mesenteric) and substantial agreement (epicardial and rump) between attempts. A further 207 animals were evaluated ante-mortem (age, height, breed-type, gender, body condition score [BCS]) and again immediately post-mortem (EQUIFAT scores, carcass weight). Multivariable, random effect linear regression models were fitted (breed as random effect; BCS as outcome variable). Only height, carcass weight, omental and retroperitoneal EQUIFAT scores remained as explanatory variables in the final model. The EQUIFAT scores developed here demonstrate clear functional differences between regional adipose depots and future studies could be directed towards describing associations between adiposity and disease risk in surgical and post-mortem situations.

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“…Excessive adiposity has its own potential health risks and can negatively impact exercise performance (see [ 32 ] for a review). Briefly, equine obesity has been found to cause an accumulation of adipose tissue around internal organs such as the kidney and heart [ 76 , 77 ]. Excess adipose tissue contributes to the weight of horses, and weight carriage has a clear impact on the effort required to exercise during both race-type events [ 78 ] and non-racing exercise [ 79 , 80 , 81 ].…”

Section: Obesity and Insulin Resistance In Horsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Exercise Conditioning on Countering the Effects of Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Horses—A Review

Pratt-Phillips

2024

Animals

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Obesity is an important health concern in horses, along with humans and companion animals. Adipose tissue is an inflammatory organ that alters the insulin-signaling cascade, ultimately causing insulin dysregulation and impaired glucose metabolism. These disruptions can increase the risk of metabolic disease and laminitis in horses and may also impact energy metabolism during exercise. A single bout of exercise, along with chronic exercise conditioning, increases insulin sensitivity and glucose disposal via both contraction- and insulin-mediated glucose uptake pathways. Regular exercise also increases calorie expenditure, which can facilitate weight (as body fat) loss. This paper explores the metabolic pathways affected by adiposity, as well as discusses the impact of exercise on insulin metabolism in horses.

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Relationship between live body condition score and internal kidney, pelvic, and heart fat measurements in equine carcasses

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Impacts of Adiposity on Exercise Performance in Horses

Impacts of Adiposity on Exercise Performance in Horses

EQUIFAT: A novel scoring system for the semi-quantitative evaluation of regional adipose tissues in Equidae

Effect of Exercise Conditioning on Countering the Effects of Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Horses—A Review

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