With the Vet Rehab Summit only days away, and the last few months focused intensely on identifying the various areas in which we face ethical challenges as Vetrehabbers, the time seems right to delve into an interesting ethical issue – obesity in horses.
Increasing prevalence and causes of equine obesity
Just as among humans, obesity in horses has become an increasingly prevalent problem, having multiple healthcare and welfare consequences. The prevalence of obesity has been reported to be as high 70% in some areas or countries, making it the perceived normal. This increases the difficulty owners have in identifying weight as a problem and being able to address it. Many horses have access to incredibly rich grazing while simultaneously having very low workloads or opportunities to burn calories in their daily lives.
Horses of different breeds are kept together on the same pasture and in the same environments, each with very different nutritional needs. For example, Shetland ponies are kept with thoroughbreds and racehorses. Their calorific needs are obviously far lower than that of thoroughbreds, and not only because of their size.
There is a generally poor understanding of equine nutritional requirements and the effects of high-sugar treats and feeds available. Many horses, for instance, are fed concentrates with high carbohydrate levels that really are way beyond their metabolic needs.
Let’s look at some of the physical and psychological aspects of obesity in horses.
The health consequences
Excess body weight comes with many health risks. The primary concerns for us are laminitis and the development of equine metabolic syndrome. Of course, increased load on joints and tendons predisposes horses to arthritis and tendon injuries. There are significant respiratory complications, too, as obesity predisposes horses to pharyngeal collapse and a decreased respiratory capacity, simply as a result of the reduced available space in which the lungs may expand.
Increased weight will also alter hormonal balance and reduce fertility, increase inflammation, increase blood pressure, compromise lymphatic drainage, and cause poor performance and lethargy, to name a few health complications.
The psychological consequences
Allowing any animal to become overweight diminishes their quality of life. Humans may have far more resources at their disposal to help them cope with the effects of excess weight than animals do – we can reason ourselves into a better state of mind, use humour, focus on other fulfilling aspects of our lives such as work, family, and spiritual life. For animals, the relationship between body and mind is closely linked. Physical ailments caused by obesity will reduce their innate sense of well-being.
Even apart from the serious physical ailments identified above, obesity can become a hindrance to natural behaviors such as grazing, socializing, or running with a herd. Hindrances of this kind have additional welfare implications and will increase lethargy and signs of depression in horses.
The normal ebb and flow of weight in horses
There is, of course, a normal ebb and flow of weight in horses that corresponds to their metabolism and available grazing. In the spring and summer months, horses should regain the weight that was lost in winter when their metabolic energy requirements were used to keep warm, and when the available forage decreased in amount and quality. This ebb and flow provides a natural cycle of insulin production which protects the horse from developing laminitis.
When we protect horses from this natural weight loss in the winter by providing high quality roughage and concentrates while simultaneously reducing their metabolic heat production through rugging, we allow a continued increase of weight through the winter months. Rugging can reduce the energy demand by 18% for horses in the winter.
Our unique role in reducing the incidence of equine obesity
As Vetrehabbers, we have an opportunity to educate owners on identifying obesity, and on how it can be reduced and weight loss achieved. If we fail to address this issue, we perpetuate further health challenges and ultimately a far poorer quality of life for the horses in our care.
We have an ethical responsibility to speak up, share knowledge, and support change in this area.
Four areas to target
When developing a plan to target weight loss, we need to evaluate and make changes to the following four areas:
- Grazing and forage
- Supplementary feed
- Metabolic demands
- Exercise
We need to be cognizant that making changes in these four areas may not be as simple as it seems for owners in many situations. In fact, some may not be possible at all. Instead of trying to change everything at once, we should encourage small incremental changes over time. The effects will be cumulative and still beneficial.
Grazing and forage
In an ideal situation, pasture settings provide horses with the opportunity to burn calories as they travel to find forage, while at the same time providing enough calories to meet their energy needs. For the majority of horses, high quality forage is freely available, providing them with calories that far exceed what they expend in movement. Commonly, pastures are rich in grazing while limiting movement. For horses who remain stabled for long periods, roughage remains freely available while their movement is completely limited. This is an unnatural situation, with the inevitable result of weight gain.
For these horses, we want to find ways to reduce their intake of forage while encouraging more movement during the day.
Grazing muzzles can effectively reduce a horse’s intake by 80% without restricting their movement. Reducing time on pasture is usually an ineffective strategy, as horses can increase their intake significantly – they can consume 24 hours’ worth of grazing in four hours if they chose to do so.
Hay can be soaked to remove excess sugar, as well as fed in a slow feeder hay net or a double net.
Track systems reduce access to grazing and maximise daily movement for horses.
Dry matter intake (DMI) should be calculated according to available pasture. Horses on a weight loss programme should have access to about 1.5% of their body weight in dry matter per day.
Supplementary feed
Supplementary feeds and treats can be incredibly misleading for horse owners. Many feeds and treats are labelled as laminitis-friendly or sugar free, when this is far from the case. For horses that are obese, supplementary feeds can be completely removed. Horses should be fed a vitamin and mineral balancer or supplement, but require no additional cereals or treats.
Metabolic demands
Rugging horses in cold weather can effectively reduce energy demands by 18%. This is a huge opportunity lost to use the calories they are consuming on a daily basis. Use the cold to help increase energy expenditure during the winter. Leave horses un-rugged, and consider a trace or hunter clip in certain cases.
Most horses are bred for and well adapted to the cold – they will not suffer when exposed to the cold weather.
Exercise
Most owners believe that their horses work significantly harder than they actually do.
For weight loss to occur, horses need to work five days a week for 30 minutes, raising the heart rate to about 150 beats per minute for the full 30 minutes – this means canter work should be incorporated into exercise. Where high-intensity exercise is not possible, lower-intensity exercise has been shown to positively impact insulin sensitivity. This included walk and trot for 25 minutes, five days a week.
To maintain motivation to exercise, keep an exercise diary and buddy up with someone. Include groundwork, especially for horses who are not able to do higher-intensity exercise, and consider including paddock tracks in your yard.
Monitoring progress
Monitoring progress will be essential to maintain motivation and to reach an ideal body condition. Owners can monitor progression every two to four weeks by noting body condition score and using a weight tape measurement.
Conclusion
As Vetrehabbers, we have an ethical responsibility towards our patients to increase awareness of the consequences of obesity, and the interventions needed to maintain a healthy body and mind in our horses.
Resources
Onlinepethealth Equine webinars:
- Equine Obesity – Our Role in the Growing Problem, Jenny Creak MRCVS BVSc AdvCertVPhys CertClinEd
- Vet Rehab Summit 2019: Obesity
Join us LIVE at the Vet Rehab Summit 2024 to discuss the ethical dilemmas we face as Vetrehabbers.
This is what you can look forward to, on the 31st of August:
- Placebo Treatments in Evidence-Based Practice: Ethical or Not Ethical?, Ansi van der Walt
- When Pain-free Is Not An Option, Ansi van der Walt
- A Sceptic’s Guide to Librela, Mike Farrell
- Incorporating the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram into Competition and Training, Sue Dyson
- Ethical Dilemmas in Small Animal Vet Rehab – What Are the Options? Tanya Grantham
- Saddle Fitting the Lame Horse, Jochen Schleese
- End-of-Life Care Decisions, Ansi van der Walt
- The Ethical Considerations and Impact of Dissections, Kevin Haussler
- Hold or Pass? (when to refer, and when not to), Amie Hesbach
- How to Influence, Educate and Drive Change, Celeste Leilani Lazaris
Register for the Vet Rehab Summit now, at www.vetrehabsummit.com
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