NSW Department of Primary Industries | CSU Homepage

Seminar Series 2008

Risk factors for naturally occurring laminitis in Pony Club horses

Time:
Date:
Venue:
Presenter:
3.00pm - 4.00pm
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Conference Rm, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute
Ms Petra Buckley, Lecturer, School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University

Risk factors for naturally occurring laminitis in Pony Club horses in regional Australia

Petra Buckley 1 , BVSc, DipClinVetStud, MVetClinStud, MACVSc (Equine Surgery)
John Morton 2 , BVSc (Hons), PhD, MACVSc (Veterinary Epidemiology)
Glen T. Coleman 2 , BVSc (Hons), PhD

1 School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia. 2 School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland , 4072, Australia .

Abstract

This is the first report of repeated observations of naturally occurring laminitis in a cohort of horses.

A prospective longitudinal study involving 84 Pony Club horses in regional Australia to investigate health and performance of Pony club horses.

Of 84 study horses, 23.8% (20/84 animals) experienced 32 laminitis events from June 2000 to July 2001. Acute and chronic active cases of laminitis occurred in winter or spring. The duration of a laminitic episode varied from 14 days to 99 days. The majority of laminitis cases (89% or 16/18) progressed to one and up to four more bouts of laminitis and/or recurring lameness during the study period.

Three logistic regression models were built. Risk factors included body condition of the horse, gender and several pasture variables.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank participating Pony Clubs, David Buckley, Garry Anderson, Charles Sturt University and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.

For further information about this seminar please contact:

Seminar list

<< Previous    Next >>