Equine Obesity Update: Do Horse Owners Comprehend the Dangers?

14 November 2009 Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com



There's no doubt that the horseowning public in the United States and abroad is becoming more aware of the problem of obesity in horses. Just look at the variety of new feed products and supplements designed to help horses lose weight, and you will see just the first wave of a marketing tsunami aimed at assisting horse owners in reducing the weight of the horses.

The problem may not lie in just recognizing obesity, however. For many horse owners, telling them their horses are fat is akin to telling them that they have spoiled a child with candy. In their eyes, fat horse is a sign of a well-fed and much loved horse, but they may not connect the dots to the real health risks associated with obesity, such as insulin resistance and a high risk for laminitis.

In this video, the British international charity World Horse Welfare updates us on their progress in educating horse owners and also in surveying horse owners for their perceptions of obesity in horses. You'll also see a severely overweight pony that was confiscated by officials as a welfare case because of its obesity. This was the first prosecution of horse owners for welfare violations directly related to overfeeding a horse.

I love the last part, where the pony stands next to a pile of bags of feed equal to the weight he has lost.

Thanks in advance for sharing this video and keeping public awareness of the dangers of equine obesity at the forefront.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Safe but Not Sound: World Horse Welfare Tries to Help Large, Lame Young Clydesdale

The World Horse Welfare's Belwade Farm in Aberdeenshire, Scotland recently took in its largest charity case ever. Digger is only four years old, and is already 19 hands. Such a large horse might be a novelty that would appear to someone to adopt, but he also needs a lot to eat.

And first, vets at the University of Edinburgh have to decide if his hind limb osteochondrosis ( a floating "bone chip"), coupled with the gait abnormality known as "stringhalt" on the opposite limb, can be treated so the horse has a viable future.

Of course, it is possible that Digger may not even know he's lame. He's so young, he may never have moved correctly so the hitch in his gait is all he knows.

I'd like to share more hind limb lameness videos here so people can get used to what a shiverer and a stringhalt case, for instance, look like.

An interesting footnote to Digger's story is that he was orphaned as a foal and always fed by hand.

Digger would a great "pet" project for someone. I certainly wish him the best and, as always, congratulate WHW for trying to do the right thing.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Obesity Awareness: ILPH Takes Scales on the Road to Convince Owners Their Horses are Overweight

To help horse owners establish what the right weight for their horses is, the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) has started a new program called "Right Weight Road Shows" in Great Britain. On these days the general public will be invited to bring their horses to be weighed on a mobile weighbridge.

One of the problems with obesity, the ILPH contends, is that horse owners miscalculate the amount of work their horses actually perform. They may purchase a grain product too high in calories, or feed too much, and some horses need no grain at all for their sedentary lifestyles.

"It costs significantly more, takes longer and is far more difficult to rehabilitate an obese horse than an emaciated one," writes the ILPH on their new "obesity" web page.

"An emaciated horse that comes into ILPH care, providing it has no underlying conditions, can be back to the correct weight within three months," they write. "Conversely, a horse which is obese simply through overfeeding rather than because of some underlying cause, will take in the region of nine months to get to the correct weight. They are likely to suffer some long-term damage such as joint problems and, at the very least, their weight will always need monitoring. This is because once fat cells have been formed they will stay in the body forever, so a horse which has been overweight will become fat again far more easily.

"Many of the overweight horses and ponies we deal with will also suffer from laminitis, the treatment of which is prolonged and very expensive," says the ILPH.

In other ILPH news, the group is celebrating a court ruling on April 5th that levied a lifetime ban from keeping horses on an owner who neglected a pony's hooves.

Convicted Strasser Trimmer Announces Appeal After Conviction in England; Farriers Registration Council Appalled

Mary Jo Kowalski (left) and Dr. Hiltrud Strasser (right) at a hearing in England.

Snippets from an article in today's Horse and Hound:

A Suffolk (Great Britain) woman, convicted on cruelty charges linked to the “mutilation” of her pony's feet by “dogmatic adherence” to the Strasser barefoot method, has launched an appeal.

Mary Jo Kowalski was banned last week (30 August) from keeping equines for one year, sentenced to 100 hours community service and ordered to pay £10,000 towards costs. As welfare groups expressed disappointment at the leniency of the sentence, Mrs. Kowalski lodged an appeal before Ipswich Magistrates Court.

The conviction against the student of the Strasser method, who was in e-mail contact with its German founder Dr Hiltrud Strasser marks the second case of its kind this year. Dr Strasser was called as a trial witness.

Both prosecutions involved the Strasser technique, casting grave concern on the unregulated practice of radical trimming.

Britain's Farriers Registration Council (FRC) secretary Miles Williamson-Noble said the question of throwing a national safety net over the practice of trimming, which falls outside the Farriers (Registration) Act 1975, was under discussion with the National Equine Welfare Council and British Equine Veterinary Association. These talks could lead to voluntary regulation, a national code of practice and accredited training. Mr Williamson-Noble said radical trimming caused most concern as it was often done to treat conditions such as laminitis, as was the case in the two convictions.

In the first case, Warwickshire yard (boarding stable) owner Fiona Dean, 43, was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay another £1,500 in costs, for causing unnecessary suffering to a horse in her care by using the Strasser method.

“Anyone who takes a sound horse and trims its feet until it is in extreme pain is not concerned with that horse's welfare,” said Mr Williamson-Noble.

Evidence from Mrs Kowalski's trial suggested she had become “mesmerised” by the teachings of Dr Strasser. The prosecution was mounted after the RSPCA seized her pony Brambles in July 2004. The mare was found with “mutilated hooves”, walking with crossed legs, and barely able to move. She had to be put down. According to the RSPCA, Brambles was suffering from chronic laminitis affecting both front feet, but instead of calling a vet, Mrs Kowalski rasped and trimmed the pony's hooves to the point of “mutilation”.

Dr Strasser testified that, based on photographs, there was nothing to show trimming was excessive and that, merely, Brambles's hooves had “a good trim”. She said a sick pony required fresh air, not painkillers.

To learn more: http://www.horseandhound.co.uk and http://www.ilph.org.uk

Photo courtesy of International League for the Protection of Horses; Convicted trimmer Kowalski (left) and Hiltrud Strasser DVM, right at British court. This story was slightly edited for style and length considerations.

Strasser Trimmer Receives Sentence in British Cruelty Case

Mary Jo Kowalski, the Strasser-trained hoof trimmer found guilty of causing suffering to her foundered pony last month, with German veterinarian Hiltrud Strasser at a British court.

According to the The International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) web site, a sentence has been given in British court to Mary Jo Kowalski, the Strasser-trained hoof trimmer found guilty of causing suffering to her foundered pony last month.

The ILPH report continues: Kowalski had studied and used the Strasser technique in a belief that she would “cure” Brambles' laminitis. However, District Judge David Cooper did not agree and said in his judgement: “Was Brambles suffering? It is common ground that she was. Was the suffering necessary in the sense that it was inevitable? I am satisfied that it was not inevitable although dogmatic adherence to Dr Strasser’s methods may have made it appear so. Brambles' suffering could and should have been alleviated."

He went on to say with reference to the second charge: “The well-intentioned mutilator does not have a defense”.

Kowalski was given a sentence of 100 hours community service, banned from keeping horses, asses and mules for one year and ordered to pay £10,000 towards costs.

Director of UK Operations Tony Tyler said: “The ILPH had hoped for a more severe sentence but the fact that Kowalski has been found guilty shows the Strasser technique employed caused an already suffering pony to suffer more and should in the opinion of the ILPH be avoided by horse owners.”

Clydesdale shoeing in Scotland: Is "couping" a welfare concern or standard practice?

A computer-based horseshoeing evaluation test will compare the gait and characteristics of a Clydesdale horse before and after shoeing with traditional (and controversial) Scottish techniques for the hind limbs.

The 2004 International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) Scottish Equine Welfare Seminar has tapped the team behind the new Equinalysis gait and shoeing evaluation system to test the horse.

According to team leader Haydn Price, DipWCF, the test horse has already been shod with its traditional shoes. To begin the test, the horse’s shoes will be removed, and the horse will be evaluated barefoot. The shoes will then be nailed back on, and the horse will be evaluated again. Finally, the horse will be shod with full-coverage shoes, and the results of the three tests compared.

Equinalysis is a system of using video-based computer software to track the movement of joint markers as a horse is walked before cameras recording from different angles. The resulting reports compare stride length, knee action, hock action, straightness, etc. and are helpful in showing the effects of trimming and shoeing on the horse's movement. The system was used to help fine-tune shoeing alterations on horses competing for the United Kingdom at the recent Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

What is couping?  

“Couping” is the name given the practice of nailing on hind shoes that do not cover the horse’s inside heel area. Shaped like a sickle, the shoe has a protruding lateral calk and exaggerated quarter. These shoes have reportedly been used in Scotland for centuries to help Clydesdales with their work, such as navigating narrow rows of crops.

In the show horse world, couping is used to present horses in-hand with hocks that touch; this is a desired conformation in the breed. With the help of the shoes, an optical illusion is created: the hind legs appear as one limb.

How does couping affect the horse?  

While the technique appears to intentionally imbalance the horse, its proponents point out that it is designed for the horse that works in soft ground, where the outside calk is helpful. They also point to the overall soundness of horses shod in this way.

Critics point out that the horses stand on hard-floored stables and must be transported to shows on solid floors.

Comparative testing of couped and normally-shod horses  

Price pointed out to Hoofcare & Lameness that while the shoe itself is a radical instrument of imbalance, the hoof is generally prepared according to normal balance parameters, so the test horse can be legitimately tested barefoot, and shod in two different ways without having to re-dress the foot. Noted Clydesdale farrier James Balfour, AWCF of Dundee, Scotland is preparing the test horse.

The modern Clydesdale horse has been intentionally bred for characteristics that make it look quite different from this ideal stallion painted in 1820 by artist John Herring. Long legs were not an advantage to a horse working on rough ground in Scotland in the 1800s.

Welfare implications of couping  

Welfare advocates and the Scottish parliament became concerned about couping a few years ago, when a farrier blew the whistle on the practice and called for its elimination. As a result, the Clydesdale Horse Society worked with master farrier David Wilson, FWCF, BEM and published revised guidelines for hoof balance and shoe coverage, but couping itself was not outlawed.

(See "Cruelty Charged in Scottish Clydesdale Shoeing" published in  the print edition of Hoofcare and Lameness 74.)  

In the United States and Canada, single-calked three-quarter shoes are in widespread use for the hind feet of show draft horses. There are no known regulations on how draft horses may be shod for shows and no known public complaints of abuse in the United States. The terminology of "couping" is not generally used in the United States to describe this type of shoeing.

More on couping  

Couping was a topic often mentioned by speakers at the March 2003 “Heavy Horse Hoofcare” conference at Tufts University College of Veterinary Medicine, sponsored by Hoofcare & Lameness Journal, particularly by British speaker Roger Clark, FWCF(Hons).

Roger Clark, FWCF(Hons) (left) with Disney World heavy horse farrier Gary Wade at the Tufts Vet School conference on heavy horse shoeing.

More coverage of couping and follow-up of the Scottish Equinalysis test will be published in issue #79 of Hoofcare & Lameness Journal.

Equinalysis was recently introduced in the US at a seminar at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky and was featured in issue 78 of Hoofcare & Lameness Journal, in respect to hock displacement in dressage horses.

Top photo: Clydesdale shoeing competition at the Royal Highland Show, Scotland, by David McCrone, used with permission.