Survey highlights prevalence of overweight horses in the UK

Equestrian professionals believe lack of education is the primary cause of obesity but are optimistic this can be tackled

A recent survey conducted by feed manufacturer Spillers has revealed that the majority of equestrian professionals believe that lack of knowledge on the part of horse owners and carers is the main cause of obesity within the equine population in the UK.

A total of 638 people who work with horses responded to the survey and of these, 32% were riding instructors and trainers, 24% were yard managers or grooms, 15% were body therapists and 13% vets or vet nurses. The remaining 16% were other professionals, such as show judges and stewards.

The idea behind the survey was to provide greater understanding of the issues surrounding obesity and to highlight strategies for overcoming them. The survey also showed the prevalence of obesity encountered by the different groups, with an alarmingly high 83% of respondents saying they encounter obesity either ‘very frequently’ or ‘somewhat frequently’. The group with the highest number of members encountering obesity ‘very frequently’ was vets, at 79%, while the group recording the lowest incidence of obesity was show judges, at 30%.

When asked about their confidence in discussing obesity with horse owners, the instructors and trainers were the most confident at doing so, and while 87% of vets actively engaged in these kinds of conversations, only 14% were very confident to do so, with 40% lacking in confidence. In comparison, of the 70% of show judges and stewards who discuss obesity with owners, 30% said they were confident doing so.

When asked about the causes of obesity, all respondents agreed that diet and nutrition play a major part and 96% believed that exercise was ‘extremely important’ or ‘somewhat important’. Interestingly, 83% said there was insufficient awareness of equine obesity among horse owners generally.

When asked about changes that would lead to a lower incidence of obesity, most replied that education was needed, coupled with honest conversations and restrictions on overweight horses taking part in competitions, perhaps to include weight checks being carried out at shows. It was also felt that there needed to be clearer labelling on feedbags and more social media coverage showing horses in ideal condition, plus stronger messaging about the dangers of obesity. Nevertheless, 37% of vets, nurses and therapists said that, with education, there was real potential to reduce the prevalence of obesity in the horse population, although this view wasn’t shared by trainers and yard managers, who were the most pessimistic group.

Bella Fricker, Project Lead at Mars Horsecare, which owns the Spillers brand, said: “The survey has given us valuable knowledge from industry professionals on how they and their clients perceive the problem of obesity. With better clarity about how positive changes can be made, we hope to move forward with some new educational projects to give further support to horse owners and industry professionals from recognition, management and prevention perspectives. We want to banish equine obesity for good and we hope that by working together we can make change happen.”