Equine practitioners are well-versed in the plethora of age-related issues in their senior patients. With excellent medical care, horses are living far longer into their golden years. In a recent collaboration between the Gluck Equine Research Center and Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, researchers collected information on owner-reported medical conditions, management and treatment of equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), medical health care practices, and supplemental and pharmaceutical use in horses older than 15 years of age. The objective was to evaluate potential risk factors for specific medical conditions and to estimate where routine health care falls short.
Survey: Senior Horse Health
The research team gathered information from 2,717 questionnaires completed by owners of senior horses in the United States between Oct. 15 and Nov. 21, 2020. Respondents answered questions about a single horse older than 15 that they owned for at least a year. Despite the pandemic at the time of the survey, most owners reported that they had not altered their horse’s preventive or medical care due to the current environment.
The most-reported veterinary-diagnosed conditions included:
- Osteoarthritis: 30% — leg joints most commonly affected
- Dental disorders: 15% — the odds increased by 18% for every year increase in age
- Lameness: 14% — related to age, breed, and primary use; 9% experienced laminitis
- PPID: 12% — associated with advancing age
- Ocular disorders: 6% — associated with age; mean age of diagnosis is 21.9 years
Routine Health Care Provision
About 44% of owners indicated a willingness to test/monitor for PPID once a year, and 56% agreed to testing less than once a year. Seven percent were unwilling to test at all. Just under half the respondents agreed to spend up to $100 for PPID testing, and only 13% would pay more than that. The authors noted that PPID is estimated to occur in 21% of horses older than 15; in this survey, it is possible PPID went unrecognized by a large percentage of owners, especially those whose senior horses received less frequent veterinary exams. In addition, many owners did not understand what PPID is, how it develops, or its clinical signs. This suggests a real need for owner education.
Thirty-nine percent of owners whose horses had not been diagnosed with equine metabolic syndrome were willing to test at least once a year, and 61% were willing to test less than once a year. Seven percent were not willing to test at all. Similar to the results for PPID, fewer than half agreed to spend up to $100 on EMS testing, and 6% preferred to spend nothing.
Sixty-one percent of veterinary visits during the year prior to the study were for acute or chronic conditions. Dental care accounted for the most frequent veterinary visits, with 85% of respondents electing for this service once or twice per year. The farrier visited every five to six weeks for half the owners.
Anthelmintics were administered by 48% of owners, and 43% performed fecal egg counts.
There was a significant association between the horse’s primary use and frequency of preventive care such as dental exams or farrier visits. Pleasure riding, semiretired, and especially retired horses received fewer veterinary visits than competition horses.
Firocoxib was the most frequently used medication, administered by 18% of respondents. About half of the horses did not receive prescription medication. Joint supplements were given to 41% and vitamin/mineral supplements to 33%. Twenty-six percent of owners did not give any supplements.
In this survey, 33% of horses were “reported to be free of clinical signs of declined health.” This is another avenue for equine veterinarians to explore with owners since many health issues, especially in senior horses, go unrecognized due to lack of owner knowledge, observation, and/or veterinary visits.
Reference
Herbst AC, Coleman MC, Macon EL, et al. Owner-reported health and disease in U.S. Senior Horses. Equine Veterinary Journal 2024; DOI: 10.1111/evj.14200
Related Reading
- Measuring ACTH and CLIP for PPID Horses
- Groundbreaking Equine Endocrine Research
- NSAIDs & Equine Osteoarthritis: Best Practices for Efficacy and Safety
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