160 United States equine community: Information sources used and equine health-related issues considered most important

Abstract

To provide the most useful resources, equine extension programs must stay up-to-date with the equine communities’ most pressing needs and interests. To obtain detailed information on topics that concern the equine community, and to learn more about its demographics, extension programs often conduct so called “needs assessment surveys.” The Rutgers Equine Science Center recently conducted such a survey with the objectives to: 1) determine what equine information sources are most used; 2) assess the degree of trust in these sources; and 3) identify which equine health and well-being related issues are considered most important by the equine community. The national survey was managed by the platform Qualtrics and was available online between October 10th, and November 1st, 2022. The survey was open to all individuals involved in the equine community (e.g., by riding horses, running a horse-related business, etc.). Responses were recorded anonymously, and survey questions were of single or multiple-choice type. Of 494 received surveys, 493 were eligible for analysis. Data were analyzed descriptively with frequency counts expressed as percentages. The 5 most frequently used sources of equine-related information were: 1) personal knowledge (95.7%); 2) veterinarian (93.7%); 3) farrier (83.7%); 4)horse-related websites (77.2%); 5) other horse owners (72.6%) (n = 492). Of these 5, veterinarians were most frequently considered a highly trusted source of information (64.2%), followed by personal knowledge (34.9%), farriers (32.7%), horse-related websites (2.4%), and other owners (1.3%) (n = 455). The top 5 equine-health and well-being related issues considered to be extremely important were: 1) lameness/soundness (76.9%); 2) nutrition (64.1%); 3) care of older horses (55.7%); 4) disease (49.5%); and 5) end of life decision (44.5%) (n = 485). In conclusion, veterinarians and personal knowledge appear to be the most frequently used sources of equine-related information, with veterinarians also being considered a highly trusted source by most respondents. Two of the top 5 health and well-being related issues pertained predominantly to elderly horses (i.e., care of older horses and end of life decisions), suggesting particular concern for this age group. As found in previous needs assessment surveys, lameness/soundness and nutrition were considered extremely important issues by most survey participants.