Abstract
Injuries resulting from road transport are common in horses and are a potential welfare concern, as well as, a source of economic loss. An online cross sectional survey was used to determine the prevalence of road transport related injuries to horses in New Zealand and the association of human factors including demographics, industry background, training and the horse handling experience of the respondents with transport related injury. The survey generated 1133 valid responses that were analyzed using descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. At least one injured horse was reported by 201/1133 (17.7%) respondents as occurring during the two previous years. Only 191 respondents chose to provide further information on when the injury occurred and most injuries (133/191; 69.6%) occurred in transit. The respondent perceived possible reason for injury was reported by 190, and was most frequently thought to be either horse-associated (87/190; 45.8%) or associated with a driver mistake (18/190; 9.5%). Variables that remained as significantly associated with injury in a multivariate model focusing on human factors were experience in horse handling, the industry sector, and the amateur or professional involvement with the horse industry. The odds of injury associated with professionals may reflect greater exposure due to more frequent transport and larger numbers of horses in their care than amateurs. Findings confirm that human factors are associated with the risk of an injury during transport. Although further studies are required to determine if any of these relationships are causative, education on transport best practices with consideration of these factors may mitigate their influence.
Highlights
Traumatic injuries are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in horses [1,2,3,4]
A face-to-face survey conducted at equestrian events in Southern Australia that focused on non-commercial horse transport, reported that 25% of the respondents had experienced a transported related injury within the 15 years prior to the study [14]
The aim of this work was to investigate whether the demographics, industry related background, training and experience of the respondents were associated with the odds of injury to horses during road transport in New Zealand
Summary
Traumatic injuries are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in horses [1,2,3,4]. Factors that have been reported as associated with an increase of traumatic injury include a range of management practices, horse signalment, type of use, and horse transport [2, 5,6,7]. In Australia injuries associated with commercial and non-commercial equine transport were reported by 45% of surveyed respondents within a 2-year period prior to survey completion [12]. A face-to-face survey conducted at equestrian events in Southern Australia that focused on non-commercial horse transport, reported that 25% of the respondents had experienced a transported related injury within the 15 years prior to the study [14]. 6% of the respondents admitted that the cause of the transport-related injury they recalled was a driver error, and respondents who admitted answering the telephone while driving had an increased likelihood of having previously had a horse injured during transport
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