An online survey to characterise spending patterns of horse owners and to quantify the impact of equine lameness on a pleasure horse population

Reasons for performing study:

Treatment of equine lameness frequently requires a period of rest and restricted exercise. The financial impact of restricted exercise should be considered when making investigation and treatment decisions.

Objectives:

To describe and quantify the cost and time commitment associated with horse maintenance in the UK and to quantify the incidence of lameness and number of days of exercise lost. Study design: Online survey of UK horse owners.

Methods:

An online survey was performed between June and November 2013. The questionnaire contained 35 open and closed questions related to 1) owner age, gender, geographical location; and 2) type and use of horse, purchase price, location, travel, healthcare and maintenance costs; and 3) lameness episodes within the last 12 months.

Results:

560 respondents fully completed the questionnaire, 98.2% were female aged between 16 and 54 years old. Horses (62.5% geldings, 37.1% mares, 0.8% stallions) were of mixed breed with a median age of 13 years. Horses were predominantly used for general purpose riding. Most horses were kept on or within 5 miles of the owner’s residence (77.4%) and 65% of owners spent >10 h per week on horse maintenance. Median basic maintenance cost was £2660 per year or £7.29 per day including routine healthcare, dentistry, farriery, feed, housing, and insurance fees. Most horses (71.3%) experienced an episode of lameness within the previous 12 months. The median duration of restricted exercise (days wasted) was 70 (range 0–880) days.

Conclusions:

This unique dataset quantifies the financial and time outlay required with horse ownership. Determining the number of wasted days and basic average cost per day has allowed us to quantify the cost of inactivity. Considerable cost is associated with a period of inactivity following an episode of lameness, which should be taken into account when considering investigation and treatment options