28 Aug 2017
Liz Mitchell
Job Title
We need to drive the preventive health message to equine yards and ensure they have a biosecurity plan to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious, exotic and notifiable diseases.
Over the years, the role of the vet has moved from individual animal diagnosis and treatment to a consultancy type service: designing group health plans, providing information on diseases and their prevention, management and treatment, and advice on husbandry practices.
In the equine industry, with many individual owners – and a significant proportion of them inexperienced – it is unlikely the equine vet role will ever completely shift to consultancy. However, it is essential we are proactive in our approach to preventive health care, and position ourselves as the key source of advice and point of reference on all matters of equine health and welfare.
In farm animal practice, herd and flock health plans are commonplace. We need to drive the preventive health message to equine yards and ensure they all have a biosecurity plan in place to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious, exotic and notifiable disease. These diseases are costly both to the welfare of the horses and in financial terms to equine business.
Biosecurity planning should be a service offered to all yard owners and incorporate an annual visit to look around the premises, identify risk factors and suggest changes to improve biosecurity. This visit would normally entail one to two hours of veterinary time and efficiency can be improved by using a specifically designed form with tick boxes. While a potential major financial benefit to the yard owner exists, the equine industry has yet to fully accept the concept of paying for veterinary advice and, therefore, it is recommended initially these are performed free of charge or at a nominal fee. The benefits to the practice will be in improved client bonding, vaccine sales and disease testing.
The first step of biosecurity planning involves assessing the yard’s individual risk level based on answers to questions on the size, composition and activities of the yard; this will also serve to highlight particular risk factors. Based on the risk assessment, an appropriate biosecurity plan can be designed with input from the yard owner containing standard procedures and rules for the yard (Panel 1).
The prevention of contagious disease involves attention to the following areas: adopting good hygiene practices, operating a strict policy for the introduction of new horses to the yard and use of vaccination policies. As part of this planning process, the practice should provide access to materials in the form of fact sheets, booklets, websites or apps, with detailed information on the signs and symptoms of infectious diseases, and how to handle a suspected outbreak of infectious disease.
To position ourselves centrally with regard to equine preventive health and welfare, it is important to become actively involved in individual horse and yard preventive health planning. A survey by Horse and Hound suggested 62% of horse owners used their vet as their primary source of advice about equine preventive health care1.
Health plans have proved very successful in small animal practice, but while many equine practices offer – or have trialled – this service, many report only limited uptake levels. What is offered as part of health plans varies greatly between practices, but normally includes a questionnaire on management practice (such as the BEVA pro forma), a written report of recommendations, a full clinical examination and lameness assessment, and routine haematology and biochemistry. Additionally, vaccination, dental and worming services may be included or discounted.
Providing a graded system in which differing levels of service are provided can be used to widen their appeal and a fixed monthly premium can appeal to clients wishing to spread costs and help practice cash flow. An alternative approach used successfully involves offering the plans at a discounted single fee only in the quieter winter months, such as autumn for geriatrics and pre-season for competition animals. This can assist in spreading practice income and workload. The practice benefits for further investigative work or follow-up tests, and retaining control of routine procedures such as vaccination, dental work and worming, can be achieved through using health plans.
All equine vaccines are prescription only; therefore, as vets, we have sole responsibility for the administration and supply of these products. As a result, we must also take responsibility for the education of the horse-owning community on the importance and efficacy of vaccination in disease prevention.
The majority of the competition horse population is vaccinated against equine influenza in the UK. However, much of the leisure horse population (estimated 60%) is not vaccinated and can act as a virus reservoir. We should strive to achieve influenza and tetanus vaccination in all registered horses, ponies and donkeys.
Frequent education campaigns on the welfare and economic impacts on individuals and the industry as a whole, and the use of vaccination amnesties and vaccination reminder systems can all help drive an increase in vaccinations. Some practices have made vaccination for influenza and tetanus a prerequisite for registration for veterinary services. Vaccination for equine herpes virus should additionally be promoted to all breeding and competition yards.
The protection provided from virus infection has been shown to correlate with the similarity of the vaccine to the infecting virus strain2; therefore, practices should give consideration to providing a vaccine containing up-to-date strains and vaccine technology, as recommended by the World Organisation for Animal Health surveillance panel3.
Research has shown many horse owners do not have an adequate understanding of effective worming practices and do not seek worming advice from their vet4,5.
We are best placed to provide effective worming advice, but this requires a proactive approach to change client practices. The provision of a full range of services – including worming plans, reminder services, competitively priced worming medications and worm egg counts – are important. Despite messages from all spheres, including industry, many horse owners are not using worm egg counts and good pasture management practices.
A study showed 80% of worm eggs are excreted by approximately 11% of the population6, demonstrating the benefit of worm egg counts to identify these high shedders. The use of a targeted approach of treatment only on the basis of a high egg count can bring significant cost savings to the client7 and help in the prevention of resistance through the preservation of refugia.
Practices should actively promote this targeted approach. Strategies that may improve the uptake of worm egg counts include education campaigns, annual worming charge, discounted group rates and the incorporation of free worming medications for horses with high counts.
In the equine athlete, consideration should be given to routine monitoring to assist in the prevention of lameness and injury. Strain of the superficial digital flexor tendon is common in racehorses and event horses8,9, and ultrasound evaluation can be an accurate tool in the identification of tendon pathology.
Poor foot balance frequently contributes to lameness, and long toe and low heel conformation are linked to an increased risk of injury in race horses10,11. The incorporation of routine foot balance monitoring x-rays and meeting with the horse’s farrier can help achieve optimal foot balance and performance.
As vets, we are all aware our responsibility to equine welfare. In cases of obvious neglect and suffering our role is clear; however, cases exist when action and intervention can be more complicated – for example, when dealing with the much-loved overweight pony. In such cases, time must be spent educating the owner with a firm tactful approach.
It is important to engage livery yard owners to also take responsibility for the welfare of all the horses on their yards, and use tactful intervention when veterinary advice should be sought and when husbandry practices are compromising welfare, including cases of overweight and underweight horses, and those with inadequate environmental stimulation.
Using the strategies of client education and the implementation of preventive health care and biosecurity planning, we can have a positive impact on horse welfare through the prevention of illness and injury.
