Equine welfare problems ‘hiding in plain sight’

Welfare concerns in the treatment of horses have been left “hiding in plain sight” amid long-standing educational and professional challenges, a senior equine vet has argued.

Meta Osborne urged BEVA Congress delegates to recognise that their involvement in current husbandry and production systems could be seen as an endorsement by the wider public.

But she also insisted those systems were not the product of “bad vets or bad intentions”, as she delivered the annual event’s John Hickman plenary lecture.

‘Training’

Dr Osborne said: “They are the product of our training; training that didn’t equip us to look in certain directions. They exist because of the commercial system we have been embedded in for our entire careers and because of a professional culture that rewards clinical certainty rather than fruitful curiosity.

“They are hiding in plain sight.”

The Birmingham event was organised around a theme of “everyday welfare”, as delegates were urged to consider the impact of their own actions on the animals in their care.

Outgoing president Imogen Burrows praised the sector’s “ferocious” passion for its work as she expressed the hope that its members would prioritise welfare “every day”.

‘Paradigm shift’

Dr Osborne praised the association for instigating a “paradigm shift” by prioritising the topic in its instructions to speakers.

But she argued horses could still be in a state of “profound welfare compromise” even when they were found to be physically healthy.

She said: “We confuse health with welfare. We are trained to assess health, but what about welfare? Is our treatment plan designed for the human or the horse?”

Welfare issues

A former senior steward of the Irish Turf Club, Dr Osborne said she had come to realise she did not have the appropriate scientific “grounding” to address welfare issues.

She described receiving only one welfare lecture – covering all species – in her final year at vet school and said her work on a master’s degree with The University of Edinburgh had given her “better questions” rather than answers.

But she also acknowledged the enduring tension between welfare insights and the requirements of running a Thoroughbred stud business, as she stressed vets needed both “the knowledge and the courage” to speak out on the subject.

‘Cruel’

Dr Osborne added: “I don’t believe these systems are intentionally cruel, but I think we need to wake up to the fact that our presence is read as endorsement. I struggle with this tension every day.

“The gap between my academic knowledge of welfare and the commercial realities of running a stud farm in Ireland are real.”

Drawing on the depiction of horses in the Bayeux Tapestry, whose British Museum exhibition was opening as she spoke, Dr Osborne appealed for delegates to “weave” welfare into their consultations.

She said: “Until we see welfare assessment as a core clinical skill, the patterns I’ve described will persist.”

She also urged delegates to understand the importance of change to their clients, warning professionals would be “working with one hand tied behind our back regardless of how good our clinical skills are” without it.