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Issues faced by horse owners in Australia: Implications for vet-client communcation

journal contribution
posted on 2018-03-09, 00:00 authored by Kirrilly Thompson, Larissa Clarkson
Objectives To investigate issues faced by horse owners in Australia, their suggestions for addressing those issues and the financial or economic barriers impeding their equestrian activities, Methods An online survey of 930 horse owners subject to statistical and qualitative data analysis. Results The majority (89%) of participants reported horse health (50%), welfare (23%) or biosecurity (16%) issues affecting their horse activity. Fewer (36%) reported issues with human health or safety in their horse-related activities. Around half (47%) reported horse keeping or housing issues. Whilst a third (32%) were unaware of land management or environmental issues associated with horse keeping, almost half (42%) reported ‘land care, pasture management & improvement’ issues. The cost of equine professionals, including veterinarians, was the third most significant financial barrier or economic challenge reported to negatively impact on participants’ horse activity (22%). Conclusion Issues of horse health, welfare or biosecurity were particularly salient to horse owners. Translating owner concerns into action, as well as increasing owner engagement with other equine issues may both be supported when the direct relevance to horse health is emphasised. Keywords Horses, behaviour change, animal welfare,

Funding

Category 3 - Industry and Other Research Income

History

Volume

36

Issue

4

Start Page

41

End Page

47

Number of Pages

7

eISSN

1834-1349

ISSN

1032-6626

Publisher

Equine Veterinarians Australia

Peer Reviewed

  • Yes

Open Access

  • No

Author Research Institute

  • Appleton Institute

Era Eligible

  • Yes

Journal

Australian Equine Veterinarian

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