A pilot study on factors influencing the career of Dutch sport horses.
BACKGROUND
Welfare concerns over the reasons for interruption or termination of a sporting career in horses have been expressed.


OBJECTIVE
To study the career of competition horses and factors that influence career length.


METHODS
In 2004, 46,576 rider-horse combinations were registered with the Dutch National Equestrian Federation (KNHS) in dressage, show jumping, eventing and endurance. From this population, approximately 1% of horses in each discipline were selected at random and all recorded competition data from the KNHS registration system collected and supplemented by detailed rider/owner telephone enquiry, carried out in July 2009.


RESULTS
A total of 520 horses were included aged 7.1 ± 3.2 years; endurance horses were on average slightly older than horses in the other 3 disciplines. A total of 334 horses (64.2%) ended their competition career with their initial rider during the study period; the mean total career time was 3.8 ± 2.8 years. Reasons for this included being sold on (51.5%), veterinary reasons (23.9%), being used for breeding (8.7%), changing to a recreational career (8.1%), rider-related issues (6.3%) and retirement (1.5%). No follow-up was available for horses sold. Orthopaedic problems accounted for the majority of the veterinary career-ending decisions (63.7%). A total of 385 horses (74.0%) had one or more career breaks; main reasons were rider-related issues (39.2%), others included temporary withdrawal from competition (21.6%), veterinary problems (21.8%), breeding (9.1%) and miscellaneous (8.3%).


CONCLUSIONS
Veterinary reasons for career breaks or termination of career accounted for 21.8 and 23.9% over the period investigated. They formed the second reason (after selling) why horses stopped competing with their initial rider/owner. Veterinary reasons were the third important cause for a temporary career break.


CONCLUSIONS
Further in depth research of the reasons for interruption or termination of an equine career may be useful for the improvement of equine welfare.
Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. m.sloet@uu.nl
M M
MM
Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan
W
W
Genzel
P R
PR
van Weeren
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases; D006736:Horses / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013177:Sports; D013997:Time Factors