title: A two-year participatory intervention project with owners to reduce lameness and limb abnormalities in working horses in Jaipur, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Participatory methods are increasingly used in international human development, but scientific evaluation of their efficacy versus a control group is rare. Working horses support families in impoverished communities. Lameness and limb abnormalities are highly prevalent in these animals and a cause for welfare concern. We aimed to stimulate and evaluate improvements in lameness and limb abnormalities in horses whose owners took part in a 2-year participatory intervention project to reduce lameness (PI) versus a control group (C) in Jaipur, India.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 439 owners of 862 horses participated in the study. PI group owners from 21 communities were encouraged to meet regularly to discuss management and work practices influencing lameness and poor welfare and to track their own progress in improving these. Lameness examinations (41 parameters) were conducted at the start of the study (Baseline), and after 1 year and 2 years. Results were compared with control horses from a further 21 communities outside the intervention. Of the 149 horses assessed on all three occasions, PI horses showed significantly (P<0.05) greater improvement than C horses in 20 parameters, most notably overall lameness score, measures of sole pain and range of movement on limb flexion. Control horses showed slight but significantly greater improvements in four parameters, including frog quality in fore and hindlimbs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This participatory intervention succeeded in improving lameness and some limb abnormalities in working horses, by encouraging changes in management and work practices which were feasible within owners' socioeconomic and environmental constraints. Demonstration of the potentially sustainable improvements achieved here should encourage further development of participatory intervention approaches to benefit humans and animals in other contexts.
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, North Somerset, United Kingdom; The Brooke, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Reix
authors.affiliation: Help in Suffering, Maharani Farm, Durgapura, Jaipur, India.
authors.forename: Amit K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dikshit
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, North Somerset, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hockenhull
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, North Somerset, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard M A
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: Praxis Institute for Participatory Practices, C-75, South Extension, Part II, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Anindo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Centre for Animal Welfare, Department of Clinical Veterinary Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Charlotte C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Burn
authors.affiliation: Animals in International Development, Banwell, North Somerset, United Kingdom; The Brooke, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Joy C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Pritchard
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford House, North Somerset, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Helen R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Whay
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005121:Extremities / Q000473:pathology; D005684:Gait; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006736:Horses; D007194:India; D007794:Lameness, Animal / Q000517:prevention & control*