Study: Foals With Extended Turnout Less Likely To Experience Injuries Later In Life
Weanling and yearling Thoroughbreds turned out full time are less likely to experience injury later in life than their counterparts with limited turnout, reports EquiManagement.
Scientists in the United Kingdom wanted to learn whether there was a correlation between turnout practices and rates of musculoskeletal injury and disease in horses. They hypothesized that the ability to move at will in large areas would modulate the youngster’s behavior and tissue development, possibly leading to fewer issues later in life.
To test their theory, the team recorded the location and duration of time spent outside for 134 Thoroughbred foals from birth until they left the farm or left the study. The team also obtained data on how often a veterinarian was needed for injury or musculoskeletal disease. The average turnout time, size of turnout area, and size of herd were calculated using rolling 7- and 30-day periods.
The team discovered that when compared to horses turned out full time, those with turnout that was between nine and 23 hours a day were 4.6 times more likely to have musculoskeletal injuries, adjusting for farm and paddock area.
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Each one-acre increase in turnout area when foals were four months old reduced the rate of musculoskeletal injury and disease when they were between 6 and 19 months of age by 24 percent.
Read more at EquiManagement.
