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Abstract :

Developmental Orthopaedic Disease (DOD) can cause pain and lameness. For this reason and due to its high prevalence, DOD causes important economic losses in the horse breeding industry. The aim of this study was to assess the adjusted effects of genetic, growth, feeding and management practices on DOD of foals. An epidemiological study that followed 393 foals from 21 stud-farms from Normandy, France, was used. The consistency of the disease assessment was checked by a repeatability analysis of the conclusions from radiographic evaluation. The study of the distribution of DOD occurrences depending on the entities, their location, and their severity showed between breed variations, but no association among affected joints. In order to reduce prevalence of DOD, the results of the risk factor analysis conducted to recommend to follow the growth of foals and adjust nutrients intakes accordingly to prevent too faster growth, to limit the surface of pastures offered to the foals, especially before 2 months of age, and to provide daily free exercise to foals.

Key words :

Developmental Orthopaedic Disease, Epidemiology, Statistical Modelling, Horse, Risk factors, Growth, Management practices