Editorial: The Implications of Transport Practices for Horse Health and Welfare

Padalino, Barbara; Riley, Christopher B.

doi:10.3389/fvets.2020.00202

Cited by 10 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…While in France many cattle are kept on pasture, in Italy, they are kept indoors, and every year about 600,000 heads travel from France to Italy for fattening and slaughter purposes (2). Transport is indeed part of the management for most livestock animals, including cattle, having different purposes, such as reaching slaughterhouse, moving to different farms, breeding, fairs, and medical procedures (3). However, transport procedures are known to be stressful for animals, having both short-term and prolonged effects on their health and welfare (4)(5)(6).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting the Development of Bovine Respiratory Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study in Beef Steers Shipped From France to Italy

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a complex, multifactorial syndrome and one of the major welfare and economical concerns for the cattle industry. This 1-year cross-sectional study was aimed at documenting the prevalence of BRD-related pathogens and clinical signs before and after a long journey and at identifying possible predisposition factors. Male Limousine beef steers (n = 169) traveling from France to Italy were health checked and sampled with Deep Nasopharyngeal Swabs (DNS) at loading (T0) and 4 days after arrival (T1). Real-time quantitative PCR was used to quantify the presence of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV), bovine alphaherpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1), bovine coronavirus (BCoV), bovine adenovirus (BAdV), bovine parainfluenza virus 3 (BPIV-3), Histophilus somni, Mannheimia haemolytica, Mycoplasma bovis, and Pasteurella multocida. Weather conditions at departure and arrival were recorded, and the travel conditions were taken from the travel documentation. At T0, even if no animals displayed clinical signs, some of them were already positive for one or more pathogens. At T1, the number of animals displaying clinical signs and positive for BCoV, BAdV, BRSV, H. somni, M. haemolytica, M. bovis, and P. multocida increased dramatically (p < 0.001). Transport also significantly increased co-infection passing from 16.0% at T0 to 82.8% at T1 (p < 0.001). An extra stop during the journey seemed to favor BRSV, M. haemolytica, and P. multocida (p < 0.05). Weather conditions, in particular sudden climate changes from departure to arrival and daily temperature variance, were found to be predisposing factors for many of the pathogens. The farm of arrival also played a role for BRSV, BAdV, and H. somni (p < 0.05). BCoV increased dramatically, but no associations were found confirming that it spreads easily during transport phases. Our findings increased our understanding of factors increasing the likelihood of BRD-related pathogens shedding and can be useful to minimize the incidence of BRD and to implement animal transport regulations.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting the Development of Bovine Respiratory Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study in Beef Steers Shipped From France to Italy

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It has been shown that approximately 800,000 horses are slaughtered globally each year [16]. According to the 2009-2010 and 2012 US Horse Industry Surveys, respondents identified the unwanted horse problem as the most crucial issue facing the US horse industry [17].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of 12 Weeks of Saddle Horse Conversion Training on Thoroughbred Horse Gait

Jung

Park

2022

Applied Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The unwanted horse problem is the most serious issue confronting the equestrian industry. Thus, it is recommended that retired racehorses switch to become saddle horses for ‘the second life of a racing veteran’ because training and using retired Thoroughbred racehorses as saddle horses is the most cost-effective option. The current study aimed to analyze the effects of saddle horse conversion training on gaits of retired Thoroughbred racehorses. Our study included 12 retired Thoroughbred racehorses. These Thoroughbred racehorses performed the retraining 20–50 min a day, five times per week for three months. There are some critical findings in this study. The results show that the decreased stride length of each foot decreased the displacements of the center of mass and the center of the head. In addition, after retraining, there was a significant decrease in the head–neck angle and displacement between the center of the head and the center of the neck. These changes in the horse’s movements mean that the habitual movements for racing are gradually changed to optimal movements for a saddle horse.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Transport is part of the management for the majority of pets and farm animals, including donkeys, having different purposes, such as reaching slaughterhouse, moving to a different farm, breeding, competitions and fairs, and medical procedures (4). Transport procedures are known to be stressful for animals, having both short term and prolonged effects on their welfare (4)(5)(6)(7). It is also known that transport-related stress could influence meat quality in a variety of species (5,(8)(9)(10), thus potentially reducing profits derived from animal farming for meat production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Habituation, in particular, is known to lead to decreased behavioral reactions to a previous novel situation ( 26 ), and habituation to loading as a foal, a yearling or an adult horse was reported to make loading behavior become as normal as walking into a stall ( 23 ). As highlighted by Padalino and Riley, people involved in equine transport should apply best practices, such as training of animals using evidence-based methodologies ( 4 ). In order to evaluate the efficacy of transport training methods, transport-related stress should be evaluated using both behavioral and physiological indicators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Habituation to Transport Helps Reducing Stress-Related Behavior in Donkeys During Loading

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adopting proper animal management strategies, including training, might reduce to a substantial extent the adverse effects of transport-related stress in animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of habituation to transport on stress-related behaviors and physiological indicators during loading and unloading in donkeys. Fourteen donkeys were recruited and divided in two treatment groups: Habituation (H; M = 5, F = 2) and Control (C; M = 5, F = 2). H donkeys were gradually habituated to be transported, traveling together with their mothers and other adult donkeys well-accustomed to transport, while C donkeys had never been transported before. Loading and unloading phases were video recorded and behavior was analyzed. Saliva samples for cortisol concentration determination were collected at rest and after unloading. Latency time to load was significantly shorter for H donkeys than C donkeys (Mann-Whitney; p = 0.004). C donkeys also showed significantly more stress-related behaviors (Mann-Whitney; p = 0.026) and required a higher but not statistically significant number of human interventions to load. Cortisol concentration increased in both groups, but no differences were found between them (Mann-Whitney; p > 0.05). These results suggest that habituation to transport could mitigate stress during loading procedures in donkeys reducing loading time, frequency of stress-related behaviors and diminishing the need of human intervention.

show abstract

Editorial: The Implications of Transport Practices for Horse Health and Welfare

Cited by 10 publications

References 10 publications

Factors Affecting the Development of Bovine Respiratory Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study in Beef Steers Shipped From France to Italy

Factors Affecting the Development of Bovine Respiratory Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study in Beef Steers Shipped From France to Italy

The Effect of 12 Weeks of Saddle Horse Conversion Training on Thoroughbred Horse Gait

Habituation to Transport Helps Reducing Stress-Related Behavior in Donkeys During Loading

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About