Impacts of Adiposity on Exercise Performance in Horses

Abstract

There is ample research describing the increased risk of health concerns associated with equine obesity, including insulin dysregulation and laminitis. For athletes, the negative effect of weight carriage is well documented in racing thoroughbreds (i.e., handicapping with weight) and rider weight has been shown to impact the workload of ridden horses and to some degree their gait and movement. In many groups of competitive and athletic horses and ponies, obesity is still relatively common. Therefore, these animals not only are at risk of metabolic disease, but also must perform at a higher workload due to the weight of their adipose tissue. Excess body weight has been documented to affect gait quality, cause heat stress and is expected to hasten the incidence of arthritis development. Meanwhile, many equine event judges appear to favor the look of adiposity in competitive animals. This potentially rewards horses and ponies that are at higher risk of disease and reinforces the owner’s decisions to keep their animals fat. This is a welfare concern for these animals and is of grave concern for the equine industry.

Determination of breeding criteria for gait proficiency in leisure riding and racing dromedary camels: a stepwise multivariate analysis of factors predicting overall biomechanical performance

“…Concerning the effects of body weight, hump volume and weight, and the proportional relationship between different body regions in camel gait performance, the absence of significant affectation of this functional trait by the mentioned factors partially resembles the results of de Oliveira Bussiman et al ( 78 ) for Brazilian horses. However, this contrasts with the results reported by Pratt-Phillips and Munjizun ( 79 ) and Gómez et al ( 80 ). These authors support the effects of body mass index, body composition profile, and harmony of physical development on the exercise performance of sport horses, probably due to a combined effect between inflammation-type responses and the impacts of excessive weight carriage on limb health.…”

Effect of Exercise Conditioning on Countering the Effects of Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Horses—A Review

“…Obesity in horses is characterized by excessive amounts of body fat accumulating in several parts of the body, including across the crest of the neck, along the shoulder and ribs, and across the tailhead area, as well as pronounced visceral fat. Body fat can be measured objectively in horses using methods including carcass evaluation, ultrasonography of subcutaneous fat, measurement of total body water using deuterium oxide, and bioelectric impedance [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Body fat may also be measured subjectively by evaluating the amount of subcutaneous fat.…”

“…Other methods of describing regional adipose tissue have also been developed, such as the Equifat system [ 37 ]. Regardless of the system used, estimates of obesity in horses from around the world range from 22 to 62% of the horse population [ 32 , 38 , 39 ]. It is likely that overweight and obese horses tend to be more idle/leisure types of horses, though competitive equine athletes may also be overweight [ 40 , 41 ].…”

“…Excessive adiposity has its own potential health risks and can negatively impact exercise performance (see [ 32 ] for a review). Briefly, equine obesity has been found to cause an accumulation of adipose tissue around internal organs such as the kidney and heart [ 76 , 77 ].…”

Relationships between total adiponectin concentrations and obesity in native‐breed ponies in England

“…Although equine obesity is a health issue in its own right, 18,19 it is understood to be a commonly associated feature rather than a key component of the equine metabolic syndrome. 20 However, non-invasive and easy-to-perform measures of body composition, such as BCS, may be used clinically to identify animals with potential metabolic abnormalities.…”