Improving the Understanding of Psychological Factors Contributing to Horse-Related Accident and Injury: Context, Loss of Focus, Cognitive Errors and Rigidity

DeAraugo, Jodi; McLaren, Suzanne; McManus, Phil; McGreevy, Paul D.

doi:10.3390/ani6020012

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(94 reference statements)

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“…Traumatic injuries during transportation may involve also horse handlers. An elevated risk of injury has been associated with poor experience, misjudging how to handle a situation, reduced attention caused by distraction, taking a general view, and failing to consider other strategies that may reduce risks [ 39 ]. To improve safety for humans and horses, knowledge and experience in horse handling and driving would appear important.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Survey on Transport Management Practices Associated with Injuries and Health Problems in Horses

et al. 2016

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An online survey was conducted to determine associations between transport management and transport-related injuries and diseases in horses in Australia. The survey was composed of three sections: respondents’ demographic information, transport management strategies or procedures (before, during and after transportation) and transport diseases experienced in the previous two year period. Univariate and multivariate modelling was performed exploring associations between variables (respondents’ details and transport management strategies) and the following transport-related diseases as outcomes: traumatic injuries, diarrhoea, heat stroke, muscular problems, laminitis, transport pneumonia and colic. The survey generated 797 responses. Traumatic injuries were the most common transport-related problem, with a reported incidence of 45.0%. Younger respondents (<40 years old) caring for large numbers of horses (>30 in a week) were more likely to report transport-related injuries. Injury risk was also linked to the use of protections and tranquilizers prior to transport, and checking horses after the journey. Diarrhoea (20.0%) and heat stroke (10.5%) were reported more by amateur than professional horse carers. Increased risk of heat stroke was linked to the restriction of hay and water prior to transportation. Muscular problems (13.0%) appeared to be exacerbated when horse health was not assessed before journey; whilst the risk of laminitis (2.9%) was around three fold greater when post transport recovery strategies were not applied. Associations were made between transport pneumonia (9.2%) and duration of journey, and with activity (horses involved in racing at greater risk). No associations were seen between the incidence of colic (10.3%) and the variables examined. Study findings should be interpreted with caution as they represent participant perceptions and recall. Nevertheless, results support many current recommendations for safe transportation of horses. They also highlight the need to further investigate many of identified management factors to refine existing policies and practices in equine transportation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Survey on Transport Management Practices Associated with Injuries and Health Problems in Horses

et al. 2016

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“…This might be related to horse handlers lacking a perception/understanding/appreciation of the importance of training horses for travel (almost half of the survey respondents reported that they did not train their horses for travelling [ 41 , 43 ]) or to the use of inappropriate training methods [ 1 , 41 ]. Insufficient knowledge of how to manage horse-related situations has been associated with elevated risk of horse-related accidents [ 8 ].…”

Section: Trpbs: Current Knowledge Definitions Causes and Consequenmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to minimise the incidence of transport-related problem behaviours in horses: a review

York

Matusiewicz

Padalino

2017

JES

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This review aims to provide practical outcomes on how to minimise the incidence of transport-related problem behaviours (TRPBs) in horses. TRPBs are unwanted behaviours occurring during different phases of transport, most commonly, a reluctance to load and scrambling during travelling. TRPBs can result in injuries to horses and horse handlers, horse trailer accidents, disruption of time schedules, inability to attend competitions, and poor performance following travel. Therefore, TRPBs are recognised as both a horse-related risk to humans and a human-related risk to horses. From the literature, it is apparent that TRPBs are common throughout the entire equine industry, and a YouTube keyword search of ‘horse trailer loading’ produced over 67,000 results, demonstrating considerable interest in this topic and the variety of solutions suggested. Drawing upon articles published over the last 35 years, this review summarises current knowledge on TRPBs and provides recommendations on their identification, management, and prevention. It appears that a positive human-horse relationship, in-hand pre-training, systematic training for loading and travelling, appropriate horse handling, and the vehicle driving skills of the transporters are crucial to minimise the incidence of TRPBs. In-hand pre-training based on correct application of the principles of learning for horses and horse handlers, habituation to loading and travelling, and self-loading appear to minimise the risk of TRPBs and are therefore strongly recommended to safeguard horse and horse-handler health and welfare. This review indicates that further research and education with respect to transport management are essential to substantially decrease the incidence of TRPBs in horses.

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“…Caution should also be exercised when interpreting hospital-or registry-based data and relying upon them for estimates of risks because, as found in our study and others, many injuries are either not treated or medical assistance is not sought [46]. This behaviour may be a manifestation of the normalisation of risk in equestrian culture and/or the acceptance that horse-related activities such as riding are high risk, both of which have been considered obstacles to improving equine-related safety [2,14,38,47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…However, pony club and equestrian and racing qualifications have many similarities in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom based on a shared colonial history. The increased odds of injury associated with higher levels of qualification are most likely reflective of those more frequently engaged in industry activities and, therefore, at greater cumulative exposure to the risk in associated competitive equestrian activities or equine industry work environments [30,38]. The association of a decrease in risk of injury with driver experience (2% per year) was not found for equine injury in a companion paper [30].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The proportion of concurrent injuries in the present and Italian studies [24] is modest but concerning and underscores the shared risk associated with the frequent event of horse transport. Although few respondents reported an injury that was concurrent with the equine incident they described with the same survey, the strong association found for those reporting both within the two-year timeframe merits further investigation of the human factors and behaviors that underpin this shared risk to welfare and the specific measures required for mitigation [1,38,39].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Human Injuries Associated with the Transport of Horses by Road

Riley

Padalino

Rogers

et al. 2023

Animals

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There is an increased understanding of shared human–animal risk in terms of “one welfare”, whereby when animals are at risk, so are people, so preventing injury to one species may also prevent injury to the other. Because transport-related injuries to horses are common, the authors considered this paradigm to study road equine transport-related injuries to humans in New Zealand. The aim was to determine their frequency and associated factors by distributing a survey to horse industry participants through industry organisations asking about their horse activities, road transport experiences, and any related self-injury. There were 112/1067 (10.5%) handlers injured while preparing (13/112), loading (39/112), traveling (6/112), or unloading (33/112). Of these, 40% had multiple injury types, and 33% had several body regions affected. Hand injuries were most common (46%), followed by the foot (25%), arm (17%), and head or face (15%). Median recovery time was 7 days. Injuries were associated with the responder’s industry educational background, years of driving experience, and reporting a horse injured during road transport in the past two years. Wearing helmets and gloves, and adopting strategies designed to eliminate equine injuries associated with the road transport of horses to reduce the risk of injury to their handlers are recommended.

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Improving the Understanding of Psychological Factors Contributing to Horse-Related Accident and Injury: Context, Loss of Focus, Cognitive Errors and Rigidity

Cited by 8 publications

References 38 publications

A Survey on Transport Management Practices Associated with Injuries and Health Problems in Horses

A Survey on Transport Management Practices Associated with Injuries and Health Problems in Horses

How to minimise the incidence of transport-related problem behaviours in horses: a review

Human Injuries Associated with the Transport of Horses by Road

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