health & wellbeing Does equine lameness need to be redefined?


Professor van Weeren, commenting in the current issue of the Equine Veterinary Journal (EVJ), suggests that equine lameness needs to be redefined to reflect new digital assessment techniques that use preset parameters to detect gait asymmetries.


The traditional method for detecting equine lameness is subjective, using expert visual evaluation of gait to identify the presence or absence and degree of asymmetries. The lame horse is described as having a disorder, defect or loss of function and this clinical diagnosis has associated welfare implications if the horse is still asked to perform. Advanced computer technology is starting to change all this. Optic motion capture or the use of inertial measurement units (IMUs) is now enabling the detailed study and quantification of the horse’s gait; objective assessment against preset thresholds. The paper “Do we have to redefine lameness in the era of quantitative gait analysis?” by Professor René Van Weeren and collaborators and published in the autumn issue of the EVJ,


points out that while these digital systems can overcome the temporal and spatial limitations of the human eye they simply rely on one or a number of set gait parameters to decide about lameness and this can present obstacles. Thresholds are forcibly based on a limited reference population, which doesn’t adequately reflect the millions of horses in the world. The individual environmental and mental conditions for each horse and its day-to-day gait variations are also not accounted for. On this basis to use the term ‘lame’ because a horse demonstrates a subtle gait alteration, causing it to fall below the threshold, could be inappropriate, particularly as it may not affect the horse’s welfare in any way. Professor Celia Marr, Editor of the Equine Veterinary Journal said: “An important first step is for researchers and clinicians to start to discriminate clearly between ‘asymmetry’ and ‘lameness’ and not to use these as interchangeable terms when interpreting gait analysis data. Asymmetry is often, but not always, a hallmark of lameness,


but is not a clinical term, whereas lameness is.” Professor Van Weeren continued: “Digital equine gait analysis is sure to become an indispensable additional tool for clinical decision-making. At this early stage we must define the use of terminology in order to avoid confusion and to prevent the formation of wrong perceptions. Using the term “lame” for any horse falling beyond thresholds set for quantitative gait analysis


or not showing the ideal motion pattern when assessed clinically is inadvisable. We should reserve the use of that term for horses deemed unfit to compete based on a comprehensive assessment of the animal that includes, but does not rely entirely on, the appreciation of the degree of gait asymmetry.”


The paper is available free online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/10.1111/evj.12715/full


Professor René Van Weeren


Horse Vets asked to break law and risk UK equine disease status


The British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) is outraged that its members are being regularly asked to break the law by inseminating imported equine semen that doesn’t have an accompanying health certificate. Such practice not only jeopardises the current high health status of the UK horse population but also risks the professional status of the vets involved.


Thousands of shipments of equine germinal product (semen, ova or embryos) are imported into the UK every year.


It


is a legal requirement for all imported equine semen to be accompanied to the place of destination (usually to the side of the mare) by an original, valid health certificate (ITAHC), issued in the country of origin. Recently, consignments of equine semen have been imported without the appropriate health certificates meaning that there is no guarantee that the semen is free from the stated diseases or even that it is from the chosen stallion. Shockingly, well- known importing agents have advised mare owners that these certificates are unnecessary and these businesses have also openly criticised vets who refuse to inseminate mares with


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uncertified imported semen. The use of uncertified semen leads to the real risk of a recipient mare becoming infected with diseases such as CEM or EVA, the potentially rapid spread of disease in breeding stock and eventual restrictions being placed on breeding premises. Recent outbreaks of Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA) in Europe have exacerbated such health threats to the UK herd. The personal and professional reputation of any vet involved with using uncertified semen is also in danger, with the RCVS likely to take a stringent line with any vets who disregard animal health laws and the high health status of British horses. Malcolm Morley, Partner at Stable Close Equine Practice was recently placed in a difficult position with a longstanding client when semen arrived without the requisite documentation. Following a discussion between the semen importer and his client, where the client was told that Malcolm was being pedantic and that the client should find someone else to inseminate the mare, Malcolm contacted the importer stating: “We have no intention of inseminating the mare without the correct health papers. Please will you ensure that when you


speak to the mare’s owner that you make it clear that you do not expect us to inseminate the mare in these circumstances and that the health papers should have been shipped with the semen.” Tullis Matson, Founder and Managing Director of Stallion AI Services said: “No one should be inseminating mares with imported semen that isn’t accompanied by the original


health certificate. If the UK wants to retain its high health status and continue to utilise the international market it needs the breeding industry and the veterinary profession to use the disease controls that are currently place until such a time as we can implement more efficient system.”


For further information visit www.beva.org.uk


Moving semen from a liquid nitrogen storage tank


A nitrogen dry shipping flask Images courtesy of Stallion AI Services


www.theequinesite.co.uk


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