Common Reasons for Death in Older Horses Examined

Researchers examined the top reasons for death and euthanasia in older horses.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Our horses are living longer, healthier lives, thanks to advances in equine medicine and nutrition. Nonetheless, most horse owners ultimately find themselves taking a long, hard look at their aging horses, assessing quality of life, and making difficult decisions about euthanasia. Researchers have examined the top reasons for death and euthanasia in older horses, shedding light for the first time on what medical conditions actually cause death or necessitate euthanasia in aged equines.

"Previous studies have suggested that one of the most common reasons that horse owners choose to have their geriatric horses, which are those over 15 years of age, euthanized is due to ‘old age,’" said Joanne Ireland, BVMS, MRCVS, a research assistant at the University of Liverpool in England.

However, because "old age" is not a specific cause of death, Ireland and colleagues launched this retrospective study–the first examining medical causes of death in senior horses–which involved surveying owners of geriatric horses.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Stacey Oke, MSc, DVM, is a practicing veterinarian and freelance medical writer and editor. She is interested in both large and small animals, as well as complementary and alternative medicine. Since 2005, she’s worked as a research consultant for nutritional supplement companies, assisted physicians and veterinarians in publishing research articles and textbooks, and written for a number of educational magazines and websites.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
440 votes · 440 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!