We validated a Thoroughbred racehorse welfare index, developed initially from expert opinion, by relating it to horse behaviour recorded in a range of training stables and surveying trainers to investigate the environment and management systems for T...
Identifying key welfare issues for thoroughbred racehorses could lead to an improvement in standards. A lack of scientific information on the relative importance of key issues was addressed by soliciting the views of, first, welfare experts in the in...
The Thoroughbred racing industry faces new and competing pressures to operate within a modern, changing society. Three major moderators drive the focus and productivity of the industry worldwide: economic sustainability, horse biology and social lice...
As society debates the use of animals in sport, entertainment, and leisure, there is an increasing focus on the welfare, social, and ecological impacts of such activities on the animals, human participants, people close to them, and the physical envi...
This review addresses the question of whether Thoroughbred horse racing is sustainable in the context of current social values. A recently acknowledged framework, known as ‘Social License to Operate’ (SLO), provides us with a lens through...
There is international public concern regarding retirement of racehorses, including the reason for retirement and the outcome for horses after racing. However, there are currently no prospective studies investigating these factors. A recent independe...
The idea of what is natural has particular relevance in the thoroughbred racing and breeding discourse. It guides breeding regulations; influences how the thoroughbreds’ behaviour is perceived and has implications for husbandry, handling, train...
Racehorse welfare is a prominent, public issue which affects nearly every aspect of the racing industry. Thoroughbred care after race career completion has garnered increasing attention from the equine industry, general public, and animal welfare gro...
In the 2019/20 Thoroughbred racing season, the paper-based reporting process of stipendiary steward reports was upgraded to an online system (‘Infohorse database’) to allow for the rapid entry of precise event and injury data. The objecti...
Musculoskeletal injury remains a major welfare and performance concern in Thoroughbred racing, and biomarkers for early risk stratification are of scientific interest. This multicentre observational cohort study characterised serum concentrations of...
Jumps racing is a form of Thoroughbred horse racing that involves hurdles and steeples and typically longer distances, and heavier weights compared with flat racing, which does not incorporate obstacles. In Australia, jumps racing is carried out only...
Musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) remain a concerning cause of racehorse morbidity and mortality with important ethical and welfare consequences. Previous research examining risk factors for MSI report inconsistent findings. Age is thought to affect MSI...
(1) Background: Since antiquity, it is considered that sounds influence human emotional states and health. Acoustic enrichment has also been proposed for domestic animals. However, in both humans and animals, effects vary according to the type of sou...
Jumps racing involves a higher risk of accident and fatality than flat racing. The wide accessibility of media, combined with alternate views regarding the place of animals in society, raises the question of the acceptability of the continuation of j...
Understanding how horses experience their lives is essential for improving their welfare, particularly in high-performance industries such as horseracing. Quality of Life (QoL) frameworks highlight the balance between positive and negative experience...
There is a disconnect between dominant conceptions of sustainability and the protection of animals arising from the anthropocentric orientation of most conceptualisations of sustainability, including sustainable development. Critiques of this disconn...
The off-the-track Thoroughbred’s (OTTTB’s) suitability for equestrian retraining and rehoming should always be subject to behavioral considerations. Certain attributes may be advantageous to a horse’s racing performance but unfavora...
There is increasing controversy about the use of the whip as a performance aid in Thoroughbred horseracing and its impact on horse welfare. This paper offers a critical analysis of the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) 2011 Report Responsible Reg...
Every year, many horses are transported by air. Alongside sport horses traveling to tournaments worldwide, mainly breeding horses, such as shuttle stallions and broodmares, thoroughbreds traded at auctions, and leisure horses are transported by air....
In equine veterinary medicine, there is a lack of correlation between the structural severity of orthopaedic disease and the perceived severity of presenting signs, resulting in a variable influence on performance, pain and disability. Across equine...
Race day fatalities as a consequence of catastrophic musculoskeletal injury and cardiac failure are both a welfare concern and provide a challenge for the social perceptions of equine welfare within the racing industry. To reduce race day fatalities,...
The objective of this study was to describe the incident and non-incident reporting of harness racing in New Zealand, the primary injury and reporting outcomes, and to examine horse- and race-level variables associated with the odds of these outcomes...
This study aimed to validate eye temperature (ET) assessed using infrared thermography (IRT) as an indicator of welfare in horses. Moreover, this study aimed to determine the most accurate position for ET measured using IRT and to validate this appro...
Thoroughbred race performance is influenced by genetics, training, recovery, and management, but decisions about race readiness are often subjective and lack validated physiological markers. This study evaluated thiol-oxidised albumin, a blood-based...
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...
Changing social values and new technologies have contributed to increasing media attention and debate about the acceptable use of animals in sport. This paper focuses on the use of the whip in thoroughbred horse racing. Those who defend its use argue...
The impact of recommended withholding periods (RWPs) for omeprazole on the recurrence of Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is unknown. The study was designed to compare the effect of two RWPs on EGUS recurrence post-omeprazole treatment and to det...
Equine headshaking syndrome (EHS) is characterised as non-physical and involuntary movement of the horse’s head and neck. Although EHS is clinically simple to diagnose, its aetiopathogenesis often remains unclear. The aim of this study was to g...
Equine transportation is associated with a variety of serious health disorders causing economic losses. However; statistics on horse transport are limited and epidemiological data on transport related diseases are available only for horses transporte...
Thoroughbred jump racing sits in the spotlight of contemporary welfare and ethical debates about horse racing. In Australia, jump racing comprises hurdle and steeplechase races and has ceased in all but two states, Victoria and South Australia. This...
Hair follicles (HF) represent a useful tissue for monitoring the circadian clock in mammals. Irregular light exposure causes circadian disruption and represents a welfare concern for stabled horses. We aimed to evaluate the impact of two stable light...
The aim of this study was to refine the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced synovitis model in normal carpal joints of Thoroughbred horses by comparing two low LPS doses. A further aim was to investigate the relationship between the induced synovitis an...
Fractures are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Thoroughbred racehorses, posing a significant threat to their welfare and careers. This study introduces a deep learning model specifically designed to facilitate fracture detection in equin...
The broad traits of boldness and independence in domestic horses can affect their usefulness and, indirectly, their welfare. The objective of the current study was to explore associations between attributes that reflect equine boldness and independen...
The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has been working closely with the Australasian greyhound industry for more than 5 years to reduce greyhound race-related injuries. During this period, UTS has developed and deployed several different techniqu...