An online survey of horse-owners in Great Britain

Abstract

Background: Contingency planning for potential equine infectious disease outbreaks relies on accurate information on horse location and movements to estimate the risk of dissemination of disease(s). An online questionnaire was used to obtain unique information linking owner and horse location to characteristics of horse movements within and outwith Great Britain (GB).

Results: This online survey yielded a strong response, providing more than four times the target number of respondents (1000 target respondents) living in all parts of GB. Key demographic findings of this study indicated that horses which were kept on livery yards and riding schools were likely to be found in urban environments, some distance away from the owner's home and vaccinated against influenza and herpes virus. Survey respondents were likely to travel greater than 10 miles to attend activities such as eventing or endurance but were also likely to travel and return home within a single day (58.6%, 2063/3522). This may affect the geographical extent and speed of disease spread, if large numbers of people from disparate parts of the country are attending the same event and the disease agent is highly infectious or virulent. The greatest risk for disease introduction and spread may be represented by a small proportion of people who import or travel internationally with their horses. These respondents were likely to have foreign horse passports, which were not necessarily recorded in the National Equine Database (NED), making the location of these horses untraceable.

Conclusions: These results illustrate the difficulties which exist with national GB horse traceability despite the existence of the NED and the horse passport system. This study also demonstrates that an online approach could be adopted to obtain important demographic data on GB horse owners on a more routine and frequent basis to inform decisions or policy pertaining to equine disease control. This represents a reasonable alternative to collection of GB horse location and movement data given that the NED no longer exists and there is no immediate plan to replace it.

Figure 1

Response rate over time of the study. A second wave of email reminders was sent out in March 2011 (120 days from the start of the study).

Figure 2

Response rate over time of the study according to source of survey.

Figure 3

Distribution of density of horse owners per geographic region in the NED and the questionnaire, respectively. Horse owner density is highest in Greater London and lowest in Scotland. The density of horse owners inWales was lower than expected from the density recorded in the NED.

Figure 4

Maximum number of nights where horses were stabled in a location other than where they were normally kept within the preceding year (Question 17, Table1). Most respondents travelled and returned home with their horse within a single day (58.6%, 2063/3522). Of the 1482 respondents that travelled with their horses for more than one day, 71.0% (n = 1052) spent 1–7 days away, 24.0% (n = 356) spent up to 8–30 days away, 3.0% (n = 44) spent between 31–60 days away and 2.0% (n = 30) spent more than 60 days away from the home premises.

Figure 5

Association between respondents who imported or travelled internationally with their horses and their involvement with horses. Adjusted Odds Ratios and 95% confidence intervals are shown. Variables with 95% CI which span 1.0 are not statistically significant. After adjusting for other variables, respondents were more likely (than not) to be an equine professional (coach, riding instructor or other professional), a breeder or involved in the Thoroughbred industry. Respondents were less likely to be a horse rider. Respondents were also more likely to be a member of the travelling community (crude OR 21.0, 95% CI 2.8-155.3, p-value 0.003). However, there were very few respondents in this latter category (n = 5) and this was not included in the multivariable analysis and not shown in this figure.

Figure 6

Association between respondents who imported or travelled internationally with their horses and their participation in equestrian activities. Adjusted Odds Ratios and 95% confidence intervals are shown. Variables with 95% CI which span 1.0 are not statistically significant. After adjusting for other variables, respondents who imported or travelled with horses were more likely (than not) to participate in activities such as breeding, show jumping, or endurance. They were less likely to participate in activities like showing, pony club or hacking.