29/08/2024
Equine veterinarians are put into difficult positions when it comes to advocating for horse welfare. Especially when it comes to competition horses.
Veterinarians, as a whole, have some of the highest su***de rates of any job. Their jobs are very difficult. [2] [3]
Equine veterinarians are a dying breed, people who do go into veterinary largely are not choosing large animal veterinary.
A recent study surveyed a group of equine veterinarians to take a closer look at some of the challenges that they face in their work. [1]
The survey found that many vets experienced challenges when it came to balancing the clients’ competition interests with what was best for the horse.
The most common ethical challenge brought up in the survey was conflicting interests of their human clients and what was best for the horse, which places pressure on the vet.
In many cases, clients may want to do what was needed to keep the horse competing or get the horse back to work as quickly as possible, regardless of what was best for the horse treatment wise.
“Responses included:
‘Finding the correct balance between the horse's welfare and it continuing to compete at the highest level’,
‘managing conflicts of interest between stakeholders' aspirations and the welfare of the horses’,
‘placing horse welfare second to performance’.
A common example of this was conflicts between ongoing competition and the need for rest or retirement:
‘Owners requesting ongoing treatment and management of injuries in order to allow the horse to continue competing at a high level, where it might be more appropriate to drop to a lower level/retire the horse’.”
Some vets commented on client demands about treatment: ‘meeting the needs of the client without allowing them to dictate treatment’ with others noting there was pressure to provide a ‘quick fix’ and to ‘patch up’ a horse for it to compete or be sold.
Others mentioned conflicts with competition integrity: “pressure to accept horses [in competitions] that are not fit to compete’, ‘treating horses to improve performance but adhering to the ethos of clean sport’, ‘ensuring that sports are conducted transparently with the horse's welfare paramount.”
The pressure to administer joint injections was mentioned by 19 veterinarians in the survey.
The high prevalence of lameness or chronic lamensses was mentioned by 10 respondents.
“chronic lameness and owners expecting to continue competing regardless.”
“The possibility of veterinary surgeons losing objectivity around normal function, health and welfare was also mentioned in the context of lameness assessment:
‘I often wonder whether our eye is so skewed by looking at chronically lame racehorses all the time that the balance of judgement on what is acceptable has lost its way somewhat, probably in the most part due to pressure from trainers’.”
The lack of evidence or scientific basis for treatments was brought up by 9 vets: ‘treatments done not always with clinical indication and no real scientific basis’.
“Administering treatments without appropriate prior diagnostic investigations was mentioned by seven respondents. Often this was clarified as a lack of diagnostic investigation of lame horses prior to treatment.”
Veterinarians are often placed in a position where their morals may be in conflict with clients’ desires.
Sources:
1. https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/evj.14204
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266064/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10421543/
