A Preliminary Study of Prevalence of Laminitis in Nigerian Trade Horses at Obollo-Afor, Enugu State, Nigeria

Résumé

The study was carried out to investigate prevalence and risk factors for laminitis in Nigerian horses by the use of conventional
radiological indices for laminitis diagnosis. A total of 212 Nigerian horses were evaluated in a 4 month period comprising of 2
months of the dry season(January and February 2016) and 2 months of the rainy season (June and July, 2016). Confimed
hoof-related forelimb lameness horses were radiographically assessed for laminitis. The horses were grouped based on sex,
season and aged as young (1 - 5 years), adult (6 - 10 years) and old (11 years and above). Out of the 212 horses assessed, 66
(31.1%) had hoof-related lameness conditions while 39 (18.4%) horses were radiographically confined to be laminitic. Females
(8.5%) had a slightly non significant (p >0.05) higher prevalence of laminitis than male horses (9.9%). Young (14%) horses had
the least prevalent rate of laminitis whereas adult (9.0%) and old (8.0%) horses had the highest. Prevalence of laminitis was
significantly (p < 0.05) higher in rainy season (11.8%) than dry season (6.6%).