From Horse and Hound:
Vet Rosie Owen of Liverpool University studied 652 randomly selected competition and leisure horses.
She found that 40% of horses suffered a “traumatic injury” — anything from a graze to a fracture — in the course of a year. Of those, 47% required veterinary treatment.
But what will come as a surprise to many horse owners is that 62% of injuries occurred while the horse was turned out in the field.
Only 13% of injuries happened during ridden exercise, while 11% occurred in the stable.
Having come across several “it’s bad to ride or drive horses – they should run free, not be slaves to humans” arguments lately, I have to say I was amused to see this…
Love this! The statistics don’t lie!