@article{munjizun_gluck_walston_high_hunter_pratt-phillips_2023, title={Effect of weight carriage on work effort in horses}, volume={19}, ISSN={["1755-2559"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1163/17552559-20220066}, DOI={10.1163/17552559-20220066}, abstractNote={Abstract}, number={5}, journal={COMPARATIVE EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY}, author={Munjizun, A. and Gluck, C. and Walston, L. and High, K. and Hunter, R. and Pratt-Phillips, S.}, year={2023}, month={Dec}, pages={511–516} }
 @misc{pratt-phillips_munjizun_2023, title={Impacts of Adiposity on Exercise Performance in Horses}, volume={13}, ISSN={["2076-2615"]}, DOI={10.3390/ani13040666}, abstractNote={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.e., handicapping with weight) and rider weight has been shown to impact the workload of ridden horses and to some degree their gait and movement. In many groups of competitive and athletic horses and ponies, obesity is still relatively common. Therefore, these animals not only are at risk of metabolic disease, but also must perform at a higher workload due to the weight of their adipose tissue. Excess body weight has been documented to affect gait quality, cause heat stress and is expected to hasten the incidence of arthritis development. Meanwhile, many equine event judges appear to favor the look of adiposity in competitive animals. This potentially rewards horses and ponies that are at higher risk of disease and reinforces the owner’s decisions to keep their animals fat. This is a welfare concern for these animals and is of grave concern for the equine industry.}, number={4}, journal={ANIMALS}, author={Pratt-Phillips, Shannon and Munjizun, Ahmad}, year={2023}, month={Feb} }
 @article{pratt-phillips_munjizun_janicki_2023, title={Visual Assessment of Adiposity in Elite Hunter Ponies}, volume={121}, ISSN={["1542-7412"]}, DOI={10.1016/j.jevs.2022.104199}, abstractNote={Obesity is a critical problem in the equine industry, with ponies being at particularly high risk of developing obesity-related conditions such as metabolic syndrome and laminitis. The purpose of this study was to estimate the level of adiposity in an elite level of competitive show ponies, and to determine if adiposity was related to performance based on their model score (judged on conformation and appearance). Two researchers visually evaluated the body condition score (BCS) and cresty neck score (CNS) of 377 ponies at a national hunter competition. Thirty five percent of the ponies in the competition were considered obese, with BCS scores of 7 or higher. Mean BCS of the ponies was 6.7 ± 0.6 with a range of 5.25 - 8.25 and mean CNS was 2.8 ± 0.6, with a range of 1.75 - 4.5. Medium ponies had higher BCS (P<0.0001) and higher CNS (P=0.015) than the large ponies. There was a tendency for a relationship between body condition score and the model score in all ponies (r = 0.08; P = 0.059), and this was stronger within the large ponies (r =0.20; P <0.01). These findings show that elite competition ponies are dangerously overweight and that adiposity may influence performance in a judged event. This is of grave concern to the horse industry and needs to be addressed.}, journal={JOURNAL OF EQUINE VETERINARY SCIENCE}, author={Pratt-Phillips, S. and Munjizun, A. and Janicki, K.}, year={2023}, month={Feb} }