Trends in the management of horses referred for evaluation of colic: 2004-2017

The financial crisis of 2008 had effects on veterinary practice, with falling turnovers associated with reluctance of owners to spend money on veterinary care. There were anecdotal reports that fewer horses were undergoing colic surgery. The aims of this study were to document the numbers of horses with colic being referred to, and undergoing surgery and/or euthanasia, at two equine hospitals (a university based equine hospital in the United States [NC State] and a private equine hospital in the UK [Bell Equine]) over a 14-year period (2004-2017). There was a trend of declining total yearly equine accessions at NC State starting in 2009, followed by an increase starting in 2012. At Bell Equine, total accessions showed an increasing trend from 2004 to 2015, followed by a slight decline in 2016 and 2017. The proportion of equine accessions that were colics varied from around 15% to 20% at both hospitals and did not show any notable variations over the time period studied. Both practices showed a trend of decreasing colic admissions undergoing and recovering from surgery starting from 2007 to 2008. The numbers and percentages of colic admissions that were subjected to euthanasia increased from 2004/2005 to 2014/2015 in both hospitals; there was a greater increase in numbers being subjected to euthanasia at surgery at NC State, compared to a greater increase in numbers being subjected to euthanasia without surgery at Bell Equine. At both hospitals, there was a trend of increasing mean invoice totals over the study period. The results show that there has been a trend of decreasing numbers of horses undergoing surgical treatment for colic since 2004/2005. This is likely to be, at least partly, due to the financial crisis of 2008, although other factors, including the high costs of surgery and the ageing equine population may also be important.