Vol. 8, Issue 5, Part D (2023)

A total of 448 equines were presented to the Large Animal Surgery Unit of Madras Veterinary College Teaching Hospital, Chennai during the period of 2017 to 2020. Of these, 188 (42 per cent) were diagnosed with various forms of wound, 83 (18.5 per cent) were diagnosed lameness, 35 (7.9 per cent) had laminitis, 19 (4.2 per cent) animals were having OA changes, 17 (3.8 per cent) had sprain, 16 (3.6 per cent) had fracture, 16 (3.6) ulcerative keratitis, 15 (3.3 per cent) brought for vaccination, 10 (2.2 per cent) had equine sarcoid, 8 (1.8per cent) underwent castration, 4 (0.9 per cent) had eye worm infestation, 37 (8.2 per cent) had other clinical disorder. Among these 188 (42 per cent) equines with wound, 184 was horses (98 per cent) and 3 were donkeys (1.5 per cent) and 1 was Mule (0.5 per cent) were found wound on one or more of their body parts. The breed wise incidence calculated and was seen high among Kathiyawari horses (n=80, 42.5 per cent) followed by Thoroughbred horses (n=66, 35.1 per cent), pony (n=24, 12.7 per cent), Marwari horses (n=18, 9.5 per cent). The age wise incidence was calculated dividing the animals into four subs set and found to be higher in young animals when compare to old animals. Sex wise incidence was also calculated and higher prevalence found in male when compare to female. The wound was classified based on their type as Lacerated wound (n=54, 28.8 per cent), traumatic wound (n=38, 20.2 per cent), bite wound, (n=28, 14.9 per cent) saddle wound, (n=26, 13.9 per cent) maggot infested wound, (n=22, 11.8 per cent) kick wound (n=12, 6.3 per cent and) surgical wound (n=8, 4.2). In the examined horses wound was frequently observed on body trunk part (n=81, 43 per cent) followed by saddle part (n=26, 13.9 per cent) hoof (n=24 12.8 per cent), fore limb part (n=24, 12.8 per cent), hind limb part (n=23, 12.2 per cent), and head (n=10, 5.3 per cent) respectively.