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Major Causes of Lameness in Cart-Horses in Jimma Town, Oromia, SouthWest Ethiopia

Bashahun Gebremichael*, Jemal Milkeso, Jibril Edao, Kamila Aliyi, Kefyalew Yiredaw and Kemal Abdo

 

A cross-sectional survey was carried out in Jimma town to determine the distribution and causes of lameness in cart-horses. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed and administered to collect all important data from April 2018 to May 2018. A total of 384 horse owners were interviewed to assess the possible cause of lameness. Statistical analysis was done by using SPSS software version 20. Among the total of 384 study participants interviewed 63.5% of them reported that their horse got injuries resulting from different sources. Mechanical injury was recorded the highest (48.6%) causes of lameness whereas car accident was found to be the least. However, no significant (P>0.05) variation among the causes, level of education and age of the owners were documented. Respondents stated that, 65.2%, 29.9% and 4.9% of lame horses were managed by veterinarian and paraveterinarians, traditional healers and by themselves, respectively. In conclusion, the current study has revealed a high occurrence of lameness in cart-horses and mechanical injury is identified as major cause. Thus, awareness creation to horse owners and cart-horse drivers is important to prevent the occurrence of lameness.