The University of Glasgow, Scotland, has developed a free app to monitor the weight and overall health of horses called Equi-BCS. The current version is based on the results of a survey conducted among 100 people associated with horse breeding.
The app’s developer is equine nutritionist Katie Williams, and she surveyed horse owners, veterinary professionals and nutritionists while working on her dissertation. Based on her findings, she created an app that allows owners to record their horses’ physical indicators and share them with specialists for their recommendations.
“Maintaining and correcting a horse’s weight is often one of the most difficult tasks facing their owners. Previous research shows that owners often misjudge their horse’s health,” vettimes.co.uk quoted Cathy Williams as saying. According to her, only a comprehensive approach and regular monitoring conducted in cooperation with specialists working in the field of horse breeding – veterinarians, nutritionists and farriers – will help to solve the problem.
The app contains detailed images and instructions to help owners adequately assess the current condition of their wards. It also allows pictures to be uploaded so that progress can be tracked and specialist advice can be sought if needed.