2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

Horses included in this study were randomly selected during two separate visits to a certified abattoir in the United Kingdom (UK) between the months of June and August. Horses were classified as feral on the basis that they were free ranging with little or no human interaction, and classed as domesticated on the basis that they had been under the care of humans with a designated purpose as assessed by an abattoir employee. The feral population originated from the Dartmoor and Exmoor regions of the UK. History on the horses such as age, sex, breed or discipline for the horses was not available. Once classified as feral or domesticated horses were slaughtered in accordance with appropriate UK legislation. Following slaughter, the gastrointestinal tract was removed and the stomachs separated by an abattoir employee. Each stomach was then dissected along the dorsal plane from the lower oesophageal sphincter to the pyloric sphincter and rinsed with water. Photographs were captured for each stomach and numbered for future analysis. Grading of the gastric lesions was performed by a single investigator blinded to the group allocation of the horse. Lesions were graded using the four point EGUS council system with the squamous and glandular regions of the stomachs graded separately. Horses were dichotomously classified as being ESGD or EGGD positive or negative if the assigned grade for the squamous of glandular mucosa was ≥ II/IV or ≤ I/IV, respectively. A Chi-Squared test was used to compare the prevalence of ESGD and EGGD between feral and domesticated horses. Significance was set at P ≤ 0.05.