Prevalence of Wound and Associated Risk Factors in Horses in and around Debre Markos City, Northwest Ethiopia

East Gojjam Zone Livestock and Fishery Resource Development, Animal Health Team, Debre Markos, Ethiopia

*Corresponding Author: Berhan Abebe Tenaw, East Gojjam Zone Livestock and Fishery Resource Development, Animal Health Team, Debre Markos, Ethiopia, Phone: +25118372783, Email: [email protected]

Received Date: February 05, 2026

Published Date: March 05, 2026

Citation: Tenaw BA. (2026). Prevalence of Wound and Associated Risk Factors in Horses in and around Debre Markos City, Northwest Ethiopia. Mathews J Vet Sci. 10(1):103.

Copyrights: Tenaw BA. © (2026).

ABSTRACT

A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2024 to February 2025 with the objectives of estimating the prevalence of wound and associated risk factors in 400 randomly selected horses in and around Debremarkos City, North west Ethiopia. The findings revealed wound prevalence of 38%. Work overload, overloading, harness type, age of horses and body condition scores were the major risk factors associated with occurrence of wound in the study area. The association was statistically significant (p-value < 0.05). Owners who work with horses for many days per a week and for long time per a day have more wounded horses than owners working for few days per a week and for short time per a day. Owners who put heavy load on their horses had more wounded horses than those put light load on their horse. Owners work with horse by poor harnessing material had more wounded horses than those use good harness material. Older horses and poor body conditioned horses were at greater risk of developing wound than young and good body conditioned horses. The distribution of wound on the affected horses showed differences, in which higher proportion (41.4%) of wound found at the back whereas moderate proportions (18.4%) and (20.4%) were at the head and wither regions respectively, lower proportions (6.6%) and (13.2%) were under belly and on legs respectively. In general, the present study revealed high overall prevalence of wound in horses in the study area that require training of owners and giving advice services in the area to ensure better management practices, to improve productivity of the animals and the community’s livelihood.

Keywords: Causes, Ethiopia, Horses, Wound, Prevalence, Risk Factors.