Home Sweet Home: New Insights Into the Location of Equine Premises in France and Keeping Habits to Inform Health Prevention and Disease Surveillance.
Authors: Farchati Halifa, Merlin Aurelie, Saussac Mathilde, Dornier Xavier, Dhollande Mathilde, Garon David, Tapprest Jackie, Sala Carole
Journal: Frontiers in veterinary science
Summary
France's national equine identification database lacks information on premises locations and management practices, hampering disease surveillance efforts. A targeted email survey reached 3,518 respondents (728 owners, 121 keepers, and 2,669 owner-keepers) to characterise keeping habits and geographical distribution of equine holdings across the country. The findings reveal that most equines are kept by private individuals within a single administrative commune, with approximately 79–94% of respondents maintaining their animals within 30 km of their residence; over half of keepers manage five or fewer horses, typically for mixed purposes such as leisure-breeding or sport-retirement combinations. These data substantially improve understanding of France's equine population distribution and premises clustering, enabling veterinary authorities to design more geographically realistic outbreak response protocols and surveillance systems that account for actual movement patterns and keeper demographics rather than relying on assumptions. For practitioners involved in disease control, biosecurity planning, and herd health management, this work underscores the value of location-linked identification data and suggests that regional disease surveillance strategies should account for the predominance of small, mixed-purpose holdings operated by non-professionals across relatively confined geographical areas.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Disease outbreak response can focus resources on localized geographic areas (within 30 km radius) since most equines are kept near owners' residences; this improves speed and cost-effectiveness of control measures
- •Small mixed-use operations dominate the French equine sector—veterinarians and authorities should tailor herd health and biosecurity advice for leisure/sport combinations rather than single-purpose facilities
- •Improving email contact data in national equine identification databases is critical for rapid communication during health emergencies and surveillance programs
Key Findings
- •94% of owner-keepers housed equines within 30 km of their residence, indicating localized keeping patterns suitable for targeted surveillance
- •Over 50% of keepers maintained five or fewer equines with mixed use categories (leisure-retirement, leisure-breeding, sport-breeding), reflecting diverse small-scale operations
- •Most equines were kept by private non-professional owners in single communes, enabling more effective regional disease tracking and control
- •Only 1.9% of registered owners and 8.2% of registered keepers were reachable via email, highlighting gaps in current equine identification database contact information