Markers for Predicting Overweight or Obesity of Broodmares

Obesity has become of great concern to all equine community from both veterinary and welfare points of view. For estimating obesity markers of brood mares, 17 mares with body conditions were subjected to blood sampling and ultrasound examination to measure rump fat for 6 consecutive weeks. Body length (L), girth (G), and height (H) were measured to estimate body weight (BW), body fat %, body fat mass (BFM) and body mass index (BMI). Mares were classified into three groups according to body condition score (BCS) and rump fat thickness (RF). Overweight mares (O) had BCS >7 and RF >7 mm, moderate (M) had BCS and RF >3 to ≤7, and emaciated (E) had BCS and RF ≤ 3 mm. Glucose, triglycerides, nitric oxide (NO), insulin, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1), leptin, ovarian hormones, and thyroid hormones were measured. Results revealed that BCS, G, L, L × G × H, BW, RF, fat %, and BFM correlated significantly (P < .0001) with body condition. Tetraiodothyronine concentrations of E mares were significantly high (P = .04), but triiodothyronine concentrations tended (P = .07) to be low. Insulin (P = .06) and IGF-1 (P = .07) concentrations tended to be high in O mares. Moderate mares had the highest leptin concentrations (P = .007), but E mares had the lowest P4 concentrations (P = .01). Overweight mares had nonsignificantly high glucose, NO, and triglycerides. In conclusion, back fat and morphometric measurements are the easiest and simple assessment of overweight and obesity. Obese and overweight mares showed slight hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hyperglycemia. Hyperleptinemia alone is not indicative of obesity.