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Topic:Animal Health
Animal Health encompasses a broad range of topics focused on maintaining and improving the well-being of equine species. This field addresses various aspects of horse care, including disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management of health conditions. Key areas of interest include equine nutrition, vaccination protocols, parasite control, dental care, and the management of chronic conditions such as laminitis and colic. Additionally, animal health research in horses investigates the impact of exercise and training on physical health, the role of genetics in disease susceptibility, and the development of new therapeutic approaches. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the latest advancements, challenges, and best practices in preserving and enhancing the health of horses.
Controlled Exercise in Equine Rehabilitation. Controlled exercise is a fundamental and critical component of any rehabilitation program for the equine athlete. The ideal controlled exercise program is designed to complement the normal tissue reparative process after injury. As a general rule, the program starts with complete rest followed by stall rest and short periods of walking. Over time, the intensity of the controlled exercise is gradually and systemically increased until complete healing has occurred. A well-designed, injury-directed, controlled exercise program enhances the healing process.
Kinesio Taping Fundamentals for the Equine Athlete. The Kinesio taping method was developed in Japan for use in humans in 1979. The use of complementary therapies is becoming common in equine athletes and the discovery of Kinesio taping potential brought it into the animal world. Kinesio taping can be used to treat a wide range of clinical conditions, from tendon injuries to neurologic disorders and from muscle contractures to postural insufficiencies. Its use in veterinary medicine is promising, but relies heavily on evidence-based clinical reports. Further scientific research is needed to fully understand the real effectiveness of application...
Genomic prediction of unordered categorical traits: an application to subpopulation assignment in German Warmblood horses. Categorical traits without ordinal representation of classes do not qualify for threshold models. Alternatively, the multinomial problem can be assessed by a sequence of independent binary contrasts using schemes such as one-vs-all or one-vs-one. Class probabilities can be arrived at by normalization or pair-wise coupling strategies. We assessed the predictive ability of whole-genome regression models and support vector machines for the classification of horses into four German Warmblood breeds. Results: Prediction accuracies of leave-one-out cross-validation were high and ranged from 0.75 to ...
Selection signatures in Shetland ponies. Shetland ponies were selected for numerous traits including small stature, strength, hardiness and longevity. Despite the different selection criteria, Shetland ponies are well known for their small stature. We performed a selection signature analysis including genome-wide SNPs of 75 Shetland ponies and 76 large-sized horses. Based upon this dataset, we identified a selection signature on equine chromosome (ECA) 1 between 103.8 Mb and 108.5 Mb. A total of 33 annotated genes are located within this interval including the IGF1R gene at 104.2 Mb and the ADAMTS17 gene at 105.4 Mb. These two ge...
Positive selection in the SLC11A1 gene in the family Equidae. Immunity-related genes are a suitable model for studying effects of selection at the genomic level. Some of them are highly conserved due to functional constraints and purifying selection, while others are variable and change quickly to cope with the variation of pathogens. The SLC11A1 gene encodes a transporter protein mediating antimicrobial activity of macrophages. Little is known about the patterns of selection shaping this gene during evolution. Although it is a typical evolutionarily conserved gene, functionally important polymorphisms associated with various diseases were identified in ...
Effects of erythropoietin on systemic hematocrit and oxygen transport in the splenectomized horse. To test the hypotheses that erythropoietin (rhuEPO) treatment increases systemic hematocrit, maximal O2 uptake (VO2max, by elevated perfusive and diffusive O2 conductances) and performance five female horses (4-13 years) received 15 IU/kg rhuEPO (erythropoietin) three times per week for three weeks. These horses had been splenectomized over 1 year previously to avoid confounding effects from the mobilization of splenic red blood cell reserves. Each horse performed three maximal exercise tests (one per month) on an inclined (4°) treadmill to the limit of tolerance; two control trials and one f...
High prevalence of international ESBL CTX-M-15-producing Enterobacter cloacae ST114 clone in animals. The objective of this study was to characterize ESBL-producing Enterobacter cloacae isolated from animals and to compare their clonal distribution with that of human-related isolates. Among 635 clinical E. cloacae from horses, dogs and cats collected in France between 2010 and 2013, 36 were resistant to ceftiofur as determined by disc diffusion. ESBL genes were identified by sequencing. Plasmids carrying ESBL-encoding genes were characterized by PCR-based replicon typing, S1-PFGE and Southern blotting. IncHI2 plasmids were subtyped using the plasmid double-locus sequence typing scheme and mult...
Idiopathic Fibrosis of the Tunica Muscularis of the Large Intestine in Five Horses with Colic. Histological evidence of fibrosis affecting the outer layer of the large intestinal tunica muscularis was identified in five of 32 horses affected by colic. In three cases, foci of pale eosinophilia and vacuolation of myocytes were observed. These findings are suggestive of a degenerative and fibrotic abnormality in the outer layer of the tunica muscularis of the large intestinal smooth muscle of some horses with colic.
Influence of season on daytime behavioral activities of donkeys in the Northern Guinea Savanna zone of Nigeria. The present experiment was performed with the aim of investigating the effect of season on behavioral activities of donkeys during the rainy and harmattan seasons in the Northern Guinea zone of Nigeria. Sixteen apparently healthy donkeys were used as subjects and divided into four groups based on age. During each season, behavioral activities of each donkey were evaluated for three weeks using the focal animal sampling technique. The dry-bulb temperature (DBT), relative humidity (RH), and temperature-humidity index (THI) were obtained three times each day during the experimental period using s...
Seroprevalence of West Nile and Usutu viruses in military working horses and dogs, Morocco, 2012: dog as an alternative WNV sentinel species? A serosurvey of 349 military working horses and 231 military working dogs was conducted in ten sites in Morocco in 2012. This survey revealed a high level of exposure of these animals to flaviviruses: seroprevalence rates of 60% in horses and of 62% in dogs were observed using a competitive West Nile virus (WNV) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). Seroneutralization test results showed that the majority of cELISA-positive results were due to exposure to WNV. Further assays conducted in vaccinated horses with a DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) test indicated that ...
Ultrasound Imaging of the Musculoskeletal System. Musculoskeletal ultrasound is a rapidly growing field within veterinary medicine. Ultrasound for musculoskeletal disorders has been commonly used in equine and human medicine and is becoming more commonly performed in small animal patients due to the increase in the recognition of soft tissue injuries. Ultrasound is widely available, cost-effective, but technically difficult to learn. Advantages of musculoskeletal ultrasound are the opposite limb is commonly used for comparison to evaluate symmetry of the tendinous structures and the ease of repeat examinations to assess healing. The article d...
Motor ability of forelimb both on- and off-riding during walk and trot cadence of horse. The aim of this study was to investigate the motor ability of forelimb according to on- or off-riding during cadences (walk and trot) of horse. Horses and rider selected as subject consisted of total 37 heads of Jeju native horse and 1 female rider. The variables analyzed composed of 1 stride length, 1 step length, elapsed time of stance, elapsed time of swing, elapsed time of 1 step, and forward velocity (x-axis). Two-way analysis of variance of variables was employed for the statistical analysis with the level of significance set at 5% (P<0.05). Trot cadence showed significant difference ...
Diversity of the Gastric Microbiota in Thoroughbred Racehorses Having Gastric Ulcer. Equine gastric ulcer syndrome is one of the most frequently reported diseases in thoroughbred racehorses. Although several risk factors for the development of gastric ulcers have been widely studied, investigation of microbiological factors has been limited. In this study, the presence of Helicobacter spp. and the gastric microbial communities of thoroughbred racehorses having mild to severe gastric ulcers were investigated. Although Helicobacter spp. were not detected using culture and PCR techniques from 52 gastric biopsies and 52 fecal samples, the genomic sequences of H. pylori and H. ganm...
Key Factors Affecting Reproductive Success of Thoroughbred Mares and Stallions on a Commercial Stud Farm. To evaluate factors contributing to fertility of thoroughbred mares, data from 3743 oestrous periods of 2385 mares were collected on a large thoroughbred farm in Ireland. Fourteen stallions (mean age 8.3 years; range 4-15 years) had bred 2385 mares (mean age 9.4 years; range 3-24 years). Maiden mares accounted for 12%, mares with a foal at foot for 64%, and barren, slipped or rested mares for 24% of the total. The mean pregnancy rate per cycle was 67.8% (68.6% in year 1 and 66.9% in year 2). Backward stepwise multivariable logistic regression analysis was utilized to develop two models to eval...
Comparison of the antigenic relationship between Japanese encephalitis virus genotypes 1 and 3. The Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) genotype circulating in Korea has changed from G3 to G1. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the antigenic relationship between the two genotypes by using antibody tests. Methods: Blood samples from 42 sows and 216 horses were collected, and their seroprevalence was monitored using the hemagglutination inhibition and virus neutralization tests. Antisera against JEV G1 and G3 were isolated and prepared from guinea pigs. The cross-reactivity of these two viruses was then compared using the neutralizing antibody test. Results: We found that th...
Recent vaccine technology in industrial animals. Various new technologies have been applied for developing vaccines against various animal diseases. Virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine technology was used for manufacturing the porcine circovirus type 2 and RNA particle vaccines based on an alphavirus vector for porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Although VLP is classified as a killed-virus vaccine, because its structure is similar to the original virus, it can induce long-term and cell-mediated immunity. The RNA particle vaccine used a Venezuela equine encephalitis (VEE) virus gene as a vector. The VEE virus partial gene can be substituted with ...
Factors associated with dust dispersed in the air of indoor riding arenas. Environmental factors contribute to respiratory diseases in horses and man. During exercise, equine ventilation is increased, potentially increasing exposure of the airways to inhaled particulates. Currently, there is very little information on the quality of air in riding arenas. Objective: To evaluate air quality and dust particle concentrations in indoor riding arenas before and after use for riding. Methods: Longitudinal study. Methods: Air quality was assessed in 4 indoor riding arenas in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on a monthly basis for 1 year. Concentrations of particles in 6 particle fract...
Genome-wide association studies based on sequence-derived genotypes reveal new QTL associated with conformation and performance traits in the Franches-Montagnes horse breed. To identify novel quantitative trait loci (QTL) within horses, we performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) based on sequence-level genotypes for conformation and performance traits in the Franches-Montagnes (FM) horse breed. Sequence-level genotypes of FM horses were derived by re-sequencing 30 key founders and imputing 50K data of genotyped horses. In total, we included 1077 FM horses genotyped for ~4 million SNPs and their respective de-regressed breeding values of the traits in the analysis. Based on this dataset, we identified a total of 14 QTL associated with 18 conformation trai...
First serological study of equine hydatidosis in Iran. Hydatidosis, is an important worldwide zoonotic disease caused by larval stages (metacestodes) of tapeworm parasites of the genus Echinococcus. The objective of the present study was to determine the seroprevalence of equine hydatidosis in Iran by latex agglutination test. This study also served to correlate sex and age with mentioned results in cases. Therefore, 193 serum samples were collected from clinically healthy horses at 9 race clubs in Kerman, Yazd and Golestan provinces, Iran. According to the results, antibodies against hydatidosis were detected in 6 sera (3.11 %) among 193 samples...
Pharmacokinetics of guaifenesin following administration of multiple doses to exercised Thoroughbred horses. Guaifenesin is an expectorant commonly used in performance horses to aid in the clearance of mucus from the airways. Guaifenesin is also a centrally acting skeletal muscle relaxant and as such is a prohibited drug with withdrawal necessary prior to competition. To the authors' knowledge, there are no reports in the literature describing single or multiple oral administrations of guaifenesin in the horse to determine a regulatory threshold and related withdrawal time. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to describe the pharmacokinetics of guaifenesin following oral administration ...
[Development of a real-time RT-PCR for detection of equine influenza virus]. Equine influenza is a highly contagious respiratory disease in horses caused by influenza A viruses. In this work a real-time RT-PCR for fast and sensitive diagnosis of equine influenza viruses (EIV) targeting a highly conserved region of the matrix gene was developed. In addition two RT-PCR methods for the amplification of large parts of the matrix- and HA gene were adapted for molecular-epidemiological characterization of viruses. The primers of the real-time RT-PCR had homologies of 99.4% to EIV- and 97.7% to all influenza A viral sequences, whereas the minor groove binder (MGB) probe showe...
[New causes of animal poisoning in Switzerland]. This retrospective study evaluated the frequency, etiology, therapy and prognosis of animal poisoning registered from 2003 to 2012. The relevant cases reported to the Swiss Toxicological Information Center (STIC) were compared with those from previously examined periods. Human medicines not approved for animals and pesticides represented the most common causes of poisoning in dogs. Novel cases occurred as a consequence of the exposure of dogs to ricinus fertilizers, grape residues from wineries, pepper lachrymatory spray and dry bouillon. Cats are still freequently poisoned by pyrethroid drugs...
The Impact of Sperm Metabolism during In Vitro Storage: The Stallion as a Model. In vitro sperm storage is a necessary part of many artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization regimes for many species, including the human and the horse. In many situations spermatozoa are chilled to temperatures between 4 and 10°C for the purpose of restricting the metabolic rate during storage, in turn, reducing the depletion of ATP and the production of detrimental by-products such as reactive oxygen species (ROS). Another result of lowering the temperature is that spermatozoa may be "cold shocked" due to lipid membrane phase separation, resulting in reduced fertility. To overcome ...
