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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.
Preventative Care: Managing the Geriatric Horse with Integrative Therapies. Horses 15 years of age and older now account for a significant portion of the equine population. Integrative therapies can provide important diagnostic and treatment tools for managing and maintaining the health of geriatric horses. Aged horses are often afflicted with chronic disease processes that are difficult to effectively manage with conventional medicinal approaches, such as laminitis and osteoarthritis. Diagnostic and therapeutic approaches using integrative therapies, such as acupuncture and spinal manipulation, are presented in this article for managing aged horses with metabolic dis...
The Use of Peptides in Veterinary Serodiagnosis of Infectious Diseases: A Review. Peptides constitute an alternative and interesting option to develop treatments, vaccines, and diagnostic tools as they demonstrate their scope in several health aspects; as proof of this, commercial peptides for humans and animals are available on the market and used daily. This review aimed to know the role of peptides in the field of veterinary diagnosis, and include peptide-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (pELISA), lateral flow devices, and peptide latex agglutination tests that have been developed to detect several pathogens including viruses and bacteria of health and production ...
A One Health view of the West Nile virus outbreak in Andalusia (Spain) in 2020. Reports of West Nile virus (WNV) associated disease in humans were scarce in Spain until summer 2020, when 77 cases were reported, eight fatal. Most cases occurred next to the Guadalquivir River in the Sevillian villages of Puebla del Río and Coria del Río. Detection of WNV disease in humans was preceded by a large increase in the abundance of in the neighbourhood of the villages where most human cases occurred. The first WNV infected mosquitoes were captured approximately one month before the detection of the first human cases. Overall, 33 positive pools of and one pool of were found. Se...
Developing advanced therapeutics through the study of naturally occurring immune-mediated ocular disease in domestic animals. This review, which is part of the "Currents in One Health" series, describes the importance of the study of immune-mediated ocular disease in the development of innovative therapeutics, such as cell and gene therapy for the eye. Recent examples of cell and gene therapy studies from the author's laboratory are reviewed to emphasize the importance of One Health initiatives in developing innovative therapies for ocular diseases. Spontaneous immune-mediated corneal disease is common in horses, cats, dogs, and humans. Autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) injected subconju...
Rein tension in harness trotters during on-track exercise. Horseracing is under public scrutiny with increasing demands to safeguard horse welfare. It is accepted that, as a result of bit pressure and/or equipment, mouth lesions accompany many types of horse use, including racing. However, there are currently no data available on the range of bit pressures in driven trotters. Our aim was to investigate whether rein tension (RT, proxy for bit pressures) differs among gaits, between tempo within gait, between horses and drivers, and between left/right reins. Standardbreds (n = 9), driven by experienced drivers (n = 11), performed exercise tests on a rac...
The post-ovulatory rise in progesterone is lower and the persistence of oestrous behaviour longer during the first compared with the second cycle of the breeding season in mares. Mares are seasonally polyoestrous breeders. Therefore, the first ovulation of the season, following winter anoestrus, is the only cycle in which mares ovulate without the presence of an old CL from the previous cycle. The objective of this study was to compare the length of oestrous behaviour, and plasma progesterone concentrations during the early post-ovulatory period between mares after the first and second ovulation of the breeding season. Overall, 38 mares and 167 oestrous periods were used in the study. From those, 11 mares were used during the first and subsequent oestrous period to mea...
Faecal egg counts and nemabiome metabarcoding highlight the genomic complexity of equine cyathostomin communities and provide insight into their dynamics in a Scottish native pony herd. Understanding the composition of gastrointestinal nematode communities may help to mitigate or exploit parasite adaptations within their host. We have used nemabiome deep amplicon sequencing of internal transcribed spacer-2 (ITS-2) ribosomal DNA to describe the temporal and host species composition of gastrointestinal nematode communities following sampling of six Scottish ponies across 57 months. In the absence of parasite control, each horse showed seasonal trends of increases and decreases in faecal egg counts, consistent with the epidemiology of equine strongylid parasites, however, the c...
Evidence of maternal and paternal age effects on speed in thoroughbred racehorses. Effects of parental age on offspring viability have been reported in a wide range of species. However, to what extent parental age influences offspring traits beyond viability remains unclear. Moreover, previous research has primarily focused on maternal age effects. The purpose of this study was to test for paternal and maternal age effects on offspring speed in thoroughbred racehorses. We analysed over 900 000 race performances by over 100 000 horses on British racecourses between 1996 and 2019. With knowledge of the age of all 41 107 dams and 2 887 sires at offspring conception, we jointly ...
Concentration of Selected Essential and Toxic Trace Elements in Horse Hair as an Important Tool for the Monitoring of Animal Exposure and Health. The main purpose of the study was to analyse the concentrations of selected essential and toxic trace elements in the hair of sports and recreational riding horses from studs located in central Poland and thus test the usefulness of this matrix for monitoring the exposure of these animals. We also measured the concentration of heavy metals in oats used as a basic component of the equine diet to investigate the interactions between these elements in the feed and hair. The basic chemical composition of oats was analysed. Elemental analysis was performed using an EcaFlow 150 GLP electrochemical a...
Short-term administration of flunixin meglumine or firocoxib does not alter viscoelastic coagulation profiles in healthy horses. To evaluate the effect of the cyclooxygenase-2-selective NSAID firocoxib, compared to the nonselective NSAID flunixin meglumine on viscoelastic coagulation parameters in healthy horses. 12 healthy adult mixed-breed horses. Following a crossover protocol, horses were administered flunixin meglumine (1.1 mg/kg, IV, q 12 h for 5 days), allowed a 6-month washout period, and then administered firocoxib (0.3 mg/kg, PO, once, then 0.1 mg/kg, PO, q 24 h for 4 days). Omeprazole (1 mg/kg, PO, q 24 h) was administered concurrently with each NSAID. Viscoelastic coagulation profiles and traditional coagula...
Characterization of preantral follicle clustering and neighborhood patterns in the equine ovary. Understanding the transition from quiescent primordial follicles to activated primary follicles is vital for characterizing ovarian folliculogenesis and improving assisted reproductive techniques. To date, no study has investigated preantral follicle crowding in the ovaries of livestock or characterized these crowds according to follicular morphology and ovarian location (portions and regions) in any species. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the crowding (clustering and neighborhood) patterns of preantral follicles in the equine ovary according to mare age, follicular morphology an...
Fertility Control and the Welfare of Free-Roaming Horses and Burros on U.S. Public Lands: The Need for an Ethical Framing. To be effective and publicly acceptable, management of free-roaming horses and burros in the United States and elsewhere needs a consistent ethical framing of the animals and the land they occupy. In the U.S., the two laws that largely govern wild horse and burro management, the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act and the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act ("FLPMA"), rest on conflicting foundations, the former based on an ethic of care and the latter on largely utilitarian principles. These conflicts specifically fuel debates over the selection of appropriate fertility control ...
Are Horse Owners Able to Estimate Their Animals’ Body Condition Score and Cresty Neck Score? Obesity and overconditioning are becoming more prevalent in horses, and are influencing the animal's health, activity, and reproductive efficiency. Body condition score (BCS) and cresty neck score (CNS) have been correlated with the development of various diseases. Many of the papers in the literature evaluate the prevalence of obesity and overconditioning in horse populations considering BCS given by owners. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of the owners' estimation of the degree of equine obesity or overconditioning by comparing BCS and CNS provided by each owner and a boar...
Descriptive analysis of horses and ponies attending horse auctions in Victoria from July 2019 to March 2020. In recent years there has been public speculation about the breed, destination and number of horses being sold by public auction at livestock saleyards in Australia. Currently, there is little objective information available about the breed and condition of horses sold through this medium. With little publicly available objective data on these horses, the horse industry has been left vulnerable to misinformation. Accurate information regarding the composition and condition of horses attending saleyards is important to identify and address any welfare issues and to inform public debate. Methods...
Blood Profile, Hormones, and Telomere Responses: Potential Biomarkers in Horses Exhibiting Abnormal Oral Behavior. The high prevalence of abnormal oral behavior (AOB) in working horses has been linked to management issues and the pathophysiology of this behavior remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to elucidate the blood profile, hormones, and telomere length responses between low and high levels of AOB among different horse working groups. A total of 207 healthy horses from various breeds were initially selected from four working groups (leisure riding, equestrian, endurance, and patrolling) and observed for the time spent on AOB. Then, six horses each with higher and lower AOB than the population ...
Ovarian and Uterine Dynamics During the Estrous Cycle in Criollo Breed Mares. After having been brought to America 400 years ago, the Criollo horse reproduced freely for centuries in the southern part of the American continent. Roughness, resistance, and endurance are typical characteristics of this breed of horses. Although the natural selection that occurred over the centuries may have positively influenced the fertility and longevity of this breed, information regarding ovarian function and other reproductive aspects of Criollo breed mares under natural or controlled management conditions is scarce. The objectives of the present study were to (1) characterize the fol...
Effect of Lactate Minimum Speed-Guided Conditioning on Selected Blood Parameters of Horses. During exercise, equines can suffer severe water and electrolyte imbalances depending on the intensity and duration. In this sense, conditioning aims to promote adaptations to the organism in order to maintain cardiovascular and thermoregulatory stability during exertion. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of conditioning guided by lactate minimum speed (LMS) test on the blood osmolality of horses. We hypothesized that after conditioning the blood osmolality would vary less during exercise and that LMS could be used in equine conditioning program. Ten Arabian horses were evaluated before ...
Endometrial and oviduct extra-cellular vescicles for in vitro equine sperm hyperactivation and oocyte fertilization. Unlike humans and many other mammalian species, conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) in equine species is not successful. To mimic in vitro equine spermatozoon-oviduct interaction as close as possible to that which occurs in vivo, extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by the female genital tract were used. Three female genital tracts were collected at slaughterhouse from mares in late estrus. Ipsilateral proximal and apical horn endometrial explants were digested with collagenase and trypsin and cells obtained were cultured on insert system to allow their polarization. Ipsilateral ovid...
The application of videodermoscopic examination in assessing the skin and its products in pure Arabian horses in the summer and winter seasons. Videodermoscopic examinations have only recently started to be used in veterinary medicine and usually involve a small group of animals. The aim of this study was to compare specific dermoscopic parameters in selected areas of the body of Arabian horses in the summer and winter seasons. The research was conducted between 2018-2019. The procedure was performed on the left side of the horse's body in seven areas: head, neck, chest, flank, rump, mane, and tail. 42 purebred Arabian horses aged 1-25 (median), 39 mares and 3 stallions were qualified for the study. An Italian Video-Dermascope 7 (Medi...
A Novel A > G Polymorphism in the Intron 1 of LCORL Gene Is Significantly Associated with Hide Weight and Body Size in Dezhou Donkey. Several studies have shown the association between the ligand-dependent nuclear receptor compression-like protein (LCORL) gene and body size in horses, pigs and donkeys. Based on previous studies, the LCORL gene was hypothesized to be associated with growth traits and hide weight in Dezhou donkeys. In this study, we aimed to reveal the variation of the LCORL gene in the Dezhou donkey and explore whether the gene is associated with hide weight and body size. In this study, genetic polymorphisms in the LCORL gene of the Dezhou donkey were studied using targeted sequencing technology, and single ...
Y Chromosome Haplotypes Enlighten Origin, Influence, and Breeding History of North African Barb Horses. In horses, demographic patterns are complex due to historical migrations and eventful breeding histories. Particularly puzzling is the ancestry of the North African horse, a founding horse breed, shaped by numerous influences throughout history. A genetic marker particularly suitable to investigate the paternal demographic history of populations is the non-recombining male-specific region of the Y chromosome (MSY). Using a recently established horse MSY haplotype (HT) topology and KASP™ genotyping, we illustrate MSY HT spectra of 119 Barb and Arab-Barb males, collected from the Maghreb regio...
Discovery of exercise-related genes and pathway analysis based on comparative genomes of Mongolian originated Abaga and Wushen horse. The Mongolian horses have excellent endurance and stress resistance to adapt to the cold and harsh plateau conditions. Intraspecific genetic diversity is mainly embodied in various genetic advantages of different branches of the Mongolian horse. Since people pay progressive attention to the athletic performance of horse, we expect to guide the exercise-oriented breeding of horses through genomics research. We obtained the clean data of 630,535,376,400 bp through the entire genome second-generation sequencing for the whole blood of four Abaga horses and ten Wushen horses. Based on the data an...
Evaluation of locking compression plate fixation of the distal phalanx to the hoof wall as a potential therapy for laminitis. Surgical stabilisation of the distal phalanx (DP) is a potential therapeutic strategy for severe acute laminitis. Objective: To evaluate the effects of locking compression plate (LCP) fixation of the DP to the dorsal hoof wall. Methods: Ex vivo and in vivo experiments. Methods: A T-shaped LCP was applied to one limb per pair in six pairs of cadaver forelimbs subjected to a combination of thermally induced lamellar failure and vertical load to simulate severe acute laminitis. Standard radiographic measurements were used to compare DP displacement. The LCP was then applied to one forefoot in 12 ...
Unhandled horses classified with broken/unbroken test (BUT) exhibit longer avoidance, flight reactions, and displacement behaviors when approached by humans. Horses with a low level of tameness are at higher risk for transport-related disease and injury; hence, European regulations for the protection of animals during transport (EC 1/2005) are stricter for unhandled (unbroken) horses. However, the regulation does not provide adequate tools for unhandled horse identification. The Broken/Unbroken Test (BUT) was developed and validated to easily identify whether a horse is broken (handled) or not. As a further validation step, the aim of this study was to assess whether there is any correspondence between the BUT classification and the behavioral resp...
Comparison of gut microflora of donkeys in high and low altitude areas. Donkeys' gut microbe is critical for their health and adaptation to the environment. Little research has been conducted on the donkey gut microbiome compared with other domestic animals. The Tibetan Plateau is an extreme environment. In this study, 6 Qinghai donkeys (QH) from the Tibetan Plateau and 6 Dezhou donkeys (DZ) were investigated, and the contents of 4 parts-stomach, small intestine, cecum, and rectum-were collected. 16S rRNA sequencing and metagenomic sequencing were used to analyze the composition and diversity of gut microbial communities in donkeys. The results showed that the flo...
Shallow shotgun sequencing of the microbiome recapitulates 16S amplicon results and provides functional insights. Prevailing 16S rRNA gene-amplicon methods for characterizing the bacterial microbiome of wildlife are economical, but result in coarse taxonomic classifications, are subject to primer and 16S copy number biases, and do not allow for direct estimation of microbiome functional potential. While deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing can overcome many of these limitations, it is prohibitively expensive for large sample sets. Here we evaluated the ability of shallow shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterize taxonomic and functional patterns in the faecal microbiome of a model population of feral ...
High-throughput sequencing technologies in the detection of livestock pathogens, diagnosis, and zoonotic surveillance. Increasing globalization, agricultural intensification, urbanization, and climatic changes have resulted in a significant recent increase in emerging infectious zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic diseases are becoming more common, so innovative, effective, and integrative research is required to better understand their transmission, ecological implications, and dynamics at wildlife-human interfaces. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) methodologies have enormous potential for unraveling these contingencies and improving our understanding, but they are only now beginning to be realized in livestock resea...
Thoracic and Abdominal Mesothelioma in an Older Horse in Lazio Region. A Quarter Horse, a gelding aged 22, was subjected to a clinical examination for colic syndrome. During admission to the clinic, blood counts and ultrasound examination were performed. Ultrasound revealed abdominal masses and abundant accumulation of pleural (50 L) and abdominal fluid (100 L). Cytology was performed on the aspirated fluid. The patient was euthanized. The autopsy examination revealed abundant effusion and nodular masses on the peritoneum, omentum, lungs, heart, and mediastinum. A diagnosis of epithelioid mesothelioma was made via histopathology and confirmed with immunohistochem...
‘Investing in people is key for our profession’. As Malcolm Morley becomes BVA president for 2022/23, Josh Loeb chats to him about his love for horses and why the veterinary profession is actually a human-centred business.
