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Topic:Animal Science
Animal Science and horses encompass the study of equine biology, physiology, and management practices aimed at understanding and improving horse health, welfare, and performance. This field integrates various scientific disciplines, including genetics, nutrition, reproduction, and behavior, to address the needs of horses in diverse contexts such as sports, work, and companionship. Research in this area often focuses on optimizing feeding strategies, enhancing breeding programs, and developing effective health management protocols. Additionally, studies explore the genetic factors influencing traits such as athleticism and disease resistance, as well as the impact of environmental and management conditions on horse behavior and welfare. This page gathers peer-reviewed research and scholarly articles that investigate the scientific principles underpinning equine science and their practical applications in horse care and management.
Immunity in equine cyathostome infections. Defining the characteristics of immunity and immune responses to equine cyathostome infections is clearly important to advancing our understanding of the development of these nematodes within the host, the clinical conditions attributed to them, and in developing more rational and novel strategies for their control. Nonetheless, little is currently known on this topic. Current data based on field observations, worm burdens and fecal egg counts suggest that horses acquire a resistance to cyathostome infection with age. This response is slow to develop and incomplete in that most horses regardle...
Current concerns about control programs in temperate climates. Efforts to control cyathostome nematodes in temperate climates have not been uniformly successful, as evidenced by contemporary reports of clinical disease and widespread anthelmintic failure. Indeed, effective control is confounded by numerous factors, including ignorance of local transmission patterns, confusing or conflicting control recommendations, and use of ineffective anthelmintics or regimens. Most of these problems are universal rather than being climatically unique, and it is important to recognize that they are mere symptoms of larger and more comprehensive problems. The most basic...
Limb locomotion–speed distribution analysis as a new method for stance phase detection. The stance phase is used for the determination of many parameters in motion analysis. In this technical note the authors present a new kinematical method for determination of stance phase. From the high-speed video data, the speed distribution of the horizontal motion of the distal limb is calculated. The speed with the maximum occurrence within the motion cycle defines the stance phase, and this speed is used as threshold for beginning and end of the stance phase. In seven horses the results obtained with the presented method were compared to synchronous stance phase determination using a for...
Evolutionary history of MHC class I genes in the mammalian order Perissodactyla. We carried out an analysis of partial sequences from expressed major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I genes isolated from a range of equid species and more distantly related members of the mammalian order Perissodactyla. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a minimum of six groups, five of which contained genes and alleles that are found in equid species and one group specific to the rhinoceros. Four of the groups contained only one, or very few sequences, indicating the presence of relatively nonpolymorphic loci, while another group contained the majority of the equid sequences identified. ...
Trimming and shoeing the chronically affected horse. Several of the technical approaches applied to the foot overlap with regard to intent. Frog or solar support, for example, may be provided either to stabilize the distal phalanx within the hoof capsule or in an effort to unload regional pain arising from the solar surface of the foot. It is likewise obvious that some techniques such as lowering the heels to achieve phalangeal realignment and raising the heels to relieve deep digital flexor tendon tension are contradictory. In these instances, it is not that one technique is always correct but that differences exist among horses. Currently, it ...
Vector competence of three Venezuelan mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) for an epizootic IC strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. Experimental studies were undertaken to evaluate the vector competence of selected mosquito species [Aedes taeniorhynchus (Wiedemann), Culex declarator Dyar and Knab, and Mansonia titillans (Walker)] from northwestern Venezuela for the epizootic (IC) strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus that was responsible for the 1995 outbreak of VEE in this area. Ae. taeniorhynchus was highly susceptible to infection (94% of 35), and 89% had a disseminated infection. Virus-exposed Ae. taeniorhynchus that refed on susceptible hamsters readily transmitted virus, confirming that this species wa...
Genetic evidence for the origins of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus subtype IAB outbreaks. Epizootics of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) involving subtype IAB viruses occurred sporadically in South, Central and North America from 1938 to 1973. Incompletely inactivated vaccines have long been suspected as a source of the later epizootics. We tested this hypothesis by sequencing the PE2 glycoprotein precursor (1,677 nucleotides) or 26S/nonstructural protein 4 (nsP4) genome regions (4,490 nucleotides) for isolates representing most major outbreaks. Two distinct IAB genotypes were identified: 1) 1940s Peruvian strains and 2) 1938-1973 isolates from South, Central, and North America...
Eastern equine encephalitis virus in birds: relative competence of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). To determine whether eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus infection in starlings may be more fulminant than in various native candidate reservoir birds, we compared their respective intensities and durations of viremia. Viremias are more intense and longer lasting in starlings than in robins and other birds. Starlings frequently die as their viremia begins to wane; other birds generally survive. Various Aedes as well as Culiseta melanura mosquitoes can acquire EEE viral infection from infected starlings under laboratory conditions. The reservoir competence of a bird is described as the prod...
PGFM response to exogenous oxytocin and determination of the half-life of oxytocin in nonpregnant mares. We investigated the half-life of oxytocin in reproductively normal mares and the prostaglandin response after oxytocin administrations. Mares were given oxytocin, 10 or 25 iu, i.v., on the day of, or 2 days after, ovulation, and frequent jugular blood samples were collected for analysis of oxytocin and Prostaglandin F metabolite (PGFM) by RIA. Neither dose of oxytocin nor day of treatment affected the half-life of the exogenous oxytocin, which was determined to be 6.8 min. A significant increase in PGFM was observed within 6 min of oxytocin administration and peak values were observed within 1...
Frontiers in anthelmintic pharmacology. Research in anthelmintic pharmacology faces a grim future. The parent field of veterinary parasitology has seemingly been devalued by governments, universities and the animal industry in general. Primarily due to the success of the macrocyclic lactone anthelmintics in cattle, problems caused by helminth infections are widely perceived to be unimportant. The market for anthelmintics in other host species that are plagued by resistance, such as sheep and horses, is thought to be too small to sustain a discovery program in the animal health pharmaceutical industry. These attitudes are both alarmi...
Density of sand flies (Diptera: psychodidae) in domestic and wild animal shelters in an area of visceral Leishmaniasis in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The objective of the present study was to determine the association of sand flies with the presence of domestic and wild animals in the peridomiciliary area. The sand flies were collected using direct aspiration and CDC light traps placed in animal shelters. The results suggest that different sand flies species have different behavioral characteristics in an apparent preference for animal baits and that Lutzomyia longipalpis and Lu. evandroi were the most eclectic species regarding their biotope choice. Lu. longipalpis showed a distinct preference for horses and Lu. evandroi for armadillos.
The relationship between mechanical work and energy expenditure of locomotion in horses. Three-dimensional motion capture and metabolic assessment were performed on four standardbred horses while walking, trotting and galloping on a motorized treadmill at different speeds. The mechanical work was partitioned into the internal work (W(INT)), due to the speed changes of body segments with respect to the body centre of mass, and the external work (W(EXT)), due to the position and speed changes of the body centre of mass with respect to the environment. The estimated total mechanical work (W(TOT)=W(INT)+W(EXT)) increased with speed, while metabolic work (C) remained rather constant. A...
Nortestosterone: endogenous in urine of goats, sheep and mares? For a number of species it is known that nortestosterone, either the alpha- or beta-epimer, can be of endogenous origin. For goats and mares similar results have not yet been published. As a follow-up on the experiments with cattle, a large number of urine samples per animal were collected from pregnant goats, sheep and mares. These samples were analysed for the presence of alpha- and beta-nortestosterone and alpha-estradiol using GC-MS. The results show that in the goats and mares studied alpha-nortestosterone is present during pregnancy. In this study no alpha-nortestosterone could be demons...
162 cases of aldicarb intoxication in Georgia domestic animals from 1988-1998. A 10-y retrospective study of aldicarb intoxication in domestic animals from 1988 to 1998 is provided from animals submitted to the University of Georgia Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Laboratory. Within the period examined, 162 separate cases were confirmed and 18 additional cases were suspected based on bioassay but could not be confirmed. Some cases involving as many as 15 affected animals. Dogs were most often involved, but cats, horses, cattle and goats were also poisoned. Most intoxications appeared intentional or malicious. "Baits" including frankfurters, ham or ground beef w...
Major histocompatibility complex variation in the endangered Przewalski’s horse. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a fundamental part of the vertebrate immune system, and the high variability in many MHC genes is thought to play an essential role in recognition of parasites. The Przewalski's horse is extinct in the wild and all the living individuals descend from 13 founders, most of whom were captured around the turn of the century. One of the primary genetic concerns in endangered species is whether they have ample adaptive variation to respond to novel selective factors. In examining 14 Przewalski's horses that are broadly representative of the living animal...
