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Topic:Animal Studies
Animal studies involving horses encompass a range of research focused on understanding equine biology, behavior, and health. These studies often investigate various aspects of horse physiology, genetics, nutrition, and disease pathology. Researchers utilize animal studies to explore the effects of different treatments, management practices, and environmental factors on horse welfare and performance. The findings from such studies contribute to the development of improved care strategies and health interventions. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the methodologies, findings, and implications of animal studies conducted on horses, providing insights into their application in advancing equine science.
Does having a pet influence the physical activity of their young female owners? Many studies have shown that having a dog has an impact on the increase in physical activity (PA) of people. However, what is often not taken into account in many such studies is owning of other pets. The aim of this study was to compare PA levels between animal owners and non-owners and to research potential differences between owners of different kinds of animals. Methods: 111 young females of mean age 21 ± 1.2 years enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Czech version of short International physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to assess PA level, supplemented with a quest...
The Pattern of Superficial Body Temperatures in Leisure Horses Lunged with Commonly Used Lunging Aids. The natural head and neck position (HNP) of horses differs from the position in horse riding when bit is used. The special lunging aids (LAs) are applied in order to modify HNP. Different types of LAs have the potential to affect the work of horse muscles and the superficial thermographic patterns (STPs). The effects of thre LAs on STPs of neck, chest, back, and hindquarters were investigated. Methods: Sixteen leisure horses were lunged with freely moving head (FMH), rubber band (RB), chambon (CH), and triangle side reins (TRs). The thermographic images (n = 896) were analyzed before/after lun...
Assessing the fertility of two mares cloned from the same founder animal. Two cloned mares, produced from the same sample of skin fibroblasts, were bred during four breeding seasons from their second year of age, as embryo donors, in exactly the same conditions, using the same stallions for both cloned mares. The aim of this study was to test the embryo donor potential of cloned mares and to compare the results obtained from two cloned mares of the same mare with other embryo donor mares (n = 31-39 per breeding season) at the same stud. For both cloned mares, 19 embryos were recovered by 43 collection attempts (44%) (7/22 for one; 12/21 for the other), 16 (84%) pr...
Nursing Theory Informs Dressage. Application of nursing theory in daily life by applying elements of Parse's paradigm allowed for a more expansive view of the dressage experience by focusing on the paradox of visible-invisible in the unique rhythmic-patterns of the horse-rider team. The study of classical nursing theory has diminished in a similar pattern as classical dressage. The importance of studying the classics in any field is emphasized along with concerns about the future of nursing and healthcare.
Effect of Different Blanket Weights on Surface Temperature of Horses in Cold Climates. The objective of this study was to examine changes in surface temperature of blanketed horses during cold weather. Four mature stock-type horses were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Treatments included 3 different blanket weights (based on g of fiberfill): light weight (LW; 0 g), medium weight (MW; 200 g), heavy weight (HW; 400 g), and a nonblanketed control (CON). Thermographic images were obtained from a standardized lumbar location before blanketing and immediately after cold exposure. During cold exposure, horses were outside with ad libitum access to grass hay and water for 1 h...
Age-related changes of tendon fibril micro-morphology and gene expression. Aging is hypothesized to be associated with changes in tendon matrix composition which may lead to alteration of tendon material properties and hence propensity to injury. Altered gene expression may offer insights into disease pathophysiology and thus open new perspectives toward designing pathophysiology-driven therapeutics. Therefore, the current study aimed at identifying naturally occurring differences in tendon micro-morphology and gene expression of newborn, young and old horses. Age-related differences in the distribution pattern of tendon fibril thickness and in the expression of the ...
Effects of Epinephrine, Detomidine, and Butorphanol on Assessments of Insulin Sensitivity in Mares. Sympathoadrenal stimulation may perturb results of endocrine tests performed on fractious horses. Sedation may be beneficial; however, perturbation of results may preclude useful information. Four experiments were designed to 1) determine the effects of epinephrine on insulin response to glucose (IR2G), 2) assess the effects of detomidine (DET), alone or combined with butorphanol (DET/BUT), on IR2G and glucose response to insulin (GR2I), and 3) assess the effects of BUT alone on IR2G. In Experiment 1, mares were administered saline or epinephrine (5 μg/kg BW) immediately before infusion of gl...
Horse Welfare During Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin (eCG) Production. Collection of blood from pregnant mares for extraction of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) is a critical but relatively unknown and poorly regulated practice in the countries in which it occurs. Equine chorionic gonadotropin is a hormone that is widely used to enhance reproductive performance and management of dairy and beef cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs kept under intensive housing systems. eCG is extracted from the blood of brood mares between days 40-120 of gestation. Although alternatives have been sought, there is currently no efficacious replacement, natural or synthetic, for eCG. Re...
Genomic Divergence in Swedish Warmblood Horses Selected for Equestrian Disciplines. The equestrian sport horse Swedish Warmblood (SWB) originates from versatile cavalry horses. Most modern SWB breeders have specialized their breeding either towards show jumping or dressage disciplines. The aim of this study was to explore the genomic structure of SWB horses to evaluate the presence of genomic subpopulations, and to search for signatures of selection in subgroups of SWB with high or low breeding values (EBVs) for show jumping. We analyzed high density genotype information from 380 SWB horses born in the period 2010-2011, and used Principal Coordinates Analysis and Discriminant...
Local origin or external input: modern horse origin in East Asia. Despite decades of research, the horse domestication scenario in East Asia remains poorly understood. The study identified 16 haplogroups with fine-scale phylogenetic resolution using mitochondrial genomes of 317 horse samples. The time to the most recent common ancestor of the 16 haplogroups ranges from [0.8-3.1] thousand years ago (KYA) to [7.9-27.1] KYA. With combined analyses of the mitochondrial control region for 35 extant Przewalski's horses, 3544 modern and 203 ancient horses across the world, researchers provide evidence for that East Asian prevalent haplogroups Q and R were indigenou...
Assessing equine embryo developmental competency by time-lapse image analysis. The timing of early mitotic events during preimplantation embryo development is important for subsequent embryogenesis in many mammalian species, including mouse and human, but, to date, no study has closely examined mitotic timing in equine embryos from oocytes obtained by ovum pick-up. Here, cumulus-oocyte complexes were collected by transvaginal follicular aspiration, matured invitro and fertilised via intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Each fertilised oocyte was cultured up to the blastocyst stage and monitored by time-lapse imaging for the measurement of cell cycle intervals and identifica...
Species-specific consequences of an E40K missense mutation in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1). A glutamic acid to lysine (E40K) residue substitution in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) is associated with canine degenerative myelopathy: the only naturally occurring large animal model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The E40 residue is highly conserved across mammals, except the horse, which naturally carries the (dog mutant) K40 residue. Here we hypothesized that in vitro expression of mutant dog SOD1 would recapitulate features of human ALS (ie, SOD1 protein aggregation, reduced cell viability, perturbations in mitochondrial morphology and membrane potential, reduced ATP production,...
Animal industry and veterinary science in eastern New Guinea 1: before World War II. Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, there were no domestic animals other than pigs, dogs and poultry in the island of New Guinea. From 1889 onwards, occupying authorities, missionaries and settlers from Germany, the UK, Japan and Australia imported ruminants, pigs and horses. Some of these importations were from Asia. This paper describes some outcomes of those importations and the potential hazards for Australia entailed in them.
Effect of Fatigue on Equine Metacarpophalangeal Joint Kinematics-A Single Horse Pilot Study. The objective was to validate a scientific method for characterizing equine metacarpophalangeal joint (MCPJ) motion in the nonfatigued and fatigued states using a single horse at trot, slow canter, and fast canter. One healthy Thoroughbred gelding exercised on a treadmill to exhaustion (fatigued state) (heart rate >190 BPM and blood lactate >10 mmol/L) while bilateral MCPJ angular data were acquired using electrogoniometry. Blood lactate and heart rate reflected transition from nonfatigued to fatigued states with increasing exercise duration and treadmill speed. Electrogoniometry consis...
Plasma steroid profiles before and after ACTH stimulation test in healthy horses. This study describes steroid profiles in equine plasma before and after ACTH stimulation. In human medicine, other steroids have been shown to have a more pronounced reaction to an ACTH stimulation test than cortisol. This study aimed to determine if the same was true for the horse. A total of 11 clinically healthy horses were selected for this study. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid plasma samples were taken before and 60 min after stimulation with 1 μg/kg BW of synthetic ACTH administered intravenously. The samples were analyzed for cortisol, 11-deoxycortisol, 21-deoxycortisol, cortisone, ...
Changes in Hoof Shape During a Seven-Week Period When Horses Were Shod Versus Barefoot. This crossover study tested the hypothesis that hoof shape would differ after a seven-week period of horses ( = 11) wearing shoes versus barefoot. An ANOVA appropriate to a crossover design was used to assess the differences in the change in hoof shape over the seven-week period and significance was set at < 0.05. Results are displayed as the mean difference for horses when shod versus barefoot ± the SEM for the left (L) and right (R) front hooves. Proximal hoof circumference (PHC) decreased when horses were shod and barefoot, but this decrease was greater when horses were shod (L -0.65 ...
Radio-Telemetric Assessment of Cardiac Variables and Locomotion With Experimentally Induced Hypermagnesemia in Horses Using Chronically Implanted Catheters. The objective of this study was to characterize the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intravenous administration of magnesium sulfate to horses using a novel radio-telemetry system for physiologic signal capture. Five Horses were surgically implanted with a radio-telemetric carotid catheter. Implants were paired with a non-invasive telemetric unit which acquired a six lead ECG and 3-axis acceleration to assess activity acquired wirelessly in real-time for future analysis. Horses were exposed to a new stall environment before (baseline) and after 60 mg/kg (30 mL) of magnesium sulfate (Mg...
Changes of sires in a breeding farm enables maintenance of DNA-level genetic variation in a produced herd of Hokkaido Native Horses. We investigated whether regular changes of the sire in a breeding farm of Hokkaido Native Horses (HKDs) enables the DNA-level genetic variation of the produced animals to be maintained. The genotypes of 31 microsatellite markers were identified and analyzed in 207 animals produced in a breeding farm in which the sire was replaced every 3 to 5 years. The mean allele number indicating the degree of genetic variation was 5.97 and was similar to those reported previously. The mean observed heterozygosity was 0.74 and was higher than the expected heterozygosity, 0.69; F was -0.07, indicating that ...
Comparison of the Chondrogenic Potential of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Derived from Bone Marrow and Umbilical Cord Blood Intended for Cartilage Tissue Engineering. Osteoarthritis (OA) remains incurable in humans or horses and mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) represent an attractive solution for producing a neocartilage substitute. However, the best MSC source still needs to be identified. This study compared the chondrogenic potential of equine MSCs derived from bone marrow (BM) and umbilical cord blood (UCB), at their undifferentiated status to check if one cell source is better proned, and after chondrogenic-induced differentiation. Chondrogenesis was induced by culture in collagen scaffold with BMP-2 + TGF-ß1 in hypoxia or normoxia. MSCs cho...
Intraoperative nociception-antinociception monitors: A review from the veterinary perspective. To review monitors currently available for the assessment of nociception-antinociception in veterinary medicine. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The results were initially filtered manually based on the title and the abstract. Conclusions: The provision of adequate antinociception is difficult to achieve in veterinary anaesthesia. Currently, heart rate and arterial blood pressure are used to monitor the response to a noxious stimulus during anaesthesia, with minimum alveolar concentration-sparing effect and stress-related hormones used for this purpose in research studies. ...
Clock Genes Expression in Peripheral Leukocytes and Plasma Melatonin Daily Rhythm in Horses. In mammals, behavioral and physiological processes display 24-hour rhythms that are regulated by the circadian system. In the present study, we investigated clock gene expression in peripheral leukocytes in horses. For this purpose, 10 Italian Saddle gelding horses (9-11 years old; 475 ± 28 Kg) were housed in individual boxes under natural photoperiod and natural environmental temperature. Blood samples were collected at 4-hour intervals over a 48-hour period. The day before the start of sampling, left jugular furrow of each horse was cannulated for the blood sample collection performed in ...
Rare Finding of a Full Nuchal Ligament Lamellae With Attachment Points From C2-C7 in One Australian Stock Horse. For over 200 years, equine anatomic literature has chiefly portrayed the attachment points of the nuchal ligament lamellae (NLL) from the second to the seventh cervical vertebrae (C2-C7). However, recent studies have shown that the modern domestic horse, Equus caballus, primarily exhibits the attachments points from C2-C5. Here we present the rare finding of a complete NLL attached from C2-C7 in one Australian Stock Horse (ASH) and discuss the potential implications of these findings. Previously, this trait has only been confirmed among close descendants of Equus ferus ferus; namely the primi...
Effect of social organisation on interspecific differences in overmarking behaviour of foals in African equids. Overmarking remains an unstudied topic in juvenile mammals. We have previously documented a very high rate of overmarking by foals in four captive African equid species: mountain zebra (Equus zebra), plains zebra (Equus quagga), Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi), and African wild ass (Equus africanus). African equids vary interspecifically in their social organisation. Since differences in social organisation affect many mammalian behaviours, in this study we investigated interspecific differences in overmarking behaviour of foals, analysing only cases where elimination of any other individual was...
Effects of Horse Housing System on Energy Balance during Post-Exercise Recovery. This study examined the effects of two housing systems (free-range and box stalls) on recovery of energy balance after competition-like exercise in Standardbred horses. Eight adult geldings (mean age 11 years) were used. The study had a change-over design, with the box stall (BOX) and free-range group housing (FreeR) treatments each run for 21 days. The horses were fed forage ad libitum and performed two similar race-like exercise tests (ET), on day 7 and day 14 in each treatment. Forage intake was recorded during the last 6-7 days in each period. Blood samples were collected before, during, a...
Genetic and Environmental Factors Influencing Gestation Length in Lusitano Horses. Breeding and parturition records collected over a period of 35 years in the Alter Real stud of Lusitano horses were used to calculate gestation length (GL). The 1027 gestations by 209 mares mated to 60 stallions had a mean GL of 338.1 ± 9.26 days. The mixed model analysis of variance indicated that the sex of the foal and inbreeding of the dam and foal had no significant effect on GL (P > .05). On the other hand, GL increased linearly with mare age, with an estimated regression coefficient of 0.155 ± 0.069 days/year (P < .05). Year and conception month affected GL (P < .05), with longer g...
Phosphorus excretion by mares post-lactation. Across the equine literature, estimates of true P digestibility range from -23% to 79%. This large range cannot be explained by differences in P intake or phytate-P intake alone. However, differences in endogenous P secretion into the GI tract may explain the variation. In horses, excess absorbed P is not excreted in the urine but is re-secreted into the GI tract, increasing faecal P and leading to estimates of low P digestibility. Thus, accurate estimates of P digestibility can only be obtained if absorbed P is retained in the horse. The objective of this study was to examine P digestibility ...
Transfer of MicroRNAs From Epididymal Epithelium to Equine Spermatozoa. All epididymal regions are lined with multiple epithelial cell types, each with different functions to provide the luminal environment for spermatozoal maturation. Epithelial cells also create apical blebs, which are released from the apical surface via apocrine secretion and disintegrate in the lumen, thereby releasing epididymosomes. Epididymosomes transport proteins to spermatozoa and contain microRNAs. We hypothesized that epididymosomes also transfer miRNA from epididymal epithelium to spermatozoa. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to determine miRNA profiles of ep...
A Population Census of Large Herbivores Based on UAV and Its Effects on Grazing Pressure in the Yellow-River-Source National Park, China. Using the Yellow-River-Source National Park (YRSNP) as a study site, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing and line transect method was used to investigate the number of wild herbivorous animals and livestock, including the kiang () and Tibetan gazelle (). A downscaling algorithm was used to generate the forage yield data in YRSNP based on a 30-m spatial resolution. On this basis, we estimated the forage-livestock balance, which included both wild animals and livestock, and analyzed the effects of functional zone planning in national parks on the forage-livestock balance in YRSNP. Th...
A Botanical-Based Equine Nutraceutical Reduces Gastric Smooth Muscle Contractile Force In Vitro. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a botanical-based equine nutraceutical on contractility of gastric smooth muscle in vitro. Gastric ulcers are prevalent in performance horses and negatively impact horse welfare. Gastric hypermotility has been positively associated with the development of gastric ulceration in nonequine species, and reduction of hypermotility may be protective against their development. Stomachs from 12 pigs processed for food at a provincially inspected abattoir were collected within 1 hour of slaughter. Explants of nonglandular gastric tissue were p...
