Topic:Climate
The topic of climate and horses explores the interactions between environmental conditions and equine health, behavior, and performance. Climate factors, including temperature, humidity, and precipitation, can influence various aspects of horse physiology and management. Research in this area investigates how different climate conditions affect horses' thermoregulation, hydration, and susceptibility to heat stress or cold-related issues. Additionally, studies examine the impact of climate on pasture quality, availability of feed resources, and the prevalence of climate-sensitive diseases. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that analyze the effects of climate on horses, focusing on adaptation strategies, welfare considerations, and implications for equine management practices.
Observations on equine strongyle control in southern temperate USA. A program of rotational anthelmintic treatments at eight-week intervals had failed to provide satisfactory equine strongyle control at a stable in southern USA. Anthelmintic resistance had rendered benzimidazoles ineffective, and intervals between treatments with other drugs were too great to prevent environmental contamination with ova. Ivermectin treatments at eight week intervals or pyrantel pamoate treatments at four week intervals successfully reduced egg counts for the majority of the summer grazing period. In southern temperate USA, translation of strongyle ova to larvae was most effici...
Development and survival of free-living stages of equine strongyles under laboratory conditions. In a series of laboratory studies the optimum conditions for the development and survival of the free-living stages of strongyle parasites occurring in horses in tropical north Queensland were determined. No differences in behaviour were noted between the strongyle species. Development to the infective stage occurred only between 10 and 35 degrees C. The rate was affected by temperature, taking 15-24 days and 3 days, respectively, at the lowest and highest temperatures for the developing stages to reach the infective third stage. Yields of infective larvae were very low outside the range 20-33...
Epidemiology and control of parasites in warm climates. The kind of parasites a horse acquires depends upon its environment. Because patterns of transmission vary greatly with climate and management, no one worming program has universal applications. This article discusses epidemiology and control of equine parasites in the southern United States, where climates vary from warm temperate to subtropical and from humid in the southeast to arid in the southwest.
Strongylid parasites of horses: experimental ecology of the free-living stages on the Canadian prairie. Each month for a 1-year period (October through September), equine fecal masses containing eggs of strongylid nematodes were placed outdoors on small grass plots in Saskatchewan, Canada. Thereafter, feces and grass from the plots were sampled after intervals of 1 week or longer, and the strongylid eggs and larvae recovered were counted. These observations were made over a 2-year period. Development of eggs to infective larvae occurred in all experiments, except those established in October, December, and January. Infective larvae from experiments set up in April through September survived that...
Seasonal changes in pasture infectivity by equine cyathostomes in north central Florida. ALTHOUGH the seasonal transmission of equine cyathostomes is well documented in cool climates (Ogbourne 1978),
less is known about their transmission in warm climates.
Australian studies have suggested that these parasites do not
survive well during the long, hot summers of the humid
subtropics (English 1979a.b). Development of egg to third
stage larva (L3) was rapid during the summer but the
percentage of larvae that survived to ascend herbage was very
low. In contrast, larvae survived for longer periods during the
cooler months and the highest L3 populations were observed
during spr...
Equine anhidrosis: a review of pathophysiologic mechanisms. Anhidrosis is loss of the ability to sweat. The problem is seen in horses kept in a hot humid climate, and it may cause severe impairment of thermoregulation in the equine athlete. British Thoroughbreds imported to her tropical colonies are the earliest recorded cases, and since then the syndrome has come to be described as one of Thoroughbreds, usually performance athletes, undergoing acclimatization to heat and humidity. A recent epidemiologic study of cases in Florida has shown, however, that many different breeds, and long time inhabitants of a hot climate, may be affected. Equine sweat gl...
Ecology and catastrophic mortality in wild horses: implications for interpreting fossil assemblages. The identities, sexes, and reproductive status of groups of wild horses (Equus caballus) living in the Great Basin Desert of North America were known prior to their deaths on ridgelines. Another group of very young horses died on a quagmire. Snow accumulation or drought was apparently responsible for the mass deaths. These data have implications for reconstructing some aspects of the social structure of fossil mammals on the basis of skewed sex or age ratios in bone assemblages.
Prevalence of leptospiral titres in normal horses. Serum samples were collected from 479 clinically normal horses from 11 different locations in Queensland. Using a microscopic agglutination test, 157 serums (33%) reacted to one or more serovars of Leptospira interrogans at a minimum serum dilution of 1/30. The prevalences of reactors among all horses to the serovars tested were pomona 30.5% icterohaemorrhagiae 23.9%, tarassovi 18.8%, hardjo 12.2%, canicola 8.6%, grippotyphosa 3.6%, and australis 2%. There was a significantly higher prevalence of reactors in tropical areas than in sub-tropical areas, but no difference in prevalence between coa...
A survey of granulomatous and neoplastic diseases of equine skin in north Queensland. A survey of granulomatous and neoplastic diseases of the skin of horses of tropical north Queensland was carried out during the period 1970-1980. Of 338 horses affected, 46.4% suffered from equine fibrosarcoma (sarcoid), 30.2% from phycomycosis, 7.4% from squamous cell carcinoma, 6.8% from other tumours, 4.7% from cutaneous habronemiasis and 4.4% from exuberant granulation tissue. Most specimens were submitted during the first half of the year after the wet monsoonal season and significantly more diseases originated during the first quarter. There was minor variations with breed, age and sex s...
Ovarian activity in the mare between latitude 15 degrees and 22 degrees N. Ovarian activity, as measured by the presence of small (10-15 mm diam.), medium (15-30 mm) and large (greater than 30 mm) follicles, corpora haemorrhagica and corpora lutea (CL), was determined in a total of 3584 ovaries during 1 year using post-mortem specimens. There were significant correlations of the incidence of ovulated follicles (ovulations), large and medium follicles (P less than 0 . 001) and of the mean number of small follicles (P less than 0 . 05) per mare with respect to season. The yearly averages of ovulated, large and medium follicles were 30 . 1, 13 . 9 and 73 . 9%, respectiv...
[Seasonal changes in spermatozoas and fertility of stallions in the tropics]. An attempt was made to express the relationship of spermiological characteristics with the fertility on the basis of seasonal variability of the fertility of stallions and of the ejaculate quality. A positive correlation between the activity of spermatozoa and the fertility ensues from the values of correlation coefficients. There is a negative correlation between the fertility and the concentration of citric acid. In the other characteristics, i.e. in the production of spermatozoa, volume of gel substance, pH, ergothioneine concentration, polarographic and hemolytic activity, the correlation ...
[Various indices of microclimate in the newly built and re-adapted stables for race horses]. A study was performed to examine microclimate in 14 stables belonging to 10 horsemen's teams and clubs; five of these houses were new-built. In five race-horse stables housing 16 horses each, on an average, where the optimum air temperature ranged from 10 degrees C to 12 degrees C, measurements and examinations were performed in the winter period and the following results were obtained: space per 1 horse housed 42.9 plus or minus 8.7 m-3, relative air humidity 74.3 plus or minus 3.8%, CO2 concentration 0.175 plus or minus 0.027%, NH3 concentration 0.00135 plus or minus 0.00044%. A large majori...