Equine diseases encompass a wide range of health conditions that can affect horses, including infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and genetic conditions. These diseases can impact the overall health, performance, and well-being of horses. Common equine diseases include equine influenza, equine herpesvirus, laminitis, and equine metabolic syndrome. Diagnosis and management of these diseases often require a combination of clinical evaluation, laboratory testing, and appropriate treatment strategies. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment options for various equine diseases, providing valuable insights for veterinarians and researchers in the field.
AbouEl Ela NH, El Araby IE, Saleh AA, Abd El-Fattah AH, Hagag NM, Brooks SA, Radwan MA, Kalbfleisch T.Lavender foal syndrome (LFS) is a fatal hereditary condition that is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. This detrimental mutation is more common in Arabian foals of Egyptian origin than foals from other bloodlines. Heterozygous horses are carriers of the LFS trait and appear normal, while recessive homozygous foals died shortly after birth due to serious complications. In Egypt, in 2014, an Egyptian foal died after manifestations of neurological signs and abnormal coat colour as LFS signs. Therefore, it is important to identify LFS carriers in the population of Arabian horses in Egyp...
Markel MD, Wheat JD, Jang SS.Nine Thoroughbred racehorses were admitted with cellulitis (of one or more limbs) associated with coagulase-positive staphylococci. The right hindlimb was affected in 4 horses, the right forelimb in 2, the left hindlimb in 1, and both hindlimbs in 2. Typical abnormalities included high values for rectal temperature (9 horses) and heart rate (5 horses), hyperfibrinogenemia (7 horses), leukocytosis (7 horses), and neutrophilia (6 horses). The staphylococcal isolants were speciated in 3 horses and classified as Staphylococcus aureus. Complications included skin loss (5 horses), laminitis of the a...
Gabel AA.During 1975 and 1976, 70 Standardbred horses with cunean bursitis-tarsitis were treated by cunean tenectomy or by more conservative approaches (rested, given corticosteroid injections in the cunean bursa and distal hock articulations, given an oral course of phenylbutazone, a combination of these) or were sold. In 1975, owners were urged to have cunean tenectomy done to horses that appeared to have potential to race well, and in 1976, the more conservative methods of management and treatment were recommended. Statistical analysis of racing performance data led to the conclusion that there was ...
May SA, Hooke RE, Lees P.The presence, in equine synovial fluid, of inhibitors of interleukin-1 (IL-1) activity has been investigated by means of an assay involving IL-1-mediated production of PGE2 by synovial cells. Inhibitors of IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta were identified in normal synovial fluid and synovial fluid from two horses with early joint disease. Inhibitors of IL-1 alpha were also present in synovial fluid from two horses with long-standing joint disease. However, IL-1 beta inhibitory activity was not present in fluid from the horses with more chronic joint disease. The effect appeared to be specific for IL-1...
Pihl TH, Jacobsen S, Olsen DT, Højrup P, Grosche A, Freeman DE, Andersen PH, Houen G.OBJECTIVE To purify and characterize equine vitamin D-binding protein (VDBP) from equine serum and to evaluate plasma concentrations of VDBP in healthy horses and horses with gastrointestinal injury or disease. ANIMALS 13 healthy laboratory animals (8 mice and 5 rabbits), 61 healthy horses, 12 horses with experimentally induced intestinal ischemia and reperfusion (IR), and 59 horses with acute gastrointestinal diseases. PROCEDURES VDBP was purified from serum of 2 healthy horses, and recombinant equine VDBP was obtained through a commercial service. Equine VDBP was characterized by mass spectr...
Rapisarda G, Marino F, Ferrara G, Gioffrè F, Galofaro V.Here we present a case of preputial benign fibrous histiocytoma in a 7-year-old mule. This case was treated surgically. Pathologic analysis and diagnosis of these lesions were based on a combination of light microscopy and immunohistochemistry. Histologically, the tumour was composed primarily of a storiform pattern of fibroblastic and poligonal cells. In immunohistochemistry, except for consistent immunoreactivity for vimentin, nearly all tumour cells were positive for CD68, S-100 protein, pan-cytokeratin, alpha-smooth muscle actin, and desmin. Benign fibrous histiocytoma of the prepuce in mu...
Gu X, Meleka-Boules M, Chen CL.A capillary electrophoresis technique was developed for the separation of synthetic glucocorticoids and the determination of dexamethasone and flumethasone in horse urine. Pretreatment of the sample using a dexamethasone affinity column resulted in low background that enabled the authors to detect levels as low as 1.1 ng/mL and 2.7 ng/mL for dexamethasone and flumethasone in horse urine, respectively. The developed method was used to detect dexamethasone in horse urine samples after the injection of a therapeutic dose of dexamethasone for up to 12 hr postinjection. The optimum conditions for c...
Woods AC, Chesney AM.A filterable agent has been obtained from the humors and tissues of the eyes of horses suffering from active periodic ophthalmia. The intra-vitreous injection of this filtrate produced in normal horses the same clinical and pathological picture observed in the natural disease. This filtrate injected into rabbits produced a different clinical picture, but the essential pathological lesions closely resembled those found in horses. After passage of the filterable agent through six generations of rabbits, it again produced the clinical and pathological picture of the natural disease when injected ...
Joonè CJ, Schulman ML, Fosgate GT, Plagis TA, Crafford JE, Gupta SK, Bertschinger HJ.Few studies have investigated the cell mediated immune response during zona pellucida-based immunocontraception, despite hypothesized cytotoxic T-cell involvement in ovarian dysfunction associated with these vaccines. This study aimed to investigate antigen-specific anamnestic responses of helper (CD4) and cytotoxic (CD8) T-lymphocytes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) isolated from pony mares before and after their treatment with native porcine zona pellucida (pZP), recombinant pZP3 and pZP4 antigens (reZP) or adjuvanted saline. Mares were randomly assigned to pZP, reZP and control...
Klingeborn B.Twelve mares were vaccinated with attenuated equine abortion virus (EAV) strain RAC-H. Two nonvaccinated mares served as controls. In at least three mares the vaccination appeared to coincide with a natural infection. This was indicated by characterization of the EAV isolated from nasal secretions of six vaccinated mares, a nonvaccinated control, and also from the lung, spleen, and liver of a fetus aborted by a vaccinated mare. The relative sensitivity of the isolated EAV to dithiothreitol was used to distinguish the RAC-H strain and wild-type virus. Of the 10 EAV isolates, four were recognize...
McLean NL, McGilchrist N, Nielsen BD.Racehorses are often supplemented extra iron with the expectation that the iron will improve overall performance and health. A survey of 120 U.S. Thoroughbred trainers, representing 1978 Thoroughbreds from various regions of the U.S., was conducted to determine the average amount of dietary iron fed to Thoroughbred racehorses per day. Survey results indicated racehorses were fed an average of 3900 mg of iron per day from hay and grain alone. This exceeds the 0.8 mg/kg BW or 400 mg for a 500 kg working horse that the NRC 2007 recommends per day. Supplements increased the daily average intake of...
Kamerling SG, Hamra JG, Bagwell CA.Endogenous opioid peptides have been implicated in the regulation of pain perception, behaviour, gastrointestinal activity and other physiological responses. However, the functional role of these peptides in the horse has yet to be elucidated. The opioid antagonist, naloxone, is often administered to infer endogenous opioid effects. In the present study, naloxone (0.75 mg/kg bodyweight) was administered to eight Thoroughbred racehorses and a number of behavioural and autonomic responses were measured. Naloxone produced rapid onset diarrhoea, restlessness, abdominal checking, tachycardia, tachy...
Acland HM, Allen PZ, Kenney RM.Twenty-three of 24 mares were infected experimentally with contagious equine metritis organisms by intrauterine inoculation, and killed 2-116 days later. From mares killed within 14 days after infection the organism could be recovered from many sites in the uterus, and most sites in the cervix, a few sites in the vagina and oviduct and from one clitoral sinus. At this time the endometrial folds were swollen and there were 10-20 ml of fluid in the uterus. In mares killed after 14 days, the organism was recovered from the ovarian surface (1 mare), oviduct (4 mares), uterus (2 mares) and the clit...
Morel MC, Newcombe JR, Reynolds N.The mare's reproductive system is rarely capable of sustaining multiple pregnancies to term. Multiple pregnancies largely derive from multiple ovulations, most commonly double ovulations, hence, double ovulations are of significant concern to breeders/veterinarians. Double ovulations may be synchronous or asynchronous. Asynchrony of up to 96 hours may result in two embryonic vesicles of very different sizes, which are challenging to detect at early ultrasonic pregnancy detection. This study aims to (1) document the incidence of synchronous and asynchronous double ovulation and (2) determine ...
Gastal GDA, Scarlet D, Melchert M, Ertl R, Aurich C.In embryos subjected to assisted reproductive techniques, epigenetic modifications may occur that can influence embryonic development and the establishment of pregnancy. In horses, the storage temperature during transport of fresh embryos before transfer is a major concern. The aim of this study was, therefore, to determine the effects of two storage temperatures (5 °C and 20 °C) on equine embryos, collected at day seven after ovulation and stored for 24 h, on: (i) morphological development; (ii) expression of candidate genes associated with embryo growth and development, maternal recognitio...
Lord CC, Woolhouse ME, Mellor PS.Factors affecting epidemics of African horse sickness in Spain were studied using a mathematical model. The model examined the likelihood of an epidemic after the introduction of the virus, and the effectiveness of vaccination strategies. Two host species (horses and donkeys) and one vector species (the biting midge Culicoides imicola) were included. A stratified random sampling method (Latin hypercube sampling) was used for sensitivity analysis of the likelihood of an epidemic. Systematic variation of vaccination parameters was used to consider alternative control strategies. In general, when...
Velásquez J, da Silva LLC, Miglino MA.There are many challenges in teaching veterinary anatomy, such as available classroom time, costs, and difficulties accessing animal cadavers, mainly due to animal welfare concerns. Furthermore, veterinary surgeons and radiologists complain that recent graduates lack anatomical knowledge. On the other hand, the current limitations of face-to-face teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic suggest that the development of online distance education tools is necessary, mainly in specialties that lack this type of material. Teaching platforms promoting the integration of anatomy with other applied disci...
Kaneene JB, Miller R, Ross W, Gilbert L.Data from two 12 month prospective monitoring programs that followed management, economics and animal health from randomly-sampled equine operations in Michigan were used to determine patterns of health maintenance. Health maintenance measures were grouped, and average uses per year were computed for the most-common measures reported: respiratory, Potomac Horse Fever, neurological and multiple-system vaccinations, deworming, and general farrier work. Factors examined for potential association with health maintenance measure use were numbers of equids and horse-days on the operation, average ag...
Yamada K, Araki M, Tokushige H, Fujiki R, Sakai S, Tateno O, Mashita S, Kusano K.Equine scintigraphy has been legally permitted in Japan since 2009; however, it has not yet been a routine modality for horses. One reason is the legal regulations concerning the disposal of contaminated bedding. However, overseas, the bedding after scintigraphy can be disposed following radioactivity decay, but this is not allowed in Japan. Therefore, beddings are required to stored permanently in a controlled area, implying that large amounts of beddings such as straw would be kept untreated, which is quite unpractical. This may cause a hospital owner to hesitate to construct an equine scint...
Carstanjen B, Amory H, Youssao I, Remy B.The purpose of this study was to validate an equine-specific osteocalcin (OC) radioimmunoassay (RIA) for use in donkeys and to establish age-related changes in serum OC concentrations in healthy donkeys. Serial dilutions of donkey serum showed parallelism with standard curves obtained with the equine-specific OC RIA. There was a tight linear regression between donkey serum OC values obtained with the equine specific OC RIA and a commercially available bovine-specific OC RIA. Serum OC levels of 27 healthy donkeys, analysed with the equine-specific OC RIA, showed a tight negative logarithmic reg...
Meijer P.Two cases of tetany in the horse are reported. The two patients were thoroughbreds. One was eight and the other thirteen years old. The mares were in heat and were brought to the service (stud) station to be mated. Both patients were nursing a foal. One was a four-week-old foal and the other was seven weeks old. The calcium level of the serum had dropped in the two patients, to 4.0 mg and 5.4 per ml. respectively. The magnesium level was 1.0 mg and 1.9 mg per 100 ml. respectively. The animals responded satisfactorily to intravenous infusion of calcium borogluconate and magnesium chloride. One ...
Hago BE, Vaughan LC, Plummer JM.A transmission electron microscope study was undertaken to investigate the details of the synovial tendon sheath and bursal lining in horses. The lining cells appeared to be fibroblasts and were buried in a finely granular ground substance. Generally these cells had poor cytoplasmic organelles, sparse short profiles of rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER), few scattered ribosomes and, occasionally, a poorly developed Golgi complex. However, a few lining cells appeared more active, having pronounced RER with dilated cisternane. The surface of the lining cells, particularly those with dilated RER, ...
Nollet H, Deprez P.Since riders nowadays are expecting the highest level of performance from their horses, muscular disorders therefore represent a major problem for the equine athlete. A lot of research has been done to identify muscular disorders and their etiopathogenesis. Both acquired and inherited forms of muscle diseases have been described. In this review only the latter forms will be mentioned. Major signs of all muscle disorders are muscular stiffness, cramping or pain, muscular fasciculations, muscular atrophy and exercise intolerance. Muscle biopsies can help to identify the cause of rhabdomyolysis o...
Bristol DG, Cullen J.An inverting, triangulated, stapled, end-to-end anastomosis technique was evaluated in the jejunum of four horses. None of the horses showed evidence of gastrointestinal disturbance after surgery; however, stricture and adhesion formation were pronounced in three animals examined 10 days, one month, and two months after surgery. The animal examined four months after surgery had no adhesions present at the anastomosis, and only mild narrowing of the intestinal lumen. Histologic examination of the anastomoses showed lack of a normal mucosal lining in some examined sections up to two months posts...
Brewer K, Machin J, Maylin G, Fenger C, Morales-Briceño A, Tobin T.Gabapentin, 1-(Aminomethyl)cyclohexaneacetic acid, MW 171.240, is a frequently prescribed high dose human medication that is also used recreationally. Gabapentin is orally absorbed; the dose can be 3,000 mg/day and it is excreted essentially unchanged in urine. Gabapentin is stable in the environment and routinely detected in urban wastewater. Gabapentin randomly transfers from humans to racing horses and is at times detected at pharmacologically ineffective / trace level concentrations in equine plasma and urine. In Ohio racing between January 2019 and July 2020,18 Gabapentin identifications...
Lean NE, Franklin SH, Steel C, Woolford L, White J, Ahern BJ.Little is known about potential differences in the left recurrent laryngeal nerve (Lrln) and left cricoarytenoideus dorsalis (LCAD) muscle between domestic and feral horse populations. If a difference exists, feral horses may provide a useful control population for research related to recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) and increase our understanding of potential population pressures influencing the incidence RLN. The objective of this study was to compare the Lrln and LCAD of domestic and feral horses using histological and immunohistochemical techniques (IHC). Sixteen horses, domestic (n = ...
Carrier SP, Boulanger P, Bannister GL.The comparative values of the direct, the indirect complement-fixation and the agar-gel immunodiffusion tests were assessed for the diagnosis of equine infectious anemia. Antibodies were detected on the agar-gel immunodiffusion test as early as 18 days post-inoculation in the serums of experimentally infected horses and were readily detectable in all the subsequent bleedings. Complement-fixing antibodies, demonstrable by the direct method, were detected commencing about the same time. However, these were not long-lasting and were replaced by the non-complement-fixing antibodies demonstrable by...
Júnior ÂMCA, da Silva AH, Bastos FL, Seidner JT, Filho LAJM, Faleiros RR, Gobesso AAO.This study evaluated the incidence of gastritis in foals subjected to different weaning management methods. Sixteen crossbreed foals [230 ± 35 kg], were enrolled in an experiment with a randomized block design. After weaning, foals were housed in either individual pens or a group pen. Gastritis in the foals was evaluated through gastroscopy. Data were submitted to analysis of variance by the non-parametric Friedman test at 0.05 significance level. Before weaning, gastritis was observed in 87.5% of the foals, and the scores for the number of gastric lesions were 2.10 and 1.56 for foals housed ...
Kelley LC, Hill JE, Hafner S, Wortham KJ.Spontaneous equine pulmonary granular cell tumors were diagnosed in six mature horses at slaughter. These tumors were grossly recognized as multiple (5/6) or single (1/6) creamy white, firm nodules. The tumors, located adjacent to bronchi and bronchioles, often invaded airways, resulting in partial to complete occlusion of the lumina. Neoplastic cells were rounded to polyhedral with numerous eosinophilic cytoplasmic granules that reacted uniformly positive with S-100 and neuron-specific enolase antibodies and multifocally with glial fibrillary acidic protein antibodies. These cells were negati...
Soma LR, Uboh CE, Rudy JA, Smith MS.To examine, in horses, the disposition and excretion of the active metabolite 6-methoxy-2-naphthylacetic acid (6MNA) of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory prodrug nabumetone. Methods: Pharmacokinetic analysis of 6MNA after oral administration of nabumetone and IV administration of 6MNA. Methods: Using a crossover design, 5 horses were orally administered 3.7 mg of nabumetone/kg of body weight. After a 3-week washout period, 4 horses were administered 2.5 mg of 6MNA/kg, IV. Results: Absorption of nabumetone from the gastrointestinal tract and its metabolism to 6MNA had a median appearance half-...
