Equine health encompasses the study and management of diseases, disorders, and overall well-being of horses. It involves understanding various physiological systems, preventive care, and treatment strategies to maintain optimal health in equine populations. Common areas of focus include nutrition, infectious diseases, orthopedic conditions, and reproductive health. Research in equine health aims to advance knowledge on diagnostic methods, therapeutic interventions, and management practices that improve horse welfare and performance. This page collects peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse aspects of equine health, offering insights into current findings and advancements in the field.
Harris RC, Marlin DJ, Snow DH.To define the metabolic response to maximal exercise in the thoroughbred horse under field conditions, muscle biopsies and venous blood samples were taken from five horses after a single 800-m gallop and from four horses after a single 2,000-m gallop. Muscle and blood samples were also collected during 60 min of recovery. After exercise muscle ATP contents were decreased by 30 +/- 7 (SD) and 47 +/- 3% after the 800- and 2,000-m gallops, respectively. As indicators of purine catabolism, ammonia and uric acid increased in plasma, the accumulation being greater after the 2,000-m gallop. Blood amm...
Sedgwick AD, Dawson J, Lees P.Subpopulations of equine leucocytes, polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells, were separated from whole blood on a discontinuous Percoll gradient and used in studies of chemokinesis and chemotaxis. Polymorphonuclear cells responded to the chemo-attractant properties of zymosan-activated plasma in Boyden chamber and agarose microdroplet assays but they responded only slightly (Boyden chamber) or not at all (agarose microdroplet) to the peptide N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). Equine mononuclear cell movement was increased by FMLP in both assay systems and these cells also respond...
Ward DS, Fessler JF, Bottoms GD.Electromagnetic flow transducers were implanted via left thoracotomy in 8 ponies (122.7 to 263.6 kg) around the main pulmonary and left main coronary arteries for continuous measurement of mean and pulsatile blood flow. Flow transducers were calibrated in vitro with a gravity flow system. The mean +/- SE pulmonary flow was 73.1 +/- 5.1 ml/kg of body weight/min. Left coronary flow was 0.95 +/- 0.07 ml/kg/min (1.3% of cardiac output) and was not believed to be an accurate measurement. This was caused by the inability to implant a zero-flow occluder, requiring the use of minimum flow during systo...
Brunson DB, Majors LJ.Xylazine, morphine, butorphanol, and nalbuphine were evaluated in 5 adult male horses, using dental dolorimetry. Comparisons were made at 30, 60, and 100 minutes after IV drug administration. Peak analgesia and the time to develop peak analgesia also were compared. Xylazine induced a marked increase in the tooth pulp pain threshold measurements as did the xylazine/narcotic combinations. Statistical differences were not detectable between these treatments. Xylazine and xylazine/butorphanol were better analgesics than was butorphanol alone at 30 and 60 minutes. Xylazine resulted in peak analgesi...
Jang SS, Biberstein EL, Hirsh DC.Actinobacillus suis-like organisms have been recognized in equine specimens at the University of California Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital since 1975. The most common source (65%) of the organism was transtracheal washings. The organism was gram-negative, produced hemolysis on blood agar, and gave a positive reaction for oxidase, urease, o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside, and esculin. Carbohydrate reactions were variable, consisting of 4 main patterns. Actinobacillus suis-like organisms were (90%) sensitive to therapeutic concentrations of amikacin, cephalothin, chloramphenicol, gen...
Robertson SA.Three different anaesthetic techniques were studied in normal, healthy Thoroughbred or Thoroughbred type horses. These were (a) acepromazine, thiopentone and suxamethonium; (b) acepromazine, glyceryl guaiacolate and a 'half-dose' of thiopentone; and (c) xylazine and ketamine. Anaesthesia was maintained with halothane vaporized in oxygen and nitrous oxide. All horses underwent either laryngeal or body surface surgery. Heart rate, packed cell volume, blood glucose and lactate, plasma non-esterified fatty acids, insulin and cortisol were measured before, during and after surgery. The greatest met...
Bertone AL, McIlwraith CW, Powers BE, Trotter GW, Stashak TS.Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) and subchondral cyst-like lesions in 13 shoulders of 11 horses were treated arthroscopically by curettage and lavage. Lameness decreased in all 11 horses. Nine horses were sound, five of them athletically sound, after 5 to 20 months. Complications included the development of subchondral cyst-like lesions and signs of degenerative joint disease. Arthroscopic surgery of the equine shoulder can be done through two portals, one for the arthroscope and one for an instrument. A few hand instruments such as a probe, Ferris-Smith rongeurs, and small, large, and right-an...
Ross MW, Orsini JA, Ehnen SJ.A 5-year-old Thoroughbred gelding with recurrent cecal impaction refractory to medical management was treated with a side-to-side jejunocolic anastomosis. Cecal impaction did not recur after surgery. The horse gained weight and performed successfully for 14 months, but experienced three episodes of mild abdominal pain between 14 and 20 months after surgery. Mild cecal gas distention and firm ingesta in the colon were detected on rectal examination. The horse's feces remained soft after surgery, except during the colic episodes when dry, firm feces were passed.
Timoney PJ, McCollum WH, Roberts AW, McDonald MJ.Clinical cases of equine arteritis virus infection have not been diagnosed in Kentucky since 1984, and there has been no indication that any of the horses involved in the 1984 epizootic have since been responsible for spread of the disease to horses in other states or other countries. Cases of abortion caused by naturally acquired infection with this virus have not been confirmed in 1984 or 1985. Neither field nor vaccine strains of equine arteritis virus have been shown to induce teratologic abnormalities or the carrier state in foals born to infected or vaccinated mares. The carrier stallion...
Skarda RT, Muir WW, Couri D.Arterial and/or central venous plasma concentrations of lidocaine were determined in 12 nonmedicated adult horses (422 +/- 59 kg of body weight, mean +/- SD) after injecting a 1% lidocaine HCl solution into the cervicothoracic ganglion (CTG). A mean dosage of 2.9 +/- 0.5 mg of lidocaine/kg of body weight was used to induce unilateral CTG blockade in 8 horses and 4.8 +/- 0.8 mg was used to induce bilateral CTG blockade in 4 horses. Blood samples were collected before and at 5, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, and 120 minutes after injection. The plasma lidocaine concentrations were determined by us...
Jones RL, Adney WS, Shideler RK.Clostridium difficile was isolated from the feces of 27 of 43 diarrheic foals (63%), and cytotoxin was detected in feces from 28 diarrheic foals (65%). The foals had not received any antimicrobial treatment before the onset of diarrhea. C. difficile was not isolated from feces of 18 normal foals without diarrhea and 62 adult horses (P less than 0.005). This finding of C. difficile and its toxins in association with diarrhea in foals adds another possible cause to the list of infectious agents which may cause diarrhea in foals.
The Journal of heredityJuly 1, 1987
Volume 78, Issue 4 248-250 doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a110376
Bowling AT.Blood type analysis of 29 foals in a paternal half-sib family verified linkage of five LGII loci (Es, E, To, Gc, Al). Population and parentage data from other tobiano-spotted horses suggested conservation of a tightly linked (To:GcS:AlB) marker complex.
Wiest JJ, Thompson DL, McNeill-Weist DR, Garza F.Twenty ovariectomized pony mares were used to determine if dihydrotestosterone propionate (DHTP) administration, with or without estradiol benzoate (EB) pretreatment, would have the same effects on follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion as testosterone propionate (TP) administration. All mares were given an initial injection of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) to characterize their LH and FSH response, and then two groups of mares (n = 4/group) were administered EB (22 micrograms/kg of body weight), two groups were administered vehicle (safflower oil) an...
Lane JG, Mair TS.The clinical records of 100 cases of headshaking in horses were reviewed. Possible causes of the abnormal behaviour were identified in 11 animals; these included ear mite infestation, otitis interna, cranial nerve dysfunction, cervical injury, ocular disease, guttural pouch mycosis, dental periapical osteitis and suspected vasomotor rhinitis. However, in only two of these could it be shown that correction of the abnormality led to elimination of the headshaking. The additional clinical signs exhibited by the other idiopathic cases of headshaking included evidence of nasal irritation, sneezing ...
Sullins KE, McIlwraith CW.Transverse or oblique midshaft tibial osteotomies were created in 11 foals. The osteotomies were repaired during the same procedure using external skeletal fixation in either full splint or 3-dimensional (3-D) tent configurations. Four of the six foals receiving the full splint fixator recovered to full soundness; two were euthanized because of complications. The foals receiving the 3-D tent configuration would not bear weight on the limbs and consequently suffered significant secondary fracture disease. These foals were euthanized for humane reasons before the scheduled termination of the pro...
Schryver HF, Meakim DW, Lowe JE, Williams J, Soderholm LV, Hintz HF.The effect of level of protein intake on growth and calcium metabolism was studied in 24 foals. Starting at four months old, the foals were fed one of three diets containing all nutrients, with the exception of protein, at levels recommended by the United States National Research Council Subcommittee on Horse Nutrition for a 12 month period. The protein levels in the three diets were 9 per cent (low protein) 14 per cent (NRC recommended level) and 20 per cent (high protein). The foals fed the low protein diet were changed to the high protein diet after 140 days when they were nine months old. ...
Bertone AL, McIlwraith CW.Arthroscopic approaches to the scapulohumeral joint were developed in four clinically normal, live horses (5 limbs) to determine their usefulness for evaluation and potential surgical treatment of intraarticular lesions. The articular surface of the entire glenoid, cranial humeral head (medial and lateral) and caudolateral humeral head, as well as the synovial membrane, could be closely examined from an arthroscopic portal cranial to the infraspinatus tendon. The caudomedial humeral head could be examined partially. Cranial and caudal instrument portals allowed good surgical access to the enti...
McLean RG, Calisher CH, Parham GL.Blood samples collected in September and November 1980 from 87 horses in southwestern Michigan were examined for virus isolation and for plaque-reduction neutralizing antibody against selected arboviruses. Cache Valley virus was isolated from the blood of a clinically normal horse in St Joseph County in September. The age-specific antibody prevalence for Cache Valley virus indicated enzootic transmission in the study area. The high antibody prevalence and the lack of age-specific antibody prevalence indicated sporadic, but intense, exposure to Jamestown Canyon virus. Low prevalences of antibod...
Modransky P, Thatcher CD, Welker FH, Booth LC.This research journal article documents a rare case of a five-day-old foal suffering from a congenitally malformed hoof and the associated lameness. The disorders studied were unilateral navicular bone agenesis […]
Edwards JF, Yedloutschnig RJ, Dardiri AH, Callis JJ.Virus isolation was attempted from 262 field samples of vesicular material collected during the outbreaks of vesicular exanthema of swine in the U.S.A. from 1952-54. Using primary swine kidney culture, viral cytopathogenic agents were isolated from 76.3% of the samples. However, an overall recovery rate of 82.1% was obtained after samples negative in tissue culture were inoculated intradermally in susceptible swine. All vesicular exanthema of swine virus isolates were identified as serotype B51 using complement fixation and serum neutralization tests. Two isolates did not react with antisera t...
Haussler KK.Integrative medicine is based on a model of being proactive and promoting health and wellness, rather than being reactive and solely focusing on episodic disease processes. Integrative medicine incorporates a holistic approach to clinical practice that encourages owner involvement with a focus on individualized care, maintained wellness, optimized performance, and disease prevention. Health promotion and preventative care require a different set of clinical skills and perspectives than is typically provided by a traditional veterinary education. Productive interprofessional collaborations are ...
Simpson CF, Buergelt CD.The alveoli of the lungs of 2 aborted foals contained elongated, dense bodies when examined histologically and by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. By light microscopy, the bodies (10 to 40 micrometers in size) stained intensely with the Gram stain, and up to 10 were present within an alveolus. Electron microscopy determined that such bodies were not cellular in origin but appeared to be a congealed fluid product composed of layers of fibrillar-like material. From the human literature, it was concluded that these intraalveolar bodies were probably congealed amniotic fluid.
Morrell JM, Johannisson A.The effect on sperm motility and chromatin integrity of adding homologous or heterologous equine seminal plasma (SP) to fresh stallion spermatozoa selected by single layer centrifugation (SLC) was studied. No statistical difference in mean progressive motility was seen after adding SP at time 0 h, although there were differences for individual stallions. The proportion of spermatozoa with high velocity was increased compared to untreated SLC-selected spermatozoa (P < 0.05), with significant differences between individuals (P < 0.01). When the SLC samples were stored for 24 h before a...
Nagatomo H, Tokita Y, Shimizu T.Although it is known that commercialized bovine serum is sometimes contaminated with mycoplasmas, it is not clear whether mycoplasmas can survive in horse serum. In this study, as a preliminary examination of the survival of mycoplasmas inoculated in horse sera, the survivability of 8 strains of 7 mycoplasmas was tested. The results obtained reveal that two strains of M. bovis and M. gallisepticum were found to survive in non-heated and inactivated sera for 94 to 330 days at 30 or 37 degrees C. Three strains of M. bovirhinis, M. gateae and A. laidlawii lived for 7 to 330 days depending upon th...
Glatzel PS, Belz JP.Because of the mare's ability to conceive very soon post partum a thoroughly performed control of the puerperal period is of particular importance. In addition to cytological and histological examinations of the uterus, rectal palpation and vaginoscopic inspection as well as microbiological examinations of uterine swabs and the evaluation of the mare's hormonal status during the puerperal period provide useful information which can be used either prognostically or to initiate a specific therapy. 55 mares were examined on days 3, 6 and 9 post partum. Rectal palpation, vaginoscopic inspection, m...
Kannegieter NJ, Ecke P.A Thoroughbred gelding was referred for treatment of a parotid duct fistula. This had developed after the referring veterinarian had excised a portion of the duct, and ligated the proximal end, as a means of treating a recurring sialocoele. This report describes the successful surgical reconstruction of the excised 15 cm portion of the parotid duct using an interposition polytetrafluoroethylene tube graft.
Palozzo A, Celani G, Guerri G, Straticò P, Varasano V, Petrizzi L.Segmental posthetomy, also referred to as circumcision, reefing or posthioplasty, consists of removing a circumferential segment of the internal preputial lamina (internal preputial fold) followed by end-to-end anastomosis of skin edges. The purpose of this case series is to describe the successful outcome of segmental posthetomy for treating different diseases involving the internal or/and external preputial fold, while restoring the normal telescopic function. In this paper, we report the first case of complete degloving injury of the equine penis in the literature (case 1) and describe thre...
Ross KA, Kolb DS, Macedo A, Anderson M, Klein C.This study tested the hypothesis that the presence of prostaglandin E2 in seminal plasma would aid in the transport of phenolsulfonphthalein (PSP) across the uterotubal junction. Five mares in estrus were inseminated during estrus with PSP dissolved in phosphate-buffered saline and during the subsequent estrus with PSP added to a standard insemination dose. Serum and urine samples were obtained at hours 0, 1, 2, and 3 following treatment and examined for the presence of PSP. Phenolsulfonphthalein could not be detected in any of the urine samples collected from mares following either treatment....
van der Velden MA, van der Gaag I.Automatic suturing instruments were tested in two ponies and two horses. The TA stapler was used for bowel closure (enterotomies and gut transection) and for end-to-end 'triangulation' anastomoses. The GIA stapler was used for making side-to-side anastomoses. In one horse several enterotomies were made at different stages and the results of suturing by hand and with a stapler were compared. The utility of both types of staplers is discussed in relation to clinical evaluations and macroscopical and microscopical findings post mortem.
Lotstra RJ, van den Broek J, Power T, Marr CM, Wijnberg ID.Atrial fibrillation is a common equine arrhythmia. Quinidine alone, or with digoxin are common treatments. Studies on outcome in Warmblood populations in which duration of the AF is often unknown are limited. Objective: To identify the factors that are associated with the success of full treatment cardioversion with oral medication, and establish whether there are differences in these factors between institutions. Methods: Retrospective case series using patient records of Equine University Clinic of Utrecht University and Rossdales Equine Hospital, Newmarket. Methods: Forty-nine horses treate...
Schumacher J, DeGraves F, Cesar F, Duran S.A local anaesthetic agent capable of temporarily resolving lameness after being administered perineurally would be helpful because rapid return of lameness would allow for other analgesic techniques to be performed within a short period of time. Objective: To determine if a 3% solution of ketamine hydrochloride (HCl), administered around the palmar nerves at the level of the base of the proximal sesamoid bones, can improve naturally occurring lameness that can be improved or abolished with a basilar sesamoid nerve block performed using lidocaine HCl and to compare the change in gait produced u...
Bracamonte JL, Duke-Novakovski T.This study evaluated the use of an articulating automated suturing device for laparoscopic closure of the nephrosplenic space in standing horses. Closure of the nephrosplenic space was performed in 4 horses using an automated suturing device. Second-look laparoscopy was performed at 5 weeks. A smooth fibrous adhesion formed between the spleen, the perirenal fascia, and the nephrosplenic ligament in 3 of the 4 horses in which the nephrosplenic space was closed using the automated suturing device. In 1 horse, closure of the nephrosplenic space was not possible due to constant breakage of the end...