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.
Strömberg B, Rejnö S.The clinical and radiologic features of osteochondritis dissecans in the knee and hock joint of horses are described. The material includes 91 horses, of which 43 had the lesion in one or both knee joints, and 48 in one or both hock joints. It was found that osteochondritis dissecans of the knee joint was more common than the one in the hock joint in thoroughbreds and halfbreds, while the lesion in the hock joint was most common in standardbred trotters. In the knee the lesion was most often located to the lateral trochlear ridge. In the hock joint the predilection site was the intermediate ri...
Reitnour CM.Utilisation of nitrogen was studied in 4 crossbred ponies. A latin square design was used to study the effects of corn gluten meal, casein or urea when added to a low protein basal diet. Apparent nitrogen digestion, nitrogen retention, total plasma protein, plasma urea and plasma-free amino acids were measured. The addition of corn gluten meal, casein or urea to the basal ration increased apparent digestion of nitrogen. Casein produced a significantly greater (P less than 0.05) nitrogen retention than corn gluten meal or urea. Plasma urea nitrogen increased significantly (P less than 0.01) in ...
Rico AG, Braun JP, Benard P, Bardies J, Thouvenot JP, Periquet B, Plantavid M.A wide blood serum biochemical profile, concerning especially blood lipids has been performed in 31 apparently healthy Shetland and Potiock ponies. These blood standard values will be useful for studies on ponies' hyperlipemia.
Plowright W.An account is presented of the development and use of herpesvirus vaccines in domestic animals, with particular reference to those viruses causing cytolytic rather than oncogenic infections. The chief infections covered are Aujeszky's disease (AD or pseudorabies), infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) and equine rhinopneumonitis (equine abortion; EHV-1). Others mentioned are feline viral rhinotracheitis and malignant catarrhal fever of cattle. Both live-modified and inactivated vaccines are widely used or under development for ADV, IBR and EHV-1. Live vaccines are generally regarded as succe...
McBeath DG, Best JM, Preston NK, Duncan JL.Examination of faecal egg counts in horses and ponies has shown that after treatment with fenbendazole at dose levels of 7.5, 45 and 60 mg/kg, faeces remained free from strongyle eggs for periods of 6 to 18 weeks. The significance of these results is discussed in relation to routine anthelmintic treatment of horses. In particular, the activity of fenbendazole against mucosal stages of strongyle parasites allows for treatment to be recommended at less frequent intervals than when using other anthelmintics.
Nyindo MB, Ristic M, Lewis GE, Huxsoll DL, Stephenson EH.Four ponies experimentally infected with Ehrlichia equi developed substantial cell-mediated immune responses, as measured by the leukocyte migration-inhibition test. Serum anti-E equi antibodies up to 1:1,280 were demonstrated by the indirect fluorescent antibody test. Cell-mediated immune responses returned to a base-line value by day 200 after primary inoculation, but serum antibody titers persisted for at least 300 days after inoculation. Two additional susceptible ponies, which were inoculated with convalescent blood or organ homogenates from ponies recovered from acute equine ehrlichiosis...
Allen WR.Fertilized eggs reach the uterus of the mare by the sixth day after ovulation whereas unfertilized eggs remain lodged in the fallopian tubes for many months. However, embryo removal studies indicate that the fetal message for luteal maintenance in the pregnant mare is not transmitted until Days 14-16. The equine endometrial cups comprise a series of small, ulcer-like endometrial outgrowths which are present in the pregnant horn of the uterus between 40 and 150 days of gestation. Each cup consists of a discrete colony of large, gonadotropin-secreting, trophoblast cells derived from a specialize...
Hinton M.The literature published over the last 150 years provides confusing and often conflicting advice on the ideal way to water horses. Many of the problems associated with watering appear to be caused by either mismanagement or ignorance. An obvious way to prevent trouble is to provide adequate water at all times when a horse is at rest and to allow sufficient opportunity to drink while working.
Etcheverrigaray ME, Oliva GA, Zabala Suárez JE.Twenty seven per cent of 238 serum samples obtained from horses with clinical diagnosis were positive for the immunodifusion test, while 17% of the 452 sera obtained from asintomatic horses were positive. Twenty one per cent of the 870 sera studied were positive.
Moorthy AR, Spradbrow PB.Two strains of Chlamydia psittaci were isolated from the nasal tract of horses with acute respiratory disease. These 2 isolates (NS 121 and NS 172) were characterized as chlamydia on the basis of their morphology, tinctorial property, growth in chicken embryos, inability to grow on bacterial media and their possession of chlamydial common complement fixing group antigen. They were identified as C. psittaci on the basis of resistance to sodium sulphadiazine. The present strains were not pathogenic to mice and guinea pigs and non-toxigenic. They induced antibodies and caused latent infection in ...
Stefani M, Berti A, Camici G, Manao G, Cappugi G, Ramponi G.Horse muscle acylphosphatase consists of a main chain S-S bound to glutathione. It was found that removal of the glutathione by reduction and successive carboxymethylation of the only cysteine of the main chain affects the stability of the enzyme, mainly with respect to thermal inactivation. On the other hand, the kinetic properties of the enzyme are affected very little.
Sudarshan MK, Ashwath Narayana DH, Ravish HS.Rabies immunoglobulins are life-saving in patients with severe exposure to rabies. Despite the high degree of purification of equine rabies immunoglobulin (ERIG), the product inserts still recommend a skin sensitivity test before administration of this heterologous serum. A recent WHO recommendation states that there are no scientific grounds for performing a skin test before administering ERIG because testing does not predict reactions and it should be given irrespective of the result of the test. In this conflicting situation, we assessed the use of the skin sensitivity test in predicting ad...
Koh RB, Harrison TM.Over the past years, the concept of pain management in veterinary medicine has evolved and led to the establishment of a new concept of multimodal approach to pain management, as the current standard of care. The use of multimodal analgesia combining pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic techniques not only helps optimize the quality and efficacy of analgesia but also may prevent the development of chronic or persistent pain. During the past decade, acupuncture has become more popular and evolved into one of the most used forms of integrative medicine interventions and nonpharmacologic therapeuti...
Warko G, Becht H, Bostedt H.Sixteen vital foals with free access to maternal colostrum received a additional non-species-specific commercial colostrum additive within the first 18 hours of their life. The additive had been prepared from bovine colostrum. At birth no bovine IgG was detectable. The concentration of bovine IgG reached its maximum 18 hours post natum with XG = 74.6 mg/dl. 96 hours after birth IgG levels had dropped to XG = 20.9 mg/dl. The correlation of bovine IgG with GGT-activity was highly significant. Formation of antibodies against bovine IgG could not be demonstrated. It is not possible to increase igG...
Cambridge H, Reynoldson JA, Dunsmore JD, Hilbert BJ.A radioimmunoassay for thromboxane B2 (TXB2) in unextracted horse plasma was evaluated. Sensitivity of the assay was 14.0 (SD 5.6) pg ml-1 of plasma. Interassay and intra-assay variation were 21.3 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively. The percentage of tracer bound in unextracted plasma in the absence of TXB2 was often higher than that in buffer. Therefore standard curves were obtained using standards diluted in plasma from horses treated with aspirin or in charcoal treated TXB2-free plasma. Standard curves determined in plasma and buffer were parallel. This assay was used to determine the ...
Gupta T, Chatterjee A.Pregnant mare's serum gonadotropin (PMSG) of 10 IU on day 5 of pregnancy induced luteal demise and consequently an absolute resorption of fetuses and placentae resulted on day 16 of pregnancy. Simultaneous regimen of PMSG and indomethacin or cortisone was found to be consistently effective in preventing the luteolytic effect of PMSG. The growth of the fetuses, placentae as well as corpora lutea was found to be parallel to controls. Similarly, shortening of the duration of pseudopregnancy to 10--12 days in the bilaterally hysterectomized rat by PMSG and its retaining the normal duration of 18--...
Sairam MR, Yarney TA, Bhargavi GN, Sanford LM.A membrane preparation from the testis of maturing Dorset-Leicester-Suffolk sheep, capable of discriminating pituitary LH (lutropin) from placental gonadotropins human choriogonadotropin (hCG) and equine choriogonadotropin is described. Maximum binding of 125I-oLH (ovine lutropin) to the testicular receptors occurred at 4 degrees C in a rapid manner, attaining equilibrium in 12-16 h. Under such optimal conditions, only unlabeled ovine LH or the structurally identical bovine LH effectively competed for receptor occupation. Other highly purified pituitary LH preparations from rat and human pitui...
Castagnasso EE, Kienast ME, García PP, Giovambattista G.Recently, the use of DNA markers has provided a more accurate method of identifying individuals and verifying parentage. In this report, we describe foal assignment in a farm bred jumping horses (Silla argentino). Ten mares were freely served by two stallions, resulting in nine foals. Weaning occurred without registration of the mare of each offspring, resulting in a failure to identify either the mare or the sire of each foal. Animals were typed using 12 microsatellite systems and four biochemical polymorphisms in order to determine the paternity/maternity of each foal. We used the CERVUS pro...
Schlichtherle C.This paper describes the importance of fumonisins for human beings and animals and shows data for the occurence in food. Corn-based food samples (n = 299) purchased in the area of munich were analyzed for fumonisin content using an enzyme immunoassay.Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced byFusarium species, especially byFusarium moniliforme andFusarium proliferatum. Occurrence of fumonisins in corn and in cornbased foods and feeds has been reported from almost all over the world. In several animal species different diseases are traced back to fumonisin toxicosis. Fumonisin levels of 5-10 ppm inho...
Theiner E, Weber C, Müller E, Venner M, Finkler-Schade C, Vervuert I.This study aimed to examine the effects of an oral supplementation on manganese (Mn) concentrations in the blood of lactating warm-blood broodmares. Furthermore, the potential relationship between Mn supply of the lactating mare and its suckling foal was investigated. Methods: During the 90-day trial, lactating mares were divided into 3 groups and daily received a daily dose of either a placebo (n = 11) or a Mn supplement of 560 mg Mn as Mn sulfate (n = 11) or Mn chelate (n = 11) in addition to the Mn intake from the basal ration (hay ad libitum, total mixed ration: Mn intake ~ 1...
Peyrot LM, Little TV, Lowe JE, Weber JA, Woods GL.Embryo autotransfer is defined as the collection of an embryo from and the transfer of this embryo into the same animal. The objectives of this study were to: 1) test the hypothesis that oviduct transport of the equine embryo from the oviduct into the uterus is not dependent on a unilateral embryo-corpus luteum interaction, 2) develop an embryo autotransfer technique for the mare and 3) compare the success rates of Day 4 embryos surgically autotransferred from the oviduct ipsilateral to ovulation to either the oviduct (n=10 mares) or the uterine horn (n=10 mares) contralateral to ovulation. Se...
Lindner A, von Wittke P, Thein P, Strube W.The effect of the prophylactic application of the paramunity inducer Baypamun on the incidence of diseases among foals (n = 63) in four Thoroughbred studs was evaluated. In a blind study, 38 of the foals received 2 ml of Baypamun intramuscularly while 25 of the foals received a placebo at six and four days before weaning and on the fifth day post-weaning. During the observation period of three weeks, beginning with the first and ending ten days after the last application, 7.9% of the foals treated with Baypamun (3 out of 38) suffered from respiratory infections compared to 24% of the foals tre...
Douglas RH, Garcia MC, Ginther OJ.Luteolysis, determined by corpus luteum weight and progesterone concentration in jugular blood, occurred in uterine-intact and in hysterectomized mares after injection of prostaglandin F2alpha or of an antiserum against an equine pituitary fraction. Results indicated that luteolytic effects of exogenous prostaglandin F2alpha and inhibition of the endogenous luteotrophic activity of the hypophysis (pituitary gland) by antiserum did not involve the uterus.
Ramey DW.Learning to critically evaluate therapeutic claims is vital to the success of the practicing veterinarian and the veterinary profession as a whole. Until such time as good scientific data in support of therapies are obtained, veterinarians should be careful in their advocacy and employment of new and unproved practices. They should also be aware of the many reasons why therapeutic "success" may be the result of a variety of factors unrelated to the treatment modality itself. Only by relying on rigorous standards of evidence can equine veterinarians prevent a return to the sincere but misguided...
