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.
Ray AC, Dwyer JN, Fambro GW, Reagor JC.4-Aminopyridine poisoning in horses was diagnosed. Specific methods, utilizing thin-layer and high-performance liquid chromatography, were developed for determining the compound in stomach contents and corn bait. The lethal dose was estimated at 2 to 3 mg/kg of body weight.
Kenney RM.Normal histologic changes that occurred in concert with the ovarian cycle were evaluated. When combined with behavioral and physical findings, this evaluation enabled determination when there was synchrony between ovarian steroids (estrogen and progesterone) and their target tissues of endometrium. A system for classification as well as definitions of patterns types and degrees of severity of inflammatory and fibrotic changes was developed to facilitate a uniform system for description and communication. An attempt was made to relate the pathologic changes to their effect on fertility when fer...
Joppich-Kuhn R, Luisi PL.The interaction between horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase and the oxidized and reduced forms of the 3-thionicotinamide--adenine dinucleotide coenzyme analogues (sNAD and sNADH) has been investigated by ultraviolet absorption, fluorescence and circular dichroism. The fluorescence of sNADH is enhanced when bound to the enzyme, and the protein fluorescence is quenched by both sNADH (60--65%) and sNAD (65%). The possible origin of the larger quenching produced by sNAD with respect to that of NAD is discussed. Coenzyme dissociation constants have been determined by monitoring the quenching of the p...
Sack WO, Ferraglio S.A study method has been devised to review clinically important structures of the equine hock joint on a fresh specimen. The review can be done alone; dissection takes about 2 hours; special tools or materials are not required.
Clark EG, Turner AS, Boysen BG, Rouse BT.A 1-month-old Arabian foal with signs of central nervous system disease was found to have combined (B- and T-lymphocyte) immunodeficiency. The foal died in spite of intensive antibiotic therapy. At necropsy, generalized lymphoid hypoplasia and acute necrotizing and granulomatous inflammation of the brain, heart, and adrenal glands were found. In addition, there were spinal meningitis and focal hepatic necrosis. Listeria monocytogenes was isolated on primary culture from the brain.
Dickie CW, Regnier JO.Myositis and septicemia caused by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus were diagnosed in a mare. The infection was characterized clinically by ventral swelling and edema, diarrhea, listlessness, and rectal temperature of 39.4 C. The mare was treated symptomatically for 2 days but died on the 3rd day. Conditions seen at necropsy were myositis, enteritis, typhlitis, colitis, and hepatitis. Lymph nodes were moderately enlarged throughout the body. Gross lesions in musculature were edema, scarring, petechiae, and an occasional exxhymosis. The enteritis was catarrhal, with excessive mucus and moderate hyper...
Scott EA, Chaffee A, Eyster GE, Kneller SK.Two foals with a history of normalcy at birth developed a lack of exercise tolerance and weakness in the first few days of life. Weakness, inability to rise, and reluctance to suckle were common complaints. Physical examination of both foals revealed a cardiovascular abnormality, with a loud systolic murmur audible over both thoracic walls. Additional diagnostic techniques were blood gas analysis, radiography, cardiovascular catheterization, and necropsy. Necropsy findings were ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, and congenital absence of the aortic arch....
McClure JJ, Muscoplat CC, Johnson DW, Senogles DR.A miniaturized method for the mixed lymphocyte culture test in the horse is described. The test is performed in either round- or flat-bottom microtitration tissue culture plates. Concentrations of responsing and stimulating cells are varied, depening on the experiment. Significant discrimination between isogeneic and allogenic mixtures is possible after 120 hours' culture when cells are labeled ([3H]thymidine) for the last 16 to 18 hours of the test.
Boles CL, Raker CW, Wheat JF.An abnormality of the epiglottis and arytenoepiglottic folds that caused epiglottic entrapment was diagnosed in 21 horses. Until recently, this entrapment was poorly understood. Definitive diagnosis of epiglottic entrapment can be made only by endoscopic examination of the epiglottis, arytenoepiglottic folds, and soft palate to differentiate the abnormality from dorsal displacement of the soft palate. Dorsal displacement of the soft palate is often associated with entrapped epiglottis. Epiglottic deformity, especially hypoplasia, is often associated with the entrapment. The abnormality was det...
Rose RJ, Davis PE.Electrocardiograms were reocrded from 153 racehorses and 10 Olympic three-day-event horses. The horses were then grouped into those presented for routine examination, those in which there was a complaint of poor performance, those going to the Montreal Olympics, and those with upper respiratory tract abnormalities. When the ECGs of the four groups were compared on the basis of detection of abnormality, it was found that 93.2% of the poor performance group showed abnormalities of various types. The routine examination group showed 21.1% of horses with abnormal ECGs, and over half of these have ...
Shefstad DK.The lesions caused by larvae of Gasterophilus intestinalis in the cardiac region of the equine stomach were funnel-shaped ulcers surrounded by a rim of hyperplastic epithelial cells. Bacteria were commonly seen on the rim of epithelial cells, at the base of some ulcers, and within the cavities produced by the hooks of the larvae. Cellular debris and mucus were within the ulcer.
Méténier L, Kaminski M.Immunochemical and enzymatic analyses of horse serum carboxylesterase were carried out with respect to the existence of a silent gene. Sera with positive phenotypic expression of esterase, both heterozygotes and presumed homozygotes, were compared with:--sera with positive phenotypic expression but genotypically +/O;--sera with a negative phenotypic expression, i. e. genotypically O/O;--sera of natural +/O "hemi-zygotes": mules (donkey lacking the esterase);--positive sera heated at 60 degrees C;--positive sera after specific inhibition of enzymatic activity. Titration by immunocompetition has...
Smith BP, Reina-Guerra M, Hardy AJ.Feces from 1,451 horses entering a veterinary hospital over a 13-month period were cultured for salmonella. A total of 46 horses (3.2%) yielded 1 or more salmonella-positive fecal cultures. Twenty horses were found to be excreting salmonella in the feces on admission, and 5 of these later had severe diarrhea associated with enteric salmonellosis. Abdominal surgery and other severe stresses were associated with all cases of severe enteric salmonellosis. Serotypes of salmonella isolated included Salmonella agona (15), S anatum (14), S typhimurium (7), S typhimurium var copenhagen (4), S infantis...
Stickle RL, Fessler JF.Equine cryptorchidism was examined by a review of the literature and a retrospective study of 350 horses over a 14-year period. The incidence of left vs right testis retention was nearly equal. On the left side, 75.2% of the retained testes were retained abdominally and 24.8% inguinally; on the right side, 41.8% of the retained testes were retained abdominally and 58.2% inguinally. Preoperative diagnosis by rectal palpation of the vaginal rings was considered a valuable technique, with 87.9% accuracy in 190 horses. Invasive and nonivasive surgical techniques for abdominal cryptorchidectomy and...
Houghton E, Oxley GA, Moss MS, Evans S.A method is described to confirm the presence of 19-nortestosterone metabolites in urine after the administration of veterinary preparations of this anabolic steroid to horses. The method is based upon the detection, by gas chromatography mass spectrometry or selected ion monitoring, of an isomer of estrane-3,17-diol in the urine.
Freeman DE, Naylor JM.An indwelling stomach tube was placed through a cervical esophagostomy in 5 clinically normal horses and in 3 horses requiring artificial alimentation. In all but one case, surgery was performed on conscious horses following tranquilization and infiltration of the surgical sites with a local anesthetic. Six horses were fed liquid rations through the indwelling tubes, which were left in place from 3 to 26 days. After the tubes were removed, the stomas healed rapidly and with minimal complications. Cervical esophagostomy proved to be a safe, easy, and effective method for the provision of extrao...
Pratt GW, O'Connor JT.A biomechanical model of running has been presented. A basic premise has been that the swing time is nearly independent of speed. In fact, both the racehorse and the trotter have nearly equal swing times. Consequently, as speed increases and the stance phase becomes shorter, the horse must compensate by increasing his extension or the length of the airborne phase (or both). The safe speed which allows the horse adequate preparation time for contact of a leg with the ground is calculated, using a stride-by-stride analysis of the motion of the horse. This is seen to be a very sensitive function ...
Rumbaugh GE, Ardans AA, Ginno D, Trommershausen-Smith A.Four procedures for assessment of adequacy of colostral immunoglobulin (Ig) transfer in foals were evaluated. Results of zinc sulfate turbidity test, serum electrophoresis, total serum protein refractometry, and sodium sulfite precipitation test were compared with immunoglobulin G content determined by single radial immunodiffusion. The zinc sulfate turbidity test gave acceptable results for IgG, except that hemolyzed serum samples gave higher than expected values. A correction factor for hemolyzed serum was found to be useful. Serum electrophoresis was a satisfactory method of estimating IgG ...
Valdez H, Adams OR, Peyton LC.Of 124 horses determined to have navicular disease during a 5-year period, 6 had clinical and radiographic signs of the disease in both hindlimbs. These 6 were all castrated males, ranging in age from 3 to 12 years, and were used for work of similar nature: roping, cutting, and pleasure. Treatment consisted of posterior digital neurectomy and corrective shoeing in 2 cases, posterior digital neurectomy alone in 2 cases, and corrective shoeing alone in 2 cases. Following treatment, lameness subsided, and all 6 horses were returned to full use.
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...
Nouws JF.As part of the examination of emergency-slaughtered animals for the presence of antibiotic residues, studies were done to see whether false-positive results would be obtained when the Sarcina lutea kidney test and Bacillus subtilis BGA test were performed. When the S. lutea kidney test was positive in cattle, calves and swine, penicillin was invariably found to be present in those animals, the histories of which showed that they had not been given antibiotics. A syringe and an injected fluid containing penicillin residues are regarded as possible causes of these positive results. When the S. l...
Roth JE, Nixon AJ, Gantz VA, Meyer D, Mohammed H.A carbon dioxide laser, used in a rapidly pulsed mode, was evaluated for intra-articular use in horses. Under arthroscopic guidance, a lensed 5 mm laser probe attached directly to a hand-held carbon dioxide laser was inserted into one intercarpal joint of eight horses. In four horses, a cartilage crater 1 cm in diameter was created to the level of the subchondral bone of the articular surface of the third carpal bone. In four horses, the laser was directed perpendicular to the articular surface of the third carpal bone and activated to penetrate the cartilage and subchondral bone. The intercar...
Stanley SM, Wilhelmi BS, Rodgers JP, Bertschinger H.Immunoaffinity chromatography using a synthesised immunosorbent was used to extract tritiated dexamethasone (with dexamethasone carrier) from equine urine at a recovery of 81.7 +/- 8.4% (mean +/- S.D.). A method utilising this procedure coupled to cool on-column injection gas chromatography-negative ion chemical ionisation mass spectrometry is also described for the confirmation of low levels of flumethasone in equine urine samples.
Basic life sciencesJanuary 1, 1996
Volume 64 17-27 doi: 10.1007/978-1-4615-5847-7_2
Bacon GE.The familiar extremes of crystalline material are single-crystals and random powders. In between these two extremes are polycrystalline aggregates, not randomly arranged but possessing some preferred orientation and this is the form taken by constructional materials, be they steel girders or the bones of a human or animal skeleton. The details of the preferred orientation determine the ability of the material to withstand stress in any direction. In the case of bone the crucial factor is the orientation of the c-axes of the mineral content-the crystals of the hexagonal hydroxyapatite- and this...
Colavizza M, Hervagault JF.After extraction and purification, the kinetic behavior of the Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM kinase II) from horse brain was investigated as a function of ATP and a synthetic substrate, syntide-2. Both phospho- and dephospho- forms of the enzyme obey a bi-bi random mechanism. The K(M)s for ATP (K(M,ATP)) and syntide-2 (K(M,syntide-2)) were determined as equal to 80 and 30 microM, respectively. However, the maximum reaction yield is decreased by 50% when the enzyme is (auto)phosphorylated. In addition, this phosphorylated form of the enzyme leads to the formation of a total...
Ma Y.Equine rotavirus (ERV) strain L338 (G13P[18]) has a unique G and P genotype. However, the evolutionary relationship of L338 with other ERVs is still unknown. Here whole genome analysis of the L338 ERV strain was independently performed. Its genotype constellations were determined as G13-P[18]-I6-R9-C9-M6-A6-N9-T12-E14-H11, confirming previous genotype assignments. The L338 strain only shared the P[18] and I6 genotypes with other ERVs. The nucleotide sequences of the other 9 RNA segments were different from those of cogent genes of all other group A rotavirus (RVA) strains including ERVs and fo...