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.
Slade LM, Hintz HF.A comparative digestion trial was conducted between horses, ponies, rabbits and guinea pigs. Alfalfa and alfalfa-grain diets were compared.
Although there was a trend for ponies to be more efficient than horses in digesting proximate principles of both diets, differences were not significant. Digestibility coefficients for crude fiber and energy were lowest in rabbits. The digestion of nitrogen-free extract (NFE) was greatest in guinea pigs, whereas digestion of crude protein was lowest.
Horses, ponies and rabbits digested organic matter, NFE and energy in the mixed ration more efficient...
Mori M, Sakiyama Y.The histochemical distribution of some hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes in developing odontoblasts and subodontoblasts in cattle, pigs and horses has been observed in cryostat sections of teeth that have been decalcified with neutral EDTA.
Undifferentiated dental epithelium and immature odontoblasts of the bell stage tooth germ showed lower levels of enzymatic activity as compared with the well-developed tooth germ.
When the dentine matrix began to form, the young odontoblasts appeared to have a significantly positive reaction for acid phosphatase, and gradually other enzymes developed a...
Solti L, Eulenberger K, Kurth D, Schöne L.Anoestrous mares were treated with prostaglandin (n = 43) and those that did not respond to prostaglandin (n = 29) with a synthetic progestagen, allyloestrenol, at a dose of 0.05 mg/kg body mass for 12 days. After the cessation of the long-term per os gestagen blockade the animals were checked for heat and, if a preovulatory follicle could be palpated, 2000 IU hCG was administered to induce ovulation. In some animals the plasma 17 beta-oestradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) levels were also followed up throughout the gestagen treatment and for 10-14 days thereafter. As the favourable oestrus ra...
Lemos KR, Marques LC, Deaquino LP, Alessi AC, Machado RZ.An histochemical and immunohistochemical study was carried out to evaluate the mechanisms of immune response of horses experimentally infected by Trypanosoma evansi. For this purpose the HE histochemical stain and the avidin biotin peroxidase method were used. To determine the presence and immunoreactivity of immune cells we used anti-major histocompatibility complex II antibodies. Cellular infiltration phenotype was characterized with the aid of anti-CD3 antibody for T lymphocytes and by anti-BLA 36 antibodies for B lymphocytes. Macrophages were marked with an antibody against myeloid/histyoc...
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.
Pearson GB, Ysebaert MP, Papa B, Reesink HL.This article, as part of the Currents in One Health series, reviews the current state of diagnostics for synovial sepsis. Synovial sepsis is a condition that affects veterinary and human medicine and requires coordinated efforts from both parties, as well as environmental considerations to accurately diagnose and preserve effective treatments. The article discusses best practices to identify the causative agent in septic synovitis, trends in bacterial identification and antimicrobial resistance patterns across common bacterial species, and a one-health perspective to optimize diagnostics acros...
Barnard BJ.The most obvious symptoms of rabies in farm animals and pets in South Africa and South-West Africa are discussed in the light of information obtained during routine examination of specimens for the 10-year-period 1967--1976. More than 55% of the cases encountered were cattle in which the most obvious symptoms were salivation (92%), bellowing (69%), aggressiveness (47%), paresis or paralysis (30%) and straining (12%). Unlike cattle, the most obvious symptom in goats was aggressiveness (83%). Salivation was observed in ony 29% of goats but, like bellowing in cattle, bleating was very obvious in ...
Laidler P, Cowan DA, Houghton E, Kicman AT, Marshall DE.Recognition by the legal authorities that growth hormones (GHs) may be abused to improve sporting performance and/or physique has led to the implementation of controls that make it an offence to produce, supply, possess or import and export GHs, with intent to supply, without the authority to do so. A method is described for the discriminatory analysis of human, equine, porcine and bovine GHs for forensic purposes. Peptide-mass mapping by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry following tryptic digestion gave sequence coverages of 97.4%, 93.7...
McD￮ LA, Dart AJ, Schiffman P, Parrot JJ.Enterolithiasis, as a cause of colic, was diagnosed and treated during surgical intervention in 2 Grant's zebras (Equus burchelli bohmi). The zebras were part of a wild herd in a zoo in the western United States. The clinical signs of enterolithiasis in both zebras were similar to those reported for horses. Analysis of the enterolith from 1 zebra revealed a composition identical to enteroliths that have been analyzed from horses. Three other zebras from this herd had enteroliths at necropsy. Enterolithiasis should be considered as a differential diagnosis for zebras with low-grade obstructive ...
Singleton MD, Breheny PJ.In this paper, we propose a nonlinear hierarchical model (NLHM) for analyzing longitudinal experimental infection (EI) data. The NLHM offers several improvements over commonly used alternatives such as repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) and the linear mixed model (LMM). It enables comparison of relevant biological properties of the course of infection including peak intensity, duration and time to peak, rather than simply comparing mean responses at each observation time. We illustrate the practical benefits of this model and the insights it yields using data from experimental i...
McDonald J, Gall R, Wiedenbach P, Bass VD, DeLeon B, Brockus C, Stobert D, Wie S, Prange CA, Ozog FJ.A one step enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test for morphine was evaluated as part of a panel of pre- and post-race tests for narcotic analgesics in racing horses. This ELISA test is very sensitive to morphine with an I-50 for morphine of about 400 pg/ml. The test is also rapid, and ten samples, a normal pre-race complement, can be analyzed in about thirty minutes. The test can be read with an inexpensive spectrophotometer, or even by eye. The test readily detects the presence of morphine or its metabolites in equine blood for up to six hours after administration of sub-therapeutic d...
