Equine biomechanics involves the study of the mechanical principles that govern the movement and structure of horses. This field examines the anatomical and physiological aspects that contribute to locomotion, including gait patterns, joint function, and muscle dynamics. Researchers utilize advanced technologies such as motion capture and force plate analysis to assess the efficiency and performance of equine movement. Understanding biomechanics aids in optimizing training regimens, improving performance, and preventing injuries. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the mechanics of equine movement, its applications in sports and rehabilitation, and its impact on overall equine health.
Dahm E.Emma Dahm introduces a new society in the world of showing that aims to give horses that have come back from neglect and abuse a platform to show off their talents and resilience.
Matsubara T, Fukatsu R, Yamamoto M, Moriya M, Hano K, Nakamura K, Ohba Y, Takasu M.Including Internet of Things (IoT) technology in horse-rearing management can potentially mitigate problems such as human resource shortages and time limitations in performing daily behavior monitoring. In this study, a small and inexpensive activity meter used to monitor dogs and cats (PLUS CYCLE, JARMeC, Kanagawa, Japan) was used to monitor the daily behavior of horses. A study was performed to examine the suitability of the PLUS CYCLE device for monitoring horses and to determine whether it could estimate horse behavior. The device was equipped with an accelerometer and was used to monitor ...
Allen SE, Taylor S, Given J, Verheyen KL.The British horseracing industry is committed to reducing equine fatalities in jump racing. Race-related fatalities are a major welfare concern and threaten the sport's social licence to operate. Objective: To describe the risk of, and determine risk factors for, fatality in British jump racing. Methods: Retrospective cohort. Methods: Analyses included all starts made in British jump races between January 2010 and April 2023. Available information for each horse, race, racecourse, trainer and jockey was collated and combined with details of all fatalities recorded by official veterinary office...
Egli P, Boone L, Huber L, Higgins C, Gaonkar PP, Arrington J, Naskou MC, Peroni J, Gordon J, Lascola KM.Platelet lysate (PL) demonstrates antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties offering potential for treatment of bacterial pneumonia in horses. It remains unknown whether nebulization is suitable for PL administration in horses. This pilot study characterized particle size and flow rate of pooled equine PL (single preparation) nebulized using an equine-specific nebulizer (Flexivent®). Unassigned: Protein composition and antimicrobial activity were compared before and after nebulization. Protein composition was evaluated according to growth factor, antimicrobial peptide and cytokine concen...
Pozharskiy A, Beishova I, Nametov A, Shamshidin A, Ulyanova T, Kovalchuk A, Ulyanov V, Shamekova M, Bekova G, Gritsenko D.Horses are animals traditionally playing prominent role as both food source and working animals for Kazakh people. Zhabe horses are traditional type of indigenous Kazakh horses characterized by versatility and adaptation to conditions of Central Asia. The present work focuses on examination of genetic structure of Zhabe horses using SNP genotyping with addition of previously published data. Total 1038 individuals including 403 new samples of Zhabe horses and 42 sample of white horses 'Zhetysu Asyly' have been considered. DNA was extracted from hair roots using commercial DNA isolation kit and ...
LeCompte Lazić RA, Nielsen BD, Robison CI, Schott HC, Herdt TH, Larson CK.The 2007 Horse NRC reduced cobalt (Co) requirements from 0.1 ppm to 0.05 ppm in dietary dry matter, though preliminary research suggested increasing dietary-Co enhanced fiber digestion in horses. This study aimed to evaluate fiber digestion with varying dietary Co amounts, as well as to compare serum Co concentrations with dietary Co content. Four geldings (mean body weight [BW] 503 ± 37 kg) were studied in a 4 × 4 Latin square design consisting of four 5-week periods, each comprising a 2-week washout phase followed by a 3-week treatment phase. Supplementing 0.0, 5.6, 16.8, or 28.0 mg of Co ...
Takahashi K, Mukai K, Takahashi Y, Ebisuda Y, Hatta H, Kitaoka Y.The purpose of this study was to elucidate the skeletal muscle transcriptomic response unique to rest duration during high-intensity interval exercise. Thoroughbred horses performed three 1-min bouts of exercise at their maximal oxygen uptake (10.7-12.5 m/s), separated by 15 min (long) or 2 min (short) walking at 1.7 m/s. Gluteus medius muscle was collected before and at 4 h after the exercise and used for RNA sequencing. We identified 1,756 and 1,421 differentially expressed genes in response to the long and short protocols, respectively using DEseq2 analysis [false discovery rate (FDR) cutof...
Robertson T, Thomas E, Starbuck G, Yarnell K.As a free-ranging, social species, the housing of horses () may limit their opportunity to display natural behaviour, compromising well-being. This review records and presents studies that have investigated horse housing design, evaluates the location and number of studies carried out to date, and reports the methods used to assess impact on equine well-being. A Boolean search was conducted in two databases: Web of Science and Scopus, filtered according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol, resulting in 60 peer-reviewed papers for evaluation. ...
An T, Dugarjaviin M, Han H.The Mongolian horse, one of the oldest and most genetically diverse breeds, exhibits a wide variety of coat colors and patterns, including both wild-type and unique features. A notable characteristic of dun Mongolian horses is the presence of Bider markings-symmetrical, black-mottled patterns observed on the shoulder blades. These markings are also seen in Przewalski's horses. The dun coat color, a common wild-type phenotype in domestic horses, is characterized by pigment dilution with distinct dark areas and is regulated by mutations in the gene. This study aimed to investigate the role of ...
Boozarjomehri Amnieh S, Hassanpour A, Moghaddam S, Sakhaee F, Ropka-Molik K.The gene is vital for fatty acid metabolism and is linked to environmental stress and physical exertion adaptation. The p.Asp237Ser variant (rs782885985) in is associated with increased enzyme activity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. This study examined the polymorphism across six horse breeds in Iran: Arabian, Thoroughbred, KWPN, Caspian, Kurdish, and Turkmen. The goal was to identify differences in genotype distribution, potentially serving as genetic markers under selection pressure related to breed-specific traits. In a sample of 324 horses, genomic DNA was analyzed using PCR...
Scott I, Lawrence KE, Gee EK.Shortened egg reappearance periods (ERP) have been seen as an early warning of anthelmintic resistance development in cyathostomins in horses. The hypothesis has been that in these instances, efficacy against egg laying adult cyathostomins remains high, but a decline in activity against later larval stages leads to the earlier resumption of egg shedding after treatment. In this study using a single herd of horses we investigated the ERP of a number of commonly used equine anthelmintics and examined whether ERP might show seasonal variation between winter and summer. Four main Faecal egg count ...
Korac L, Golestani N, MacNicol J, Souccar-Young J, Witherspoon S, Wildish A, Topfer S, Pearson W.The purpose was to determine local (articular) and systemic effects of intra-articular interleukin-1 in horses supplemented with a dietary PUFA supplement [STRUCTURE-Joint (ST-J)]. Sixteen (16) healthy, mature, light breed horses were randomly assigned to diets containing 0 or 120 mL (n = 8 per group) of ST-J for 30 d. On days 0 (prior to beginning supplementation) and 27, recombinant equine interleukin-1β (reIL-1 β) (75 ng) was injected into the left or right intercarpal joint to induce mild, transient synovitis. Synovial fluid was obtained by aseptic arthrocentesis at postinjection hou...
Liu Y, Zhou F, Zheng W, Bai T, Chen X, Guo L.The sleeping and eating behaviors of horses are important indicators of their health. With the development of the modern equine industry, timely monitoring and analysis of these behaviors can provide valuable data for assessing the physiological state of horses. To recognize horse behaviors in stalls, this study builds on the SlowFast algorithm, introducing a novel loss function to address data imbalance and integrating an SE attention module in the SlowFast algorithm's slow pathway to enhance behavior recognition accuracy. Additionally, YOLOX is employed to replace the original target detecti...
Folk KM, White RR, Gleason CB.Cryotherapy is often used to reduce inflammation in acute equine laminitis cases. Certain hoof temperatures have been suggested as effective in minimizing the inflammatory process; however, there is limited evidence on which methods are best at achieving these temperatures. Our objective was to determine how different methods of cryotherapy influence the rate and extent of cooling for the equine hoof wall. Four horses received three hoof cooling treatments and a control (CON; no treatment application) in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Treatments included (1) ice surrounding the hoof in a 5 L fl...
Samper JC, Hernandez Aviles JC, Ramirez-Agamez LF, Love CC, Gonzalez-Marin C, Fleury P, Dini P, De La Fuente A, Foss R, Campos FL, Ross PJ.The application of sex-sorted semen in horses has historically lagged the bovine industry due to differences in the reproductive physiology and grater variability in equine semen quality. Recent advancements, including SuperGen™ sorters and Ultraplus™ semen processing methods developed by STgenetics® (Navasota, Texas), have significantly improved the efficiency of the sex-sorting process and reduced the sperm damage previously reported. To facilitate the broader use sex-sorted semen in the equine industry, it is essential to address challenges such as shipping cooled semen to a central so...
DeBoer M, Rieck T, Johnson L, Redenius H, Martinson K.Horses have become more intensively managed, including the use of hay nets to increase intake time and reduce hay waste, but their impact on health is not well known. The objectives were to compare changes in subluxations, range of motion, and the pain-pressure threshold in the axial skeleton of horses fed hay with (NET) or without (CON) hay nets. In September 2021, 13 adult horses were blocked by bodyweight (BW) and randomly assigned to the NET or CON treatments for one year. After one year, horses switched treatments and the trial concluded in September 2023. Horses were housed in dry lots w...
Terlinden A, Jacquet S, Manivong S, Cullier A, Cassé F, Legendre F, Garcia AA, Roullin G, Moldovan F, Sirois P, Banquy X, Galéra P, Audigié F....Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of pain and retirement in athletic horses. Hydro-expansive functionalized nanogels, acting as Drug Delivery Systems, constitute one of the current therapeutic prospects. These nanogels have the potential to combine mechanical benefits through polymers with the biological effect of prolonged release of bioactive molecules. The purpose of this double-blinded randomized tolerance study versus negative control was to evaluate the response of healthy joints to a single injection of the expected efficient dose (further referred to as the trial dose) and overdose of ...
Brandi LA, Nunes AT, Faleiros CA, Poleti MD, Oliveira ECM, Schmidt NT, Sousa RLM, Fukumasu H, Balieiro JCC, Brandi RA.Different energy sources are often used in horse diets to enhance health and performance. Understanding how diet impacts the cecal and fecal microbiota is crucial for meeting the nutritional needs of horses. High-throughput sequencing and qPCR were used to compare the fecal and cecal microbiota of five healthy horses receiving three different diets: hay diet (HAY), hay + starch and sugar (SS), and hay + fiber and oil ingredients (FO). Assessment of short-chain fatty acids, pH, and buffer capacity was also performed. The HAY diet was associated with the highest values of fecal pH; the FO and SS...
Itoh K, Kikumura N, Maeda T, Hirata S, Ringhofer M.Despite the long history of the horse-human bond, our understanding of the brain and mind of horses remains limited due to the lack of methods to investigate their brain functions. This study introduces a novel methodology for completely non-invasive, multi-channel recording of electroencephalography (EEG) and evoked potentials in awake horses to examine equine auditory cortical processing. The new approach utilizes specially designed brush-shaped active electrodes that facilitate stable signal acquisition through the hair coat by penetrating electrode pins and integrated pre-amplifiers. A 12-...
Buschmann E, Van Steenkiste G, Vernemmen I, Demeyere M, Schauvliege S, Decloedt A, van Loon G.Myocardial sleeves of the caudal vena cava are the predilection site for atrial tachycardia (AT) in horses. Caudal vena cava isolation guided by the ablation index, a lesion quality marker incorporating power, duration and contact force, might improve outcome. Objective: Describe the feasibility and outcome of caudal vena cava isolation using ablation index-guided radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) to treat AT in horses. Methods: Ten horses with sustained AT. Methods: Records from 10 horses with sustained AT treated by three-dimensional electro-anatomical mapping and ablation index-guided...
Crecan CM, Ciulu-Angelescu V, Morar IA, Lupșan AF, Tripon MA, Tripon MA, Bungărdean D, Daradics Z, Peștean CP.Global technological advancements have shifted equine lameness diagnostics from purely subjective assessment toward more objective, quantitative methods. Traditional gait evaluations are increasingly being supplemented by innovative technologies to enhance diagnostic accuracy. Unassigned: This study aimed to determine if traditional gait assessment could be effectively complemented by quantitative measurements using an affordable, self-constructed device, the Lameness Detector 0.1, which incorporates inertial motion sensors. Unassigned: A total of 42 adult sport horses diagnosed with hindleg l...
Suganuma K, Fujita G, Macalanda AMC, Regilme MAF, Izumida H, Inoue N, Acosta TJ.Horseflies are pests that cause discomfort from blood-sucking and disease transmission, and economic losses in the equine industry. This study evaluated the efficacy of horsecloth impregnated with icaridin in reducing horsefly attacks and deterring horseflies. Repellent activities were evaluated under three conditions: treatment 1 (no horsecloth), 2 (horsecloth without icaridin), and 3 (horsecloth impregnated with icaridin), using three native Hokkaido horses (Dosanko) and three mixed-breed horses (Dosanko and Haflinger) in July 2023 at a riding horse club in Hokkaido, Japan. Treatment 3 signi...
Längerer L, Schuler G, Büttner K, Wehrend A.The determination of progesterone from mares' serum plays a decisive role in diagnosing estrus cycle disorders or luteal insufficiency. To date, no measurement methods are available for rapid quantitative diagnosis of serum progesterone in the mare that would allow results to be available within a two-hour time frame. The present study will evaluate a commercial enzyme-linked fluorescent assay, the mini VIDAS device (bioMérieux, Nürtingen, Germany). Serum was prepared from the blood samples of one hundred and seven mares, divided into two aliquots, and stored at -20°C. Subsequently, compara...
Guest DJ, Birch HL, Thorpe CT.The suspensory ligament (SL) is a key component of the elaborate and highly adapted suspensory apparatus in the horse. In addition to contributing to stabilisation of the metacarpophalangeal joint, the SL has a spring like function to reduce the energetic cost of locomotion. Although the SL is highly prone to injury in horses of all ages and competing in a wide range of disciplines, knowledge regarding fundamental structure-function relationships in the SL is lacking, particularly compared with other injury-prone tendinous structures such as the superficial digital flexor tendon. In this revie...
Seabaugh K, Rao S, Koenig JB, Pezzanite L, Dow S, Koch TG, Russell KA, Mehrpouyan S, Alizadeh AH, Goodrich LR.Synovitis is present before and during osteoarthritis in horses and can result in performance-limiting lameness. Twenty-four horses with lameness localized to the metacarpo-/metatarsophalangeal joint or a single joint of the carpus were enrolled in this study. We evaluated the response of intra-articular injection with 10 million activated (aMSC) or non-activated (naMSC) allogeneic equine umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Subjective and objective lameness was assessed on Days 0, 1, 21, and 42. The treatment injection was randomly assigned and performed following th...
Abbasi A, Nouri H, Samadi F.Cryopreservation is a crucial method for the preservation of genetic materials. Nevertheless, this technique can have adverse effects due to cryo-oxidative damage. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the cryo-protective effects of niosomal nanocarriers loaded with artemisinin (NN-Art) on the functional attributes of equine spermatozoa. The parameters examined included sperm motility and kinematics through computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA), plasma membrane integrity via the hypoosmotic swelling test, viability using the eosin-nigrosin staining technique, morphology with...
Kwok KY, Kwok WH, Wan TSM, Brooks L, Popot MA, Jaubert M, Bailly-Chouriberry L, Heffron BT, Choo CK, Tso J, Tso R, McKenzie B, Selvadurai N, Batty D....The use of alkalinising agents prior to racing for manipulating performance in the horse has been identified since the 1990s. To mitigate the risk, an international threshold for available carbon dioxide in equine plasma based on analyses using the Beckman Synchron EL-ISE analyser was adopted in 1994 by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) and revised from 37 to 36 mM in 2004. In 2009, the technical support for the above instrument was discontinued by its manufacturer. Based on the same measurement principle (i.e., ion selective electrode), the Beckman DxC600 analys...
Kuzmina TA, Königová A, Antipov A, Kuzmin Y, Kharchenko V, Syrota Y.The aim of this study was to assess the changes in strongylid communities of domestic horses after two decades of regular anthelmintic treatments; the changes in prevalence and relative abundance of individual strongylid species and their contribution to the observed alterations were estimated. The study was conducted in 2023; data collected in 2004 were used for comparison; 39 horses from two farms in Ukraine (22 horses in 2004 and 17 in 2023) were examined. In total, 18,999 strongylid specimens were collected by in vivo diagnostic deworming method before (in 2004, 9119 specimens) and after (...
Lee HY, Kopesky PW, Plaas A, Sandy J, Kisiday J, Frisbie D, Grodzinsky AJ, Ortiz C.To quantify the structural characteristics and nanomechanical properties of aggrecan produced by adult bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) in peptide hydrogel scaffolds and compare to aggrecan from adult articular cartilage. Methods: Adult equine BMSCs were encapsulated in 3D-peptide hydrogels and cultured for 21 days with TGF-β1 to induce chondrogenic differentiation. BMSC-aggrecan was extracted and compared with aggrecan from age-matched adult equine articular cartilage. Single molecules of aggrecan were visualized by atomic force microscopy-based imaging and aggrecan nanomechanical stiffness...
Redekopp C, Irvine CH, Donald RA, Livesey JH, Sadler W, Nicholls MG, Alexander SL, Evans MJ.Plasma ACTH, arginine vasopressin (AVP), and catecholamines were measured at 5-min intervals in the pituitary venous effluent of the unanesthetized horse. Pulses of ACTH and AVP were found to be surprisingly brief (usually of less than 10-min duration) and frequent (averaging between 15-25 min). A highly significant relationship in the changes in concentration of these two hormones was demonstrated (P less than 0.0002) both at rest and after a mild hypoglycemic stimulus. Although there was also a significant correlation (P less than 0.005) between simultaneous plasma ACTH and AVP values the pu...
Figueiredo AS, de Moraes MVDS, Soares CC, Chalhoub FLL, de Filippis AMB, Dos Santos DRL, de Almeida FQ, Godoi TLOS, de Souza AM, Burdman TR....Recent advances in the study of equine pegivirus (EPgV), Theiler's disease-associated virus (TDAV) and equine hepacivirus (EqHV) highlight their importance to veterinary and human health. To gain some insight into virus distribution, possible risk factors, presence of liver damage and genetic variability of these viruses in Brazil, we performed a cross-sectional study of EPgV and TDAV infections using a simultaneous detection assay, and assessed EqHV coinfection in different horse cohorts. Of the 500 serum samples screened, TDAV, EPgV and EPgV-EqHV were present in 1.6%, 14.2% and 18.3%, respec...
Schrimpf A, Single MS, Nawroth C.Dogs and cats use human emotional information directed to an unfamiliar situation to guide their behavior, known as social referencing. It is not clear whether other domestic species show similar socio-cognitive abilities in interacting with humans. We investigated whether horses ( = 46) use human emotional information to adjust their behavior to a novel object and whether the behavior of horses differed depending on breed type. Horses were randomly assigned to one of two groups: an experimenter positioned in the middle of a test arena directed gaze and voice towards the novel object with eith...
Bonin SJ, Clayton HM, Lanovaz JL, Johnson TJ.To develop a method of measuring 3-dimensional kinematics of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) in horses chewing sweet feed. Methods: 4 mature horses that had good dental health. Methods: Markers attached to the skin over the skull and mandible were tracked by an optical tracking system. Movements of the mandible relative to the skull were described in terms of 3 rotations and 3 translations. A virtual marker was created on the midline between the rami of the mandibles at the level of the rostral end of the facial crest to facilitate observation of mandibular movements. Results: During the ope...
Bartholomew S, Owens SD, Ferraro GL, Carrade DD, Lara DJ, Librach FA, Borjesson DL, Galuppo LD.Stem cells derived from umbilical cord tissue (UCT) and umbilical cord blood (UCB) in human subjects and horses can be obtained in a minimally invasive fashion with successful propagation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Currently there are no detailed protocols documenting a procedure to harvest UCB and UCT safely for equine stem cell propagation. Objective: UCB and UCT could be collected without harm to mare or foal. Objective: To develop a standard and safe method for UCB and UCT collection, and prospectively to compare foal and mare health between groups of animals where tissue was and wa...
Matthee S, Dreyer FH, Hoffmann WA, van Niekerk FE.Fifty-one per cent of 110 questionnaires, designed for obtaining information on helminth control practices and management on Thoroughbred stud farms in South Africa, were completed by farmers during 2000. The number of horses per farm included in the questionnaire survey ranged from 15 to 410. Foals, yearlings and adult horses were treated with anthelmintics at a mean of 7.3 +/- 3.0, 6.6 +/- 2.7 and 5.3 +/- 2.3 times per year, respectively. An average of 3.4 different drugs were used annually, with ivermectin being used bymost farmers during 1997-2000. On 43% of farms the weights of horses wer...
McBride SD, Hemmings A.Stress-induced changes in mesoaccumbens dopamine neurophysiology have been associated with the development of stereotypic behaviour in in-bred strains of laboratory rodents. This experiment evaluated whether similar changes are associated with environmentally-induced stereotypic behaviour in a higher-vertebrate species, the horse. D1- and D2-like dopamine receptor densities (B(max)) and dissociation constants (K(d)) were measured in control (n=9) and stereotypy (n=9) horses in the nucleus accumbens, caudate nucleus, putamen, substantia nigra and ventral tegmentum brain regions. Results reveale...
Jürgenschellert L, Krücken J, Bousquet E, Bartz J, Heyer N, Nielsen MK, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G.The infection of horses with strongylid nematodes is highly prevalent, with multi-species infections being the rule. spp. and in particular are amongst the most pathogenic strongyle equine parasites. Presumably due to regular strategic anthelmintic treatments in combination with long prepatencies, prevalence of these worms was severely reduced in past decades. In this study, 484 horses from 48 farms in Berlin/Brandenburg, Germany were sampled between May 2017 and January 2018. Mini-FLOTAC and combined sedimentation/flotation were used to analyse faecal samples and larval cultures were carrie...
Hartman N, Greening LM.The physical environment is known to influence nocturnal behavioral time budgets of the stabled horse, but less evidence exists to suggest how this might be affected by including additional sensory stimuli. This study aimed to establish the impact of novel auditory stimuli on the frequency of equine sleep-related behavior. Seven horses stabled for 24 hours per day on the same yard receiving the same daily management routine were observed from 2030 to 0630 over nine nights. Frequency of nocturnal behavior was recorded using focal intermittent sampling against a predetermined ethogram and an in...
Desjardins I, Theoret C, Joubert P, Wagner B, Lavoie JP.Airway remodeling may play an important role in heaves pathophysiology. Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta1) is a potent profibrotic cytokine, which might contribute to airway wall thickening and fibrosis of bronchiolar and alveolar submucosa. An ELISA designed for the measurement of human TGF-beta1 was used to measured total TGF-beta1 released in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of normal horses and of those affected with heaves in remission. The specificity of the assay for TGF-beta1 of the horse was confirmed using recombinant equine TGF-beta1. The influence of hay exposure on T...
Hughes KJ, Malikides N, Hodgson DR, Hodgson JL.To compare a fast Romanowsky cytological stain (Diff-Quik) and Leishman's stain for the detection of mast cells in samples from the lower airways of racehorses, and to compare the proportion of mast cells and eosinophils in the total inflammatory cells in tracheal aspirate (TA) with those in paired bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples. Methods: Retrospective case series of 48 young Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses. Methods: Fifty-one paired TA and BAL samples were collected after treadmill exercise from 48 horses with poor racing performance. Two slides were prepared from each sample; ...
He HY, Liu LL, Chen B, Xiao HX, Liu WJ.Donkey milk has high nutritional and medicinal value, but there are few researches in donkey milk traits, especially on genome. The whole lactation of 89 donkeys was recorded and it was found that Xinjiang donkey had good lactation performance while great differences among individuals. In our previous study, four genes including , , and were identified as milk-associated with Chinese Kazakh house, based on Equine 670k Chip genomic analysis. And then 15 SNPs of the four key genes were conducted for genotyping in Xinjiang donkey in this study, one of Chinese indigenous breed, 14 SNPs were succ...
Lagneaux D, Huhtinen M, Koskinen E, Palmer E.Equine embryos recovered on Day 6 after ovulation were cooled to +4 degrees C, or frozen with AFP alone or together with glycerol. Twenty embryos (140-200 microm in diameter) were randomly assigned to 6 treatment groups. In the first 3 groups, the embryos were cooled from room temperature to +4 degrees C at a rate of 3 degrees C/min and warmed again at a rate of 32 degrees C/min in a programmable freezer. In the second 3 groups, the embryos were frozen using a standard protocol, stored in liquid nitrogen for 5-7 days and then thawed in a 37 degrees C waterbath. After cooling/warming or freezin...
Moser DK, Schoonover MJ, Holbrook TC, Payton ME.To determine the effect of volume of amikacin perfusate for intravenous regional limb perfusion (IVRLP) via the cephalic vein in standing, sedated horses on (1) amikacin concentrations in the synovial fluid of the radiocarpal joint (RCJ) and distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) and, (2) amikacin concentration in the systemic circulation, and (3) regional intravenous pressure. Methods: Randomized cross-over design. Methods: Six adult horses. Methods: Each horse received IVRLP using 4 perfusate volumes (10, 30, 60 & 120 ml) in random order, after a minimum of 1 week washout. After application of ...
Bigi D, Perrotta G, Zambonelli P.To understand the origin and genetic diversity of Italian horses, mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequences were generated for 163 horses from seven breeds. Sequence analysis of a 480-bp segment revealed a total of 84 haplotypes with 57 polymorphic sites, indicating multiple maternal origins and high genetic diversity. Comparison of the haplotypes with the equine mtDNA haplotype/haplogroup nomenclature showed a haplogroup distribution in the Italian breeds more similar to that found in the Middle East breeds than in the European breeds, probably due to the economic and cultural relationship with the ...
Back W, Schamhardt HC, Barneveld A.The canter is a 3 beat asymmetrical gait with a difference in timing between left and right limbs. To evaluate intralimb asymmetry at the canter, a group of 24 Dutch Warmbloods was evaluated on a treadmill (7 m/s) using a modified CODA-3 optoelectronic gait analysis system. Thirteen horses cantered in the left lead ('leading limb' group) and 11 in the right lead ('trailing limb' group) during left forelimb recordings, while 11 horses were at the left and 13 were at the right lead during left hindlimb recordings. Kinematic differences between horses from the 'leading limb' and 'trailing limb' g...
Vinther AM, Skovgaard K, Heegaard PM, Andersen PH.In horses, insights into the innate immune processes in acute systemic inflammation are limited even though these processes may be highly important for future diagnostic and therapeutic advances in high-mortality disease conditions as the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and sepsis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the expression of 31 selected blood leukocyte immune genes in an equine model of acute systemic inflammation to identify significantly regulated genes and to describe their expression dynamics during a 24-h experimental period. Systemic inflammation ...
Mukai K, Hiraga A, Takahashi T, Matsui A, Ohmura H, Aida H, Jones JH.OBJECTIVE To determine whether racehorses undergoing regular exercise at 2 intensities or stall rest during a period of reduced training (detraining) would differentially maintain their cardiopulmonary and oxygen-transport capacities. ANIMALS 27 Thoroughbreds. PROCEDURES Horses trained on a treadmill for 18 weeks underwent a period of detraining for 12 weeks according to 1 of 3 protocols: cantering at 70% of maximal rate of oxygen consumption ([Formula: see text]o) for 3 min/d for 5 d/wk (canter group); walking for 1 h/d for 5 d/wk (walk group); or stall rest (stall group). Standardized treadm...
Lansade L, Trösch M, Parias C, Blanchard A, Gorosurreta E, Calandreau L.Pet-directed speech (PDS) is a type of speech humans spontaneously use with their companion animals. It is very similar to speech commonly used when talking to babies. A survey on social media showed that 92.7% of the respondents used PDS with their horse, but only 44.4% thought that their horse was sensitive to it, and the others did not know or doubted its efficacy. We, therefore, decided to test the impact of PDS on two tasks. During a grooming task that consisted of the experimenter scratching the horse with their hand, the horses (n = 20) carried out significantly more mutual grooming g...
Kasapi MA, Gosline JM.Small-scale components of the equine hoof wall were tested to determine their mechanical roles in the morphological hierarchy. Macroscale tensile tests conducted on samples of the inner wall tubules and intertubular material showed a sixfold difference in mean initial stiffnesses (0.47 and 0.08 GPa, respectively), indicating that the inner wall tubules stiffen the wall along its longitudinal axis. The similarity in material properties of tubule and intertubular samples from the mid-wall suggests that tubules in this region offer only minor reinforcement along the longitudinal axis. Microscale ...
Won SY, Kim YC, Do K, Jeong BH.Prion disease is a fatal infectious disease caused by the accumulation of pathogenic prion protein (PrP) in several mammals. However, to date, prion disease has not been reported in horses. The Sho protein encoded by the shadow of the prion protein gene (SPRN) plays an essential role in the pathomechanism of prion diseases. To date, the only genetic study of the equine SPRN gene has been reported in the inbred horse, Thoroughbred horse. We first discovered four SPRN single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 141 Jeju and 88 Halla horses by direct DNA sequencing. In addition, we found that the g...
Pereira GR, Lorenzo PL, Carneiro GF, Ball BA, Gonçalves PB, Pegoraro LM, Bilodeau-Goeseels S, Kastelic JP, Casey PJ, Liu IK.The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that equine growth hormone (eGH), in combination with insulin growth factor-I (IGF-I), influences positively in vitro nuclear and cytoplasmic maturation of equine oocytes. Cumulus-oocyte complexes were recovered from follicles that were < 25 mm in diameter, characterized by morphology and were allocated randomly as follow: (a) control (no additives); (b) 400 ng/ml eGH; (c) 200 ng/ml IGF-I; (d) eGH + IGF-I; and (e) eGH + IGF-I + 400 ng/ml anti-IGF-I antibody. Oocytes were matured for 30 h at 38.5°C in air with 5% CO2 and then stained wi...
Calvete JJ, Mann K, Schäfer W, Sanz L, Reinert M, Nessau S, Raida M, Töpfer-Petersen E.We report the complete amino acid sequence of HSP-1, a major protein isolated from stallion seminal plasma or acid extracts of ejaculated spermatozoa. The protein consists of 121 amino acids organized in two types of homologous repeats arranged in the pattern AA'BB'. Each of the 13-15-residue A-type repeats contains two O-linked oligosaccharide chains. The B-type repeats span 44-47 amino acids each, are not glycosylated, and have the consensus pattern of the gelatin-binding fibronectin type-II module. This domain also occurs in the major bovine seminal plasma heparin-binding proteins PDC-109 (...
Leleu C, Bariller F, Cotrel C, Barrey E.Locomotion analysis is increasingly used to assess the gait of horses in the selection and training of equine athletes. We have developed a specific locomotor test for fast trotting harnessed horses that uses an accelerometric device. We describe here the reproducibility of the locomotor test and the validation of its use to analyse trotters on the racetrack. We measured the performance of eight horses under the same conditions three times in a single week. We then tested the influence of five tracks on the variables measured using eight different trotters every two days. The horses trotted at...
Azarpeykan S, Dittmer KE.Housekeeping genes (HKGs) are used as internal controls for normalising and calculating the relative expression of target genes in RT-qPCR experiments. There is no unique universal HKG and HKGs vary among organisms and tissues, so this study aimed to determine the most stably expressed HKGs in the equine kidney. The evaluated HKGs included 18S ribosomal RNA (18S), 28S ribosomal RNA (28S), ribosomal protein L32 (RPL32), β-2-microglobulin (B2M), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), succinate dehydrogenase complex (SDHA), zeta polypeptide (YWHAZ), and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltran...
Hara A, Taketomi T.Equine renal glycopshingolipids were composed of galactocerebroside, glucocerbroside, ceramide dihexoside, ceramide trihexoside, sulfatide, globoside I, Forssman globoside, and hematoside. Free ceramide and sphingomyelin were also found in equine kidney. Their long chain bases consisted of sphingosine, dihydrosphingosine, C18-phytosphingosine, and C20-phytosphingosine, whereas the fatty acids were separated into two groups: nonhydroxy and hydroxy fatty acids. Ceramide monohexoside was separated into five spots by TLC on borax-impregnated plates. The major component of ceramide monohexoside was...
Gillingwater K, Büscher P, Brun R.The animal pathogenic protozoan, Trypanosoma evansi, leads to a wasting disease in equines, cattle and camels, commonly known as Surra. It is extensively distributed geographically with a wide range of mammalian hosts and causes great economical loss. Trypanosoma equiperdum causes a venereal disease called Dourine in horses and donkeys. Chemotherapy appears to be the most effective form of control for T. evansi, whereas infections caused by T. equiperdum are considered incurable. Due to emerging drug resistance, efficient control of T. evansi is severely threatened, emphasising the urgent need...
Franchini M, Gilli U, Akens MK, Fellenberg RV, Bracher V.Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is defined as a chronic obstructive inflammatory disease affecting the small airways associated with hay dust exposure (Lowell, F.C., 1964. Observation on heaves. An asthma like syndrome in the horse, J. Allergy 35, 322-330). The disease corresponds histopathologically to a chronic bronchiolitis (Gerber, H., 1973. Chronic pulmonary disease in the horse, Equine Vet. J. 5, 26-33; Winder, N.C., Grünig, G., Hermann, M., Howald, B., von Fellenberg, R., 1989. Comparison of respiratory secretion cytology and pulmonary histology in horses, J. Vet. Med., A3...
Keyser-Tracqui C, Blandin-Frappin P, Francfort HP, Ricaut FX, Lepetz S, Crubézy E, Samashev Z, Ludes B.Sequence polymorphism of the mitochondrial DNA D-loop was used to determine the genetic diversity of horses recovered from a Scythian princely tomb dating from the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Eight haplotypes were found among the 13 ancient horse samples tested. Phylogenetical analysis showed that these ancient horse's sequences, along with two Yakut ones, were distributed throughout the tree defined by modern horses' sequences and are closely related to them. No clear geographical affiliation of the specimens studied was thus determined. Our work, among others, supports the very ancient ...
