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Topic:Equine Research
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.
A pattern recognition approach for the quantification of horse and rider interactions. Interactions of various systems were investigated in several studies of dynamic systems, but the interactions between horse and rider have not yet been documented. These interactions include the rider's ability to control the horse, adapt to the horse and maintain both participants' body position. An optimum interaction is also adapted to the individual nature of the horse. Objective: To identify rider-horse interactions by means of artificial neural nets analysing the time-continuous pattern. Methods: Fourteen horses were measured trotting on hand, and ridden at working trot with a profession...
Measurements of right ventricular internal dimensions and their relationships to severity of tricuspid valve regurgitation in national hunt thoroughbreds. The effect of tricuspid valve regurgitation (TR) in right ventricular (RV) chamber size has not been reported. Methods: An echocardiographic and auscultation study was conducted on 394 race-fit National Hunt Thoroughbreds (TBs) in 4 training yards. Auscultation was performed on each horse and audible murmurs of TR graded using a 1-6 scale. Echocardiography was also performed and standard, 2-dimensional (2D), short (SA) and long axis (LA) images of the RV obtained from a right parasternal location. An m-mode image was recorded from an SA view of the RV just below the level of the tricuspid valv...
Exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage during submaximal exercise. Maximally exercising horses achieve mean pulmonary artery pressures (Ppa(mean)) that exceed the minimum threshold (75 mmHg) estimated for pulmonary capillary rupture and exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH). EIPH is not expected to occur during moderate submaximal exercise (i.e. 40-60% VO2max) since Ppa(mean) remains well below this threshold. Objective: Prolonged submaximal exercise (trotting) would precipitate locomotory respiratory uncoupling and cause EIPH. This would be present as a result of the most negative intrapleural pressures (as estimated by the minimum oesophageal pressu...
The contribution of heme propionate groups to the conformational dynamics associated with CO photodissociation from horse heart myoglobin. Photoacoustic calorimetry and transient absorption spectroscopy were used to study conformational dynamics associated with CO photodissociation from horse heart myoglobin (Mb) reconstituted with either Fe protoporphyrin IX dimethylester (FePPDME), Fe octaethylporphyrin (FeOEP), or with native Fe protoporphyrin IX (FePPIX). The volume and enthalpy changes associated with the Fe-CO bond dissociation and formation of a transient deoxyMb intermediate for the reconstituted Mbs were found to be similar to those determined for native Mb (DeltaV1 = -2.5+/-0.6 ml mol(-1) and DeltaH1 = 8.1+/-3.0 kcal mo...
Comparison of prednisolone and dexamethasone effects in the presence of environmental control in heaves-affected horses. This study was designed to compare the efficacy of oral prednisolone and intramuscular (IM) dexamethasone in heaves-affected horses with environmental control. A total of 16 horses, aged 8-20years, with heaves were included in the study. Complete examinations were performed on Day 0 (before treatment), Day 13 (after treatment) and Day 30. Clinical variables, arterial blood gases, mucus scoring and carina evaluation (during endoscopy), and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytological analysis were all assessed. The horses were randomly assigned to receive either oral prednisolone (1mg/kg) or IM dex...
Composition, physiochemical properties, nitrogen fraction distribution, and amino acid profile of donkey milk. This study investigated the changes in chemical composition, nitrogen fraction distribution, and AA profile of milk samples obtained during lactation from the Jiangyue breed of donkey in Northwest China. Results showed that donkey milk contained 9.53% total solids, 1.57% protein, 1.16% fat, 6.33% lactose, and 0.4% ash on average, which is more similar to mare and human milk than to the milk of other mammals. Throughout the lactation investigated, pH and density were constant, protein and ash content showed an apparent negative trend (an increase in lactose content during 120 d postpartum, foll...
[Measurement of the attention time in the horse]. A study carried out on 49 horses showed that it is possible to measure the attention time by operant conditioning. After teaching horses an instrumental task using a signal, we were then able to test their attention time by asking them to prolong it increasingly while setting success and failure criteria. Two tests were performed 3 weeks apart. The 2nd test was feasible without relearning, a proof of memory, and was repeatable, a proof of consistency in the attention time. A significant difference was observed between the 3 age groups. Young horses often performed very well during the 1st test...
Equine learning behaviour: what we know, what we don’t and future research priorities. Murphy and Arkins (2007) present a thorough and carefully researched review of publications on equine learning behaviour. They have documented the extent of current studies and identified some limitations in the literature available for this species. Throughout, these authors have suggested areas warranting further research. I would like to offer the following comments in support of their aims while evaluating some potential directions for future research.
Equine learning behaviour. Scientists and equestrians continually seek to achieve a clearer understanding of equine learning behaviour and its implications for training. Behavioural and learning processes in the horse are likely to influence not only equine athletic success but also the usefulness of the horse as a domesticated species. However given the status and commercial importance of the animal, equine learning behaviour has received only limited investigation. Indeed most experimental studies on equine cognitive function to date have addressed behaviour, learning and conceptualization processes at a moderately ba...
Color vision in horses (Equus caballus): deficiencies identified using a pseudoisochromatic plate test. In the past, equine color vision was tested with stimuli composed either of painted cards or photographic slides or through physiological testing using electroretinogram flicker photometry. Some studies produced similar results, but others did not, demonstrating that there was not yet a definitive answer regarding color vision in horses (Equus caballus). In this study, a pseudoisochromatic plate test--which is highly effective in testing color vision both in small children and in adult humans--was used for the first time on a nonhuman animal. Stimuli consisted of different colored dotted circl...
Reorganization of immobilized horse and yeast cytochrome c induced by pH changes or nitric oxide binding. The redox properties of horse and yeast cytochrome c electrostatically immobilized on carboxylic acid-terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) have been determined over a broad pH range (pH 3.5-8) in the absence and presence of nitric oxide. Below pH 6, both proteins exhibit comparable midpoint potentials, coverages, and electron-transfer rate constants, which suggests that they are adsorbed on the SAM in a similar fashion. Above pH 6, a sharp decrease in electron-transfer rate constants is observed for immobilized yeast cytochrome c, which is indicative of a change in the electron tunnelin...
Whole-genome linkage disequilibrium screening for complex traits in horses. The identification of candidate genes for significant traits is crucial. In this study, we developed and tested effective and systematic methods based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) for the identification of candidate regions for genes with Mendelian inheritance and those associated with complex traits. Our approach entailed the combination of primary screening using pooled DNA samples based on DeltaTAC, secondary screening using an individual typing method and tertiary screening using a permutation test based on the differences in the haplotype frequency between two neighbouring microsatellit...
Two SNPs in the SILV gene are associated with silver coat colour in ponies. In horses, a pigment dilution acting only on black eumelanin is the so-called silver coat colour, which is characterized by a chocolate-to-reddish body with a white mane and tail. Using information from other species, we focused our study on SILV as a possible candidate gene for the equine silver phenotype. A 1559-bp genomic fragment was sequenced in 24 horses, and five SNPs were detected. Two of the five SNPs (DQ665301:g.697A>T and DQ665301:g.1457C>T) were genotyped in 112 horses representing eight colour phenotypes. Both mutations were completely associated with the silver phenotype: all eum...
Effects of intensity and duration of exercise on muscular responses to training of thoroughbred racehorses. This study examined the effects of the intensity and duration of exercise on the nature and magnitude of training adaptations in muscle of adolescent (2-3 yr old) racehorses. Six thoroughbreds that had been pretrained for 2 mo performed six consecutive conditioning programs of varying lactate-guided intensities [velocities eliciting blood lactate concentrations of 2.5 mmol/l (v2.5) and 4 mmol/l (v4), respectively] and durations (5, 15, 25 min). Pre- and posttraining gluteus muscle biopsies were analyzed for myosin heavy chain content, fiber-type composition, fiber size, capillarization, and fi...
Image fusion of computed tomographic and magnetic resonance images for the development of a three-dimensional musculoskeletal model of the equine forelimb. Biomechanical models that compute the lengths and forces of muscle-tendon units are broadly applicable to the study of factors that promote injury and the planning and effects of orthopedic surgical procedures in equine athletes. A three-dimensional (3D) generic musculoskeletal model of the equine forelimb comprised of bony segment, muscle-tendon, and ligament information, was developed based on high-resolution computed tomographic (CT) and T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images from an isolated forelimb of a Thoroughbred racehorse. Image fusion was achieved through coregistration of CT an...
Equine cloning. Equine cloning is now in use as a clinical technique. It is available commercially, and its efficiency seems to be increasing. The foals produced by cloning may differ in some phenotypic and behavioral traits from the original animal but should produce offspring that reflect those that the original donor animal would have produced. This is especially true in the case of male animals, where the mitochondrial DNA is not passed to the progeny. Results of pregnancies due in 2006 should add significantly to our understanding of the factors affecting production of viable cloned foals and of the simi...
The effect of O2 tension on pH homeostasis in equine articular chondrocytes. To determine the effects of varying O(2) on pH homeostasis, based on the hypothesis that the function of articular chondrocytes is best understood at realistic O(2) tensions. Methods: Cartilage from equine metacarpophalangeal/tarsophalangeal joints was digested with collagenase to isolate chondrocytes, and then loaded with the pH-sensitive fluorophore 2',7'-bis-2-(carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxylfluorescein. The radioisotope(22)Na(+) was used to determine the kinetics of Na(+)/H(+) exchange (NHE) and the activity of the Na(+)/K(+) pump, and ATP levels were assessed with luciferin assays. Levels of ...
Collagen fiber architecture of the periodontal ligament in equine cheek teeth. The objective of this study was to examine the spatial arrangement of the fiber apparatus of the equine periodontium which is supposed to meet two contrary requirements: (1) to attach the tooth firmly and elastically to the alveolar bone; and, to be appropriately remodeled and reconstructed in order to facilitate the prolonged eruption of the tooth. Specimens of periodontal ligament were obtained from the buccal and lingual/palatal aspects of the first molars from the maxilla and mandible of 12 horses. The animals were assigned to three age groups. Histological sections were prepared from thre...
Post-testicular changes in the density and distribution of intramembrane particles of stallion sperm surface domains. Freeze-fracture replicas of stallion spermatozoa, collected from the proximal caput, corpus and cauda epididymides regions, were analyzed by electron microscopy to explore the distribution and density of intramembrane particles (IMP). Conspicuous differences in density and arrangement of the IMP were observed in the different topographical domains of mature and immature spermatozoa. A reduction of IMP, especially remarkable in the post-acrosomal domain, was observed in mature epididymal spermatozoa when compared with samples collected from ductuli efferentes. Some structural species-specific d...
Training methods for horses: habituation to a frightening stimulus. Responses of horses in frightening situations are important for both equine and human safety. Considerable scientific interest has been shown in development of reactivity tests, but little effort has been dedicated to the development of appropriate training methods for reducing fearfulness. Objective: To investigate which of 3 different training methods (habituation, desensitisation and counter-conditioning) was most effective in teaching horses to react calmly in a potentially frightening situation. Objective: 1) Horses are able to generalise about the test stimulus such that, once familiar w...
Locomotor mechanics of the tölt in Icelandic horses. To evaluate the locomotor mechanics of the tölt in Icelandic horses. Methods: 10 adult Icelandic horses with no history of lameness. Methods: Force platform data were captured for 27 trials for horses ridden at a tölt in a lateral sequence single-foot gait at a steady speed from 0.89 to 5.98 m/s. Simultaneous kinematic data were obtained by tracking retroflective markers overlying the right fore- and hind limbs. These kinetic and kinematic data were combined to evaluate 3 mechanical approaches, duty factor, Froude number, and center of mass (COM) mechanics, and to evaluate the capacity to re...
Efficacy of training in theriogenology as determined by a survey of veterinarians. To determine whether veterinarians perceive that theriogenology training at veterinary medical schools in North America and the Caribbean is adequate for achievement of theriogenology skills commonly used in private practice. Methods: A survey was mailed to members of the veterinary medical associations of Alabama, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Washington. With regard to reproductive procedures in bovine, equine, porcine, small ruminant, camelid, and small animal species, veterinarians (predominantly practitioners) were asked to rate the importance of that procedure in their job and to assess thei...
Occurrence of Strongylidae (Nematoda: Strongyloidea) in Polish horses “tarpans” from Popielne Reserve. The study was performed to evaluate intensity of strongylid infection in stabled tarpans using the method of collecting worms after anthelmintic treatment and in wild tarpans from Popielne reserve on the basis of faecal examination. After treatment with ivermectin 12 cyathostomes and one large strongyle species were recovered from the faeces of two tarpans. The most abundant cyathostome species were C. catinatum, C. pateratum, C. longibursatum, C. nassatum and C. coronatus. A higher intensity of infections with small strongyles (cyathostomes) was found in stabled group than in the group from t...
Classification of Actinobacillus spp isolates from horses involved in mare reproductive loss syndrome. To identify Actinobacillus spp isolates recovered from fetuses and pericardial fluid from horses affected with mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS) and determine whether these bacterial species are the same as those isolated from clinically normal horses. Methods: Isolates of actinobacilli recovered from 18 horses with pericarditis and 109 fetuses aborted by mares affected by MRLS. Procedures-Actinobacillus spp isolates were identified to the level of species or subspecies by use of conventional phenotypic tests and biochemical and enzyme test kits. The 16S rRNA gene from selected isolates w...
