Equine Science encompasses the study of horses and their management, health, and performance. This field integrates various scientific disciplines such as biology, genetics, nutrition, physiology, and veterinary medicine to understand and improve the well-being and capabilities of horses. Areas of focus include equine anatomy, reproduction, behavior, and disease prevention. Research in equine science aims to enhance horse care, optimize training and performance, and address health challenges. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse aspects of equine science, providing insights into the latest advancements and methodologies in the field.
Garland A, van Doorn DA, van den Boom R, Roelfsema E, Jung L, Boast M, Papadakis K, Margiotta M, Wafelbakker S, Briggs M, McCrae P, Pearson W.Up to 70% of horses in domestic equine populations are overweight. Promotion of weight loss is an important component of limiting the detrimental co-morbidities associated with excess adipose tissue. The use of a body condition score (BCS) can help equine caregivers track their horse's weight-status. However, this single score doesn't reflect changes in individual adipose depots. The purpose of this study was to characterize morphometric changes (including 8 anatomic BCS measurements that make up the whole-BCS) in horses during 3 different weight-loss programs over 10 weeks. Methods: Thirty-tw...
Park T, Hong S, Murray L, Lee J, Shah A, Mesa JC, Lee H, Couetil L, Lee CH.Continuous physiological monitoring is well-established in human healthcare for early disease detection and management. However, translation of these technologies to large animals such as equines remains underdeveloped due to anatomical constraints, dense hair coat coverage, and requirements for unimpeded mobility. Equines, particularly racehorses, are prone to asthma and cardiovascular abnormalities, with nearly 80 % affected by mild to moderate asthma, impacting performance and long-term health. Despite the need for continuous monitoring, existing solutions require shaving hairs, often lack...
de Lara NSS, Weiss RR, Oba E, Kozicki LE, Souza FA, Bergstein-Galan TG, Muehlbauer E, Silvestri M, de Lima PHL, Vaz ES.In equine reproduction, determining foetal sex is of economic and strategic importance, but currently available methods are often invasive, costly, or require specialised expertise. This study aimed to assess whether plasma progesterone concentrations could serve as a predictive tool for foetal sex determination in Criollo mares between the 4th and 8th months of gestation and to determine whether these measurements could identify foetal sex. Blood samples were collected at 30-day intervals from 17 Crioula mares between 114 days and 240 days of gestation. Maternal plasma progesterone concen...
Frippiat T, Bonhomme M, Dyson S, Votion DM.Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) adversely affects the health, welfare, and performance of sports horses, requiring gastroscopy for definitive diagnosis. Owners frequently consider girth aversion as highly suggestive of EGUS. Objective: To evaluate whether owner-reported clinical signs or fecal occult blood tests (FOBTs) can help identify horses needing gastroscopy for EGUS diagnosis or monitoring treatment, thereby reducing unnecessary procedures in unaffected horses. Methods: Eighty competition dressage horses referred by veterinarians for EGUS evaluation. Methods: Case-control study in...
Joseph EJ, Love L, Mayakis M, Varner K.Trazodone is administered to hospitalized equine patients to aid in behavioral management, but the effects on the anesthetic recovery period have not been investigated. This study sought to determine if there is an association between trazodone administration and recovery quality, recovery time, need for sedation, or need for reversal agent administration. We hypothesized that there would be no difference in recovery scores, recovery time, additional sedation, or reversal agent administration between horses that received preanesthetic trazodone and horses that did not. Records were reviewed to...
Huang Q, Ren W, Shan D, Su Y, Li Z, Li L, Wang R, Ma S, Wang J.This study aimed to compare blood samples from Yili horses with outstanding and average performance in 5000 m races through transcriptome sequencing, identify key differentially expressed genes, lncRNAs, and circRNAs, as well as related enriched pathways, and elucidate their regulatory networks. This study used six healthy four-year-old Yili stallions as subjects, divided into an excellent group (E group, = 3) and an ordinary group (O group, = 3) based on their 5000-m race performance. Blood RNA-Seq technology was used to analyze differentially expressed mRNAs, lncRNAs, and circRNAs. A total...
Louro LF, Sinclair C, Hargreaves L, Coumbe K, Hajeeh Ali M, Percan V, Bacon B, Kukaswadia A, Mair T.The healthcare sector contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with anaesthetic gases being a notable contributor. Implementing sustainable practices in equine anaesthesia, such as low-flow anaesthesia, offers potential benefits. Objective: To audit oxygen and isoflurane usage in five equine hospitals, their associated GHG emissions, and the impact of anaesthesia training on mitigating these emissions. Methods: Multi-centre clinical audit. Methods: This audit covered two periods: study period one (1 June-30 September 2022) and study period two (1 June-30 September 20...
Gillen A, Hassel D, Gonzalez SW, Savage V, Mudge M, Wood A, Barnes H, Bauck A, Freeman D, Dembek K, Gonzalez LM, Archer DC.Strangulating lipoma obstruction (SLO) is the most common cause of equine small intestinal strangulation and is fatal without surgery. Currently, epidemiological information is primarily limited to signalment-related risk factors and requires further investigation. Objective: To identify horse-level risk factors for SLO and/or abdominal lipoma(s) (LP) formation in horses with acute colic that underwent surgery or post-mortem examination at participating equine clinics. Methods: Prospective, international, multicentre, epidemiological study. Methods: An epidemiological study was conducted over ...
Krücken J, Diekmann I, Andreotti S, Bredtmann CM, Mbedi S, Sparmann S, Schmidt JS, de Almeida Borges F, de Freitas MG, Sallé G, Hofer H....Equines are parasitized by complex communities of Strongylidae (Nematoda) comprising multi-species infections. Currently, Cyathostominae are most prevalent, while Strongylus species are only rarely detected. Since eggs and, in most cases, infective larvae cannot be differentiated to species level, except for Strongylus spp., species-specific knowledge of the pathology, epidemiology and ecology of these parasitic nematodes is limited. Reference sequence data for several cyathostomin species are limited or missing. Deep amplicon sequencing of internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS-2) regions of nema...
Karmoty AFE, Fathi M, Emam IA, Tolba A, Abdelnaby EA, Alhaider AK, Abouelela YS.The penis of the donkey is a musclocavernous type as the erection of the penis is dependent on the blood flow within the cavernous tissue inside the penis,This current study aimed for the first time to determine the effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) injection on penile artery blood flow hemodynamics and erection process after carefully studying the anatomical architecture of the penile blood supply. This study was conducted on 23 donkeys as 3 Male cadavers were used for anatomical findings and the other 20 live jacks were subdivided into two equal groups (Group I [treated jacks; ...
Lewczuk D, Wypchło M, Hecold M, Buczkowska R, Korwin-Kossakowska A.Finding the causative mutations for musculoskeletal system development and health status is of a higher priority for all sport horse breeders' associations. Of the regulating proteins involved in animal ossification, 15 gene polymorphisms were chosen to be identified as connected with the nine fetlock and 14 hock bone structures measurements of 198 horses. All measurements were taken using X-rays of the limbs, which were available at the beginning and end of the horse training. The analysis of variance (GLM, SAS program) was performed taking into account identified training and horse-connected...
Rodero E, González-Martínez A, Diz A, Rodero J.One of a veterinarian's routine tasks is animal identification, with age being a crucial factor in the identification and evaluation of individuals. Knowledge of the morphological changes in animal dentition used to determine their age is essential in veterinary education. Today's students increasingly prefer innovative learning tools that incorporate 3D anatomical models over traditional 2D resources. As part of a teaching innovation project at the University of Córdoba, Spain, new educational materials were developed to aid students in identifying the age of animals using 3D images of equin...
Friend MM, McGaffigan EM, Hall SM, Staniar WB, Smarsh DN.Early detection of inflammation using a common test could be a valuable tool for preserving horse health. Objective: This observational study aimed to identify variation in complete blood count (CBC) parameters and inflammatory indices with inflammation, and to develop reference intervals (RIs) from horses with known inflammatory states, hypothesizing that RIs developed from horses with normal acute phase protein concentrations would improve the ability to predict inflammation. Methods: Concentrations of serum amyloid A (SAA) and haptoglobin from clinically healthy horses and horses under vete...
Weingarten A, Häusler M, Serangeli J, Verheijen I, Reiter E, Radzevičiūtė R, Stoessel A, Krause J, Spyrou MA, Conard NJ, Nieselt K, Posth C.Deep-time palaeogenomics offers rare insights into macroevolutionary events for both extant and extinct species. Aside from a Middle Pleistocene genome from North American permafrost (780-560 ka) and a number of Late Pleistocene specimens, most ancient horse DNA studies have focused on tracing the origins of domestication and subsequent periods. Here we present mitochondrial genomes from two Equus mosbachensis specimens from Schöningen, Germany, a Middle Pleistocene archaeological site complex with direct and repeated evidence of hominin-horse interactions on the shore of a palaeolake. Usin...
Koshy SA, Ajeebsanu MM, Karakka Kal AK, Subhahar MB, Karatt TK, Philip M.Effective pain management remains a persistent challenge, with opioids limited by tolerance, dependence, respiratory depression, and misuse. This has created demand for safer, nonaddictive alternatives. Suzetrigine (VX-548, Journavx) is a novel analgesic with promising efficacy, but its potential misuse in competitive racing requires investigation. Limited information is available on its metabolism and detection, emphasizing the need for metabolic characterization to aid antidoping strategies. Methods: In vitro metabolism of suzetrigine was evaluated using equine liver microsomes and homogeniz...
Edwards VL, Reed R, Perlini M, Moorman VJ.To determine the analgesic effects of detomidine and morphine administered by cervical epidural catheter (CEC) on a model of thoracic limb pain. Methods: Prospective, randomized, blinded crossover study. Methods: Five adult horses. Methods: Cervical epidural catheters were placed under ultrasound guidance, followed by induction of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated carpal synovitis. Horses received either saline or detomidine/morphine (DM; 10 μg/kg, 0.1 mg/kg, respectively) via CEC 4 h after synovitis. After a 7 day washout, synovitis was induced in the contralateral carpus, and the alternate ...
Zedler S, Jukic C, van Eps A, Stefanovski D, Genton M, Rossignol F.To compare the biomechanical properties of a three-dimensional (3D) printed titanium plate and spacer (3DM) and a 4.5 mm broad locking compression plate (LCP) for intervertebral fusion of C4-C5 in the horse. Methods: Ex vivo experimental study. Methods: Twenty-four equine cadaveric cervical spines. Methods: Twenty-four cadaver equine cervical spines were randomly assigned to ventral intervertebral fusion with either 3DM (n = 12) or LCP (n = 12) at C4-C5. Four-point bending tests were performed in flexion (3DM n = 6, LCP n = 6) and extension (3DM n = 6, LCP n = 6) in a sin...
Dumičić I, Ostojić L.Like other domesticated species, most notably dogs, horses have been reported to follow human gestures and successfully use them to gain rewards in an object choice task. Empirical support for the hypothesis that a domain-general mechanism may underlie this ability comes from studies in which horses have successfully solved the task by using not just a human pointing gesture but also an arbitrary physical cue, namely a wooden marker. Here, we replicated the two conditions in which these two cues were used by Proops et al. (2010) with two critical changes: first, we positioned the marker out of...
Meistro F, Ralletti MV, Rinnovati R, Spadari A.Subjective lameness evaluation during lungeing is routinely performed in equine practice, but its consistency remains limited, especially in cases of mild or complex asymmetry. Objective: This study aimed to assess the agreement between subjective gait evaluations and a markerless AI-based gait analysis system (OAI-MS) in traditional racehorses during lungeing. Intra- and inter-observer agreement of subjective evaluations was also investigated. Methods: 24 traditional racehorses were assessed during routine pre-race inspections (T0) while trotting on a soft surface. Two experienced equine clin...
Mouncey R, de Mestre AM, Verheyen KL.Analyses of industry-level data suggest that around one-third of the UK and Ireland Thoroughbred foal crop fail to enter training. Prospective follow-up of individual horses could provide additional insight, particularly around individuals not attaining specific career milestones. Methods: A Thoroughbred birth cohort was established on stud farms across the UK and Ireland. Training, race performance, sales, export data, destinations and reasons for individuals failing to meet career milestones were collected from stud records, follow-up with owners, stud book and racing authorities' databases,...
Allen TS, Johnson S.The physical stresses on equine athletes are unique and differ across various disciplines. Recognizing these differences is essential for early detection of injuries and effective management of the competition horse's health. Equine sports medicine involves specific challenges and risks that can be reduced through proper care, careful attention to technique, and a deep understanding of the demands of each sport. Proper training, regular monitoring, and sport-specific expertise are crucial in preventing injuries and ensuring optimal performance. By focusing on these aspects, veterinarians and t...
Luštrek B, Šimon M, Turk K, Bogičević S, Potočnik K.In small, closed populations such as the Lipizzan horse, maintaining genetic diversity while limiting inbreeding is a key challenge in conservation breeding. The Lipizzan is an indigenous Slovenian breed with a small population and restricted gene flow from other subpopulations. Inbreeding is traditionally monitored with pedigree-based coefficients, but these often underestimate realised autozygosity, particularly when pedigree depth is limited. This study compared pedigree-based inbreeding (F_PED) with four genomic estimators (F_HOM, F_ROH, F_HBD, F_GRM) in 329 Slovenian Lipizzan horses genot...
Wang J, Li Z, Li L, Wang R, Ma S, Su Y, Shan D, Huang Q.Kazakh horses are renowned for their endurance and adaptability, with distinct muscle groups such as the longissimus dorsi (LD) and biceps femoris (BF) muscles serving specialized functions. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the functional specialization of these muscles in Kazakh horses remain poorly understood. This study aims to address this gap by utilizing single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to investigate the transcriptomic differences between these muscle groups, with a focus on understanding their molecular adaptations. Our analysis revealed that the BF muscle, specialize...
Brauns M, Ali A, Berger J, McLean A.Small stalls and regulated feedings restrict horses' natural foraging and locomotion, increasing risks to welfare. Environmental enrichment may promote more naturalistic behavioral time budgets, yet little is known about how enrichment type or timing affects physiology and behavior. This study examined nine stabled Quarter Horses provided with hay feeders, activity balls, or mirrors across randomized trials. Each trial included 30 min observations, four times per day, with enrichment removed between sessions and 5-day washouts between trials. Nightwatch Smart Halters™ recorded heart and resp...
Berglund P, Andonov S, Strandberg E, Eriksson S.Harness racing is popular in several parts of the world, and the ability to race barefoot is an important trait for success because of its effect on racing time. Barefoot racing is also discussed in terms of animal welfare because not all horses have hooves that tolerate racing without shoes. In Swedish Standardbred trotters (SB) and Swedish-Norwegian Coldblooded trotters (CB), the proportion of barefoot races and the probability to race barefoot in any given race (barefoot status) have low-to-moderate heritability (h = 0.07-0.28). However, the genetic correlation between the ability to race...
Domańska-Kruppa N, Benoit P, Żukiewicz-Benoit K, Domino M, Kliczkowska K, Szubart M, Stefanik E.Limited data is available on the diagnostic and therapeutic methods for pathologies caused by scarring after castration. It is well recognized that specific behaviors or untypical hindlimb lameness may be observed in geldings with gelding scars and adhesions caused by spermatic cord remnants after castration OBJECTIVES: To describe how to diagnose movement disorders associated with excessive adhesions caused by spermatic cord remnant after castration and to present a successful surgical treatment method. Methods: To assess the impact of gelding scars on horses' movement and behavior, medical r...
In light of the increasing reports of anthelmintic (AH) resistance in equids, a national survey on helminth control practices was distributed to 42 528 keepers. A total of 4 344 responses was obtained. Respondents implemented preventive pasture practices with varying frequency according to the age of the animals, such as pasture rotations (78.1-80.6 %), excrement removal from pastures several times a year (15.9-27.2 %) and/or mixed or rotational grazing with ruminants (14.5-18.1 %). A majority of keepers routinely used AH treatments even though they did not perceive any major risk to the...
Vidal-Cardos R, Fàbrega E, Dalmau A.The sustainability of extensive livestock systems is compromised. It is necessary to enhance our understanding of the activity and grazing behavior of different livestock species (cows, horses, and sheep) sharing the same mountainous areas. Nowadays, the observation and analysis of animal activity is greatly facilitated by remote tracking technology, especially in zones with difficult access. In this article, we proved that commercial geolocation collars can provide meaningful data on animal activity, behavior, and distribution, which can be used to model daily distances, activity patterns, gr...
Coletta M, Zingale GA, De Simone G, De Sanctis G, Quadrotta V, Polticelli F, Ascenzi P.Mini-myoglobin (mini-HH-Mb) is a proteolytic fragment of horse heart myoglobin (HH-Mb) comprising residues 32-139, grossly corresponding to the central exon of the HH-Mb gene, which encodes residues 31-105. Unlike HH-Mb, which displays a single exponential for both CO association and CO dissociation kinetics, mini-HH-Mb shows a biphasic kinetic behavior for both processes, indicating the presence of at least two distinct conformations which are in a very slow (or no) equilibrium with each other. Between pH 2 and 12, CO association to both species of mini-HH-Mb shows two proton-linked transiti...
Karlau A, Azcona F, Molina A, Trigo P, Sánchez-Serrano JP, Demyda-Peyrás S.The Peruano de Paso is a horse breed renowned for its smooth gait, traditionally selected based on breeders' empirical knowledge. Recently, the frequency of chestnut horses, a recessive trait, has increased substantially within the official studbook. This study evaluated whether preference for chestnut coat colour has influenced morphological traits and genetic diversity within the breed. A total of 8376 records of seven morphological traits, collected by the Peruano de Paso Breeders Association over eight years, were analysed, along with a pedigree including 41,357 individuals. Morphological ...
Boyde A.This review presents findings made in studies of large mammalian bones, especially from racehorse training experiments (2-8 years old, third metacarpal, tarsal) and human autopsy orthopaedic femoral implant retrievals and other human biopsy and autopsy cases. Samples were cleaned to analyse mineralized matrix in three dimensions, or poly methyl-methacrylate embedded and micromilled to delete topography and study the superficial c. 0.5-microm two-dimensional section using quantitative backscattered electron imaging. With experimental implant studies in rabbits, observations were also made in vi...
Wallner B, Palmieri N, Vogl C, Rigler D, Bozlak E, Druml T, Jagannathan V, Leeb T, Fries R, Tetens J, Thaller G, Metzger J, Distl O, Lindgren G....The Y chromosome directly reflects male genealogies, but the extremely low Y chromosome sequence diversity in horses has prevented the reconstruction of stallion genealogies [1, 2]. Here, we resolve the first Y chromosome genealogy of modern horses by screening 1.46 Mb of the male-specific region of the Y chromosome (MSY) in 52 horses from 21 breeds. Based on highly accurate pedigree data, we estimated the de novo mutation rate of the horse MSY and showed that various modern horse Y chromosome lineages split much later than the domestication of the species. Apart from few private northern Euro...
Lichtenstein DL, Rushlow KE, Cook RF, Raabe ML, Swardson CJ, Kociba GJ, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.As an important enzyme in DNA synthesis, dUTPase is present in a wide variety of organisms and viruses and has been identified as a component of the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) pol gene. The role of EIAV dUTPase, designated DU, in virus replication in vitro and in vivo was investigated with a recently described infectious molecular clone of EIAV. A deletion mutant that was deficient in dUTPase activity was constructed, and its replication kinetics was examined in fetal equine kidney (FEK) cells and primary equine bone marrow macrophage (EBMM) cells. In FEK cells, which are permissive...
Lewis MJ, Wagner B, Woof JM.Recombinant versions of the seven equine IgG subclasses were expressed in CHO cells. All assembled into intact immunoglobulins stabilised by disulphide bridges, although, reminiscent of human IgG4, a small proportion of equine IgG4 and IgG7 were held together by non-covalent bonds alone. All seven IgGs were N-glycosylated. In addition IgG3 appeared to be O-glycosylated and could bind the lectin jacalin. Staphylococcal protein A displayed weak binding for the equine IgGs in the order: IgG1>IgG3>IgG4>IgG7>IgG2=IgG5>IgG6. Streptococcal protein G bound strongly to IgG1, IgG4 and IgG7, moderately t...
Davila MP, Muñoz PM, Bolaños JM, Stout TA, Gadella BM, Tapia JA, da Silva CB, Ferrusola CO, Peña FJ.To investigate the hypothesis that oxidative phosphorylation is a major source of ATP to fuel stallion sperm motility, oxidative phosphorylation was suppressed using the mitochondrial uncouplers CCCP and 2,4,-dinitrophenol (DNP) and by inhibiting mitochondrial respiration at complex IV using sodium cyanide or at the level of ATP synthase using oligomycin-A. As mitochondrial dysfunction may also lead to oxidative stress, production of reactive oxygen species was monitored simultaneously. All inhibitors reduced ATP content, but oligomycin-A did so most profoundly. Oligomycin-A and CCCP also sign...
Ott DE, Coren LV, Sowder RC, Adams J, Nagashima K, Schubert U.Some retroviruses contain monoubiquitinated Gag and do not bud efficiently from cells treated with proteasome inhibitors, suggesting an interaction between the ubiquitin-proteasome system and retrovirus assembly. We examined equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) particles and found that approximately 2% of the p9(Gag) proteins are monoubiquitinated, demonstrating that this Gag protein interacts with an ubiquitinating activity. Different types of proteasome inhibitors were used to determine if proteasome inactivation affects EIAV release from chronically infected cells. Pulse-chase immunoprecip...
Lippold S, Knapp M, Kuznetsova T, Leonard JA, Benecke N, Ludwig A, Rasmussen M, Cooper A, Weinstock J, Willerslev E, Shapiro B, Hofreiter M.Modern domestic horses display abundant genetic diversity within female-inherited mitochondrial DNA, but practically no sequence diversity on the male-inherited Y chromosome. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain this discrepancy, but can only be tested through knowledge of the diversity in both the ancestral (pre-domestication) maternal and paternal lineages. As wild horses are practically extinct, ancient DNA studies offer the only means to assess this ancestral diversity. Here we show considerable ancestral diversity in ancient male horses by sequencing 4 kb of Y chromosomal DNA ...
Maros K, Gácsi M, Miklósi A.Twenty domestic horses (Equus caballus) were tested for their ability to rely on different human gesticular cues in a two-way object choice task. An experimenter hid food under one of two bowls and after baiting, indicated the location of the food to the subjects by using one of four different cues. Horses could locate the hidden reward on the basis of the distal dynamic-sustained, proximal momentary and proximal dynamic-sustained pointing gestures but failed to perform above chance level when the experimenter performed a distal momentary pointing gesture. The results revealed that horses coul...
Golafshan N, Vorndran E, Zaharievski S, Brommer H, Kadumudi FB, Dolatshahi-Pirouz A, Gbureck U, van Weeren R, Castilho M, Malda J.One of the important challenges in bone tissue engineering is the development of biodegradable bone substitutes with appropriate mechanical and biological properties for the treatment of larger defects and those with complex shapes. Recently, magnesium phosphate (MgP) doped with biologically active ions like strontium (Sr) have shown to significantly enhance bone formation when compared with the standard calcium phosphate-based ceramics. However, such materials can hardly be shaped into large and complex geometries and more importantly lack the adequate mechanical properties for the treatment ...
Marycz K, Kornicka K, Grzesiak J, Śmieszek A, Szłapka J.Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is mainly characterized by insulin resistance, obesity, and local or systemic inflammation. That unfriendly environment of adipose tissue has huge impact on stem cells population (ASC) residing within. In the present study, using molecular biology techniques and multiple imaging techniques (SEM, FIB-SEM, and confocal microscopy), we evaluated the impact of EMS on ASC viability and chondrogenic differentiation. Moreover, we visualized the mitochondrial network and dynamics in ASC and ASC during control and chondrogenic conditions. In control conditions, ASC were ...
Bower MA, McGivney BA, Campana MG, Gu J, Andersson LS, Barrett E, Davis CR, Mikko S, Stock F, Voronkova V, Bradley DG, Fahey AG, Lindgren G....Selective breeding for speed in the racehorse has resulted in an unusually high frequency of the C-variant (g.66493737C/T) at the myostatin gene (MSTN) in cohorts of the Thoroughbred horse population that are best suited to sprint racing. Here we show using a combination of molecular- and pedigree-based approaches in 593 horses from 22 Eurasian and North-American horse populations, museum specimens from 12 historically important Thoroughbred stallions (b.1764-1930), 330 elite-performing modern Thoroughbreds and 42 samples from three other equid species that the T-allele was ancestral and there...
Lunn DP, Holmes MA, Antczak DF, Agerwal N, Baker J, Bendali-Ahcene S, Blanchard-Channell M, Byrne KM, Cannizzo K, Davis W, Hamilton MJ, Hannant D....The final assignment of antibody clusters for leucocyte antigens and immunoglobulins, as described in detail in Sections 3 and 4, is summarized in Table 4. Together with other mAbs developed outside of ELAW II (Table 9) this pool of reagents represent a powerful array of tools for the study of equine immunity. The Second Equine Leucocyte Antigen Workshop made considerable advances in pursuing the objectives of establishing the specificities of mAbs and achieving consensus on the nomenclature for equine leucocyte and immunoglobulin molecules. Of equal importance, several productive collaboratio...
Poole DC, Erickson HH.Evolutionary forces drive beneficial adaptations in response to a complex array of environmental conditions. In contrast, over several millennia, humans have been so enamored by the running/athletic prowess of horses and dogs that they have sculpted their anatomy and physiology based solely upon running speed. Thus, through hundreds of generations, those structural and functional traits crucial for running fast have been optimized. Central among these traits is the capacity to uptake, transport and utilize oxygen at spectacular rates. Moreover, the coupling of the key systems--pulmonary-cardio...
Pusterla N, Vin R, Leutenegger CM, Mittel LD, Divers TJ.A new enteric virus of adult horses, equine coronavirus (ECoV), has recently been recognized. It is associated with fever, lethargy, anorexia, and less frequently, colic and diarrhea. This enteric virus is transmitted via the feco-oral route and horses become infected by ingesting fecally contaminated feed and water. Various outbreaks have been reported since 2010 from Japan, Europe and the USA. While the clinical signs are fairly non-specific, lymphopenia and neutropenia are often seen. Specific diagnosis is made by the detection of ECoV in feces by either quantitative real-time PCR, electron...
Fazio E, Ferlazzo A.Domestic animals are transported for a variety of reasons including breeding, biomedical purposes, slaughter and, in the case of sporting horses, for competitions, pleasure activities or ceremonial proceedings. Studies to determine the amount of stress on farm animals during transport often have highly variable results and are difficult to interpret. The reaction of animals to stressors depends on the duration and intensity of the stressors, the animal's previous experience, its physiological status and the immediate environmental restraints. Behavioural, haematological, haematochemical, physi...
Science (New York, N.Y.)July 19, 1991
Volume 253, Issue 5017 306-308 doi: 10.1126/science.1857965
Farley CT, Taylor CR.It is widely thought that animals switch gaits at speeds that minimize energetic cost. Horses naturally switched from a trot to a gallop at a speed where galloping required more energy than trotting, and thus, the gait transition actually increased the energetic cost of running. However, by galloping at this speed, the peak forces on the muscles, tendons, and bones, and presumably the chance of injury, are reduced. When the horses carried weights, they switched from a trot to a gallop at a lower speed but at the same critical level of force. These findings suggest that the trot-gallop transiti...
McMahon TA.Many parameters of gait and performance, including stride frequency, stride length, maximum speed, and rate of O2 uptake are experimentally found to be power-law functions of body weight in running quadrupeds. All of these parameters are reasonably easy to measure except maximum speed, where the question arises whether one means top sprinting speed or top speed for sustained running. Moreover, differences in training and motivation make comparisons of top speed difficult. The problem is circumvented by comparing animals running at the transition between trotting and galloping, a physiologicall...
Imsland F, McGowan K, Rubin CJ, Henegar C, Sundström E, Berglund J, Schwochow D, Gustafson U, Imsland P, Lindblad-Toh K, Lindgren G, Mikko S....Dun is a wild-type coat color in horses characterized by pigment dilution with a striking pattern of dark areas termed primitive markings. Here we show that pigment dilution in Dun horses is due to radially asymmetric deposition of pigment in the growing hair caused by localized expression of the T-box 3 (TBX3) transcription factor in hair follicles, which in turn determines the distribution of hair follicle melanocytes. Most domestic horses are non-dun, a more intensely pigmented phenotype caused by regulatory mutations impairing TBX3 expression in the hair follicle, resulting in a more circu...
Kirkpatrick JF, Lyda RO, Frank KM.Wildlife, free-ranging and captive, poses and causes serious population problems not unlike those encountered with human overpopulation. Traditional lethal control programs, however, are not always legal, wise, safe, or publicly acceptable; thus, alternative approaches are necessary. Immunocontraception of free-ranging wildlife has reached the management level, with success across a large variety of species. Thus far, the immunocontraceptive research and management applications emphasis have been centered on porcine zona pellucida and gonadotropin-releasing hormone vaccines. Contraceptive succ...
McGivney BA, McGettigan PA, Browne JA, Evans AC, Fonseca RG, Loftus BJ, Lohan A, MacHugh DE, Murphy BA, Katz LM, Hill EW.Digital gene expression profiling was used to characterize the assembly of genes expressed in equine skeletal muscle and to identify the subset of genes that were differentially expressed following a ten-month period of exercise training. The study cohort comprised seven Thoroughbred racehorses from a single training yard. Skeletal muscle biopsies were collected at rest from the gluteus medius at two time points: T(1) - untrained, (9 +/- 0.5 months old) and T(2) - trained (20 +/- 0.7 months old). Results: The most abundant mRNA transcripts in the muscle transcriptome were those involved in mus...
Hausberger M, Bruderer C, Le Scolan N, Pierre JS.The aim of the present study was to broach the question of the relative influence of different genetic and environmental factors on different temperament/personality traits of horses (Equus caballus). The researchers submitted 702 horses to standardized experimental tests and investigated 9 factors, either genetic or environmental. Genetic factors, such as sire or breed, seemed to influence more neophobic reactions, whereas environmental factors, such as the type of work, seemed to play a more dominant role in reactions to social separation or learning abilities. Additive effects were evident,...
Wood W, Alm K, Benjamin J, Thomas L, Anderson D, Pohl L, Kane M. To recommend (1) the adoption of optimal terminology for referring to services in the United States that incorporate horses and other equines to benefit people, and (2) the discontinuation of especially problematic terminology. A diverse multidisciplinary consortium of individuals, including representatives of relevant national organizations, participated in an inclusive, systematic, and comprehensive 2-year consensus-building process. Twelve specific types of services were identified that relate to one of three broad areas of professional work: therapy, learning, or horsemanship. Related t...
Hoagwood KE, Acri M, Morrissey M, Peth-Pierce R.To systematically review experimental evidence about animal-assisted therapies (AAT) for children or adolescents with or at risk for mental health conditions, we reviewed all experimental AAT studies published between 2000-2015, and compared studies by animal type, intervention, and outcomes. Methods: Studies were included if used therapeutically for children and adolescents (≤21 years) with or at risk for a mental health problem; used random assignment or a waitlist comparison/control group; and included child-specific outcome data. Of 1,535 studies, 24 met inclusion criteria. Results: Of 2...
Lampe JF, Andre J.This study has shown that domestic horses are capable of cross-modal recognition of familiar humans. It was demonstrated that horses are able to discriminate between the voices of a familiar and an unfamiliar human without seeing or smelling them at the same moment. Conversely, they were able to discriminate the same persons when only exposed to their visual and olfactory cues, without being stimulated by their voices. A cross-modal expectancy violation setup was employed; subjects were exposed both to trials with incongruent auditory and visual/olfactory identity cues and trials with congruen...
Hotchkiss JW, Reid SW, Christley RM.Information is scarce as to how horses are kept and managed in the general horse population of Great Britain. Objective: To characterise the demographics of horses in Great Britain and assess their care (with particular reference to the respiratory system). Methods: Horse owners were surveyed using a self-administered postal questionnaire. These owners were selected randomly, following geographical stratification, using 2-stage cluster sampling of veterinary practices and their clients. Results: The overall response proportion to the survey was 68.2%. An investigation of nonresponse bias detec...
Begg LM, O'Sullivan CB.To report the prevalence and distribution of gastric ulceration within a group of racehorses and to describe the endoscopic appearance of gastric antrum and pyloric ulceration. Methods: Retrospective clinical study. Methods: Medical records from gastroscopic examinations of 345 racehorses (331 Thoroughbreds and 14 Standardbreds) were reviewed. Prevalence, distribution and severity of gastric ulcers were recorded. Lesions involving the squamous mucosa and the glandular mucosa of the antrum and pylorus were graded and compared. Results: Gastric ulceration was found in 86% of racehorses. The squa...
Edwards JE, Shetty SA, van den Berg P, Burden F, van Doorn DA, Pellikaan WF, Dijkstra J, Smidt H.Equine gut microbiology studies to date have primarily focused on horses and ponies, which represent only one of the eight extant equine species. This is despite asses and mules comprising almost half of the world's domesticated equines, and donkeys being superior to horses/ponies in their ability to degrade dietary fiber. Limited attention has also been given to commensal anaerobic fungi and archaea even though anaerobic fungi are potent fiber degrading organisms, the activity of which is enhanced by methanogenic archaea. Therefore, the objective of this study was to broaden the current knowl...
Murphy BD, Martinuk SD.Cells from the chorionic girdle of the equine trophoblast invade the maternal endometrium at day 36 of gestation and become established as secretory elements known as the endometrial cups. These structures, which persist for 40-60 days, produce a gonadotropin which can be found in circulation until about day 130 of gestation. This glycoprotein has been identified in the horse and the donkey, with the former having received much better characterization. It consists of 2 noncovalently linked peptide chains; an alpha-subunit of 96 amino acids, which is common to that found in other horse glycopro...
