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Topic:Equine Science
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.
Horses Could Perceive Riding Differently Depending on the Way They Express Poor Welfare in the Stable. This study investigated the relationships between four behavioral and postural indicators of a compromised welfare state in loose boxes (stereotypies, aggressive behaviors toward humans, withdrawn posture reflecting unresponsiveness to the environment, and alert posture indicating hypervigilance) and the way horses perceived riding. This perception was inferred using a survey completed by the usual riding instructor and during a standardized riding session (assessment of behaviors and postures, qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) and characterization of the horses' locomotion using an inerti...
A genome-wide scan for candidate lethal variants in Thoroughbred horses. Domestic animal populations are often characterised by high rates of inbreeding and low effective population sizes due to selective breeding practices. These practices can result in otherwise rare recessive deleterious alleles drifting to high frequencies, resulting in reduced fertility rates. This study aimed to identify potential recessive lethal haplotypes in the Thoroughbred horse breed, a closed population that has been selectively bred for racing performance. In this study, we identified a haplotype in the LY49B gene that shows strong evidence of being homozygous lethal, despite having h...
The Effect of Stirrup Iron Style on Normal Forces and Rider Position. The stirrup iron has the potential to modify the forces experienced by a horse and rider during ridden exercise. A range of stirrup designs are available, but no previous studies have investigated if these modifications influence riders' position and interaction with the horse. Novel flexible (F) or flexible and rotatable (FR) irons versus traditional (T) stirrups may positively impact the welfare and performance of the horse and rider. Four riders rode using the three stirrup types (T, F, and FR). Hip, knee, and ankle angles and toe position from film, and the normal force exerted bilaterally...
Evaluation of jennies’ colostrum: IgG concentrations and absorption in the donkey foals. A preliminary study. Immunoglobulin type G (IgG) concentration both in jennies' colostrum and in serum of donkey foals are mostly unknown in the first 24 h after delivery. The aims of the present study were to evaluate the IgG concentrations of colostrum during the first 24 h of lactation of Amiata jennies, the absorption of colostrum and the weekly body weight gain of the donkey foals. IgG concentrations were assessed in the jennies' colostrum and in the serum of donkey foals. Colostrum was collected in 9 jennies ready after delivery, and at 6, 12, 24 h after foaling from both halves. Serum was collected at the s...
Equine piroplasmosis: an insight into global exposure of equids from 1990 to 2019 by systematic review and meta-analysis. Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a tick-borne disease of economic importance, relevant in the international movement of equids. The causative agents are at least two apicomplexan protozoan parasites Babesia caballi and Theileria equi. To date, there is no study that estimates global and regional exposure of equids to EP. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the pooled prevalence and heterogeneity of EP using random-effects model. Six electronic databases were searched for publications on EP and assessed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Revie...
Physiological Demands of Professional Flat and Jump Horse Racing. Kiely, M, Warrington, GD, McGoldrick, A, Pugh, J, and Cullen, S. Physiological demands of professional flat and jump horse racing. J Strength Cond Res 34(8): 2173-2177, 2020-No information is currently available on the effect of race distance on the physiological demands of jockeys. This study aimed to quantify the respective demands of short and long flat and jump race distances. Twenty professional jockeys (10 flat and 10 jump) participated in the study. The subjects initially performed a graded incremental exercise test to volitional exhaustion on a treadmill to determine the peak heart rat...
Bovine and equine trypanosomosis in Northwest Ethiopia: Prevalence, density of vectors and control measures. A cross-sectional study was carried out from November 2016 to May 2017 in selected districts of Northwest Ethiopia (Jawi, South Achefer, Dembecha and Jabitehenan) with the aim of determining the prevalence of bovine and equine trypanosomosis, estimating the apparent density of vectors and assessing the effectiveness of control measures of the disease. A total of 1257 animals of which 803 bovine and 454 equine were examined for the determination of prevalence using blood sample collected from ear vein of animals. The buffy coat technique was employed to determine the prevalence and the packed c...
Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Arabian Horse Populations Using Microsatellite Markers. Understanding the genetic diversity and the relationships among the show Arabian horse populations is a current issue for breeders and professionals. This study aimed to define the relationship among the Desert breed, the Straight Egyptian, and the Polish Arabian populations by considering the historical background of their origin and to verify their genetic diversity. All selected samples were related to Arabian show activities. One hundred forty four hair samples were collected from horses at stud farms having notoriety in the breeding of Arabians from different geographic regions. A set of ...
Molecular detection of 7SL-derived small RNA is a promising alternative for trypanosomosis diagnosis. Equine trypanosomosis comprises different parasitic diseases caused by protozoa of the subgenus Trypanozoon: Trypanosoma equiperdum (causative agent of dourine), Trypanosoma brucei (nagana) and Trypanosoma evansi (surra). Due to the absence of a vaccine and the lack of efficacy of the few available drugs, these diseases represent a major health and economic problem for international equine trade. Development of affordable, sensitive and specific diagnostic tests is therefore crucial to ensure the control of these diseases. Recently, it has been shown that a small RNA derived from the 7SL gene ...
Diffusion Tensor Imaging Tractography of White Matter Tracts in the Equine Brain. Tractography, a noninvasive technique tracing brain pathways from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) data, is increasingly being used for brain investigation of domestic mammals. In the equine species, such a technique could be useful to improve our knowledge about structural connectivity or to assess structural changes of white matter tracts potentially associated with neurodegenerative diseases. The goals of the present study were to establish the feasibility of DTI tractography in the equine brain and to provide a morphologic description of the most representative tracts in t...
Equine Asthma: Current Understanding and Future Directions. The 2019 Havemeyer Workshop brought together researchers and clinicians to discuss the latest information on Equine Asthma and provide future research directions. Current clinical and molecular asthma phenotypes and endotypes in humans were discussed and compared to asthma phenotypes in horses. The role of infectious and non-infectious causes of equine asthma, genetic factors and proposed disease pathophysiology were reviewed. Diagnostic limitations were evident by the limited number of tests and biomarkers available to field practitioners. The participants emphasized the need for more accessi...
Kisspeptin has an independent and direct effect on the pituitary gland in the mare. To more clearly understand the equine gonadotrope response to kisspeptin and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), peripheral LH and FSH were quantified in diestrous mares after treatment with either equine kisspeptide (eKp-10, 0.5 mg iv), GnRH (25 μg iv), or a combination thereof every 4 h for 3 days. The following observations were made: 1) a diminished LH and FSH response to eKp-10 and GnRH was observed by Day 3, but was not different by treatment, 2) a decrease in basal LH concentration was observed from Day 1 to Day 3 for the eKp-10, but not the GnRH treated mares, 3) there was no ch...
Irradiating frozen-thawed stallion sperm with red-light increases their resilience to withstand post-thaw incubation at 38 °C. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether red-light stimulation increases the longevity and resilience of cryopreserved stallion sperm to withstand post-thaw incubation for 120 min. Sixteen frozen straws of 0.5 mL from eight stallions were used. Samples were cryopreserved, thawed through incubation at 38 °C for 30 s and divided into the control and samples exposed to red-light using a triple LED photo-activation system (wavelength: 620-630 nm). Three irradiation protocols consisting of different light-dark-light intervals (1-1-1, 2-2-2 and 3-3-3 min) were tested. Sperm quality param...
Effects of aquatic conditioning on cartilage and bone metabolism in young horses. While beneficial in rehabilitation, aquatic exercise effects on cartilage and bone metabolism in young, healthy horses has not been well described. Therefore, 30 Quarter Horse yearlings (343 ± 28 kg; 496 ± 12 d of age) were stratified by age, body weight (BW), and sex and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments for 140-d to evaluate effects of aquatic, dry, or no exercise on bone and cartilage metabolism in young horses transitioning to an advanced workload. Treatments included nonexercise control (CON; n = 10), dry treadmill (DRY; n = 10), or aquatic treadmill exercise (H2O; n = 10; water: 6...
Relationship Between Magnitude and Direction of Asymmetries in Facial and Limb Traits in Horses and Ponies. Directionality of limb and facial asymmetries in nonelite equine populations has been previously reported with results indicating strong similarities to those reported in racehorses. This investigation aimed to consider the relationship between the magnitude of the asymmetries presented within the general equine population, and their previously reported directionality. Direct measurements of 15 bilateral traits (four facial and 11 limb) were captured from a mixed population of 100 horses and ponies. The pooled (whole) population was considered further as horse (withers height >148 cm) and ...
The use of the geometric morphometric method to illustrate shape difference in the skulls of different-aged horses. The geometric morphometrics method (GMM) is a technique to study scale and shape relationships of structures using Cartesian geometric coordinates rather than linear, areal (of area), or volumetric variables. GMM has been of great value in many biological studies, but does not appear to have been used to examine equine skulls.In this exploratory study, twenty-nine normal equine heads of three different age groups: 16 years old (N = 10) were examined.Computed tomography (CT) bone window DICOM images were reconstructed into isosurfaces (3-dimensional contoured surfaces), onto which landm...
Publisher Correction: Differences in the intrinsic chondrogenic potential of equine umbilical cord matrix and cord blood mesenchymal stromal/stem cells for cartilage regeneration. An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Historical Changes and Description of the Current Hungarian Hucul Horse Population. Gene conservation and management of small populations requires proper knowledge of the background and history of the breed. The aim of the study was the evaluation of population structure and changes of the Hungarian Hucul horse population. Population changes were described for the actual breeding stock as well as for groups of 10-year epochs reflecting major periods of change in the breed. Pedigree data of the registered population were analyzed using Endog and GRain software. The average value of equivalent complete generations was above nine for the actual breeding population. The longest g...
A retrospective study on semen quality parameters from four different Dutch horse breeds with different levels of inbreeding. A high degree of inbreeding has been reported to negatively impact semen quality in Friesian horses and Shetland ponies. Both breeds are characterized by a closed studbook, small population size, and high incidence of inbreeding. The Dutch Warmblood studbook (KWPN: Koninklijk Warmblood Paardenstamboek Nederland) is a much larger studbook with two distinct populations: the KWPN-Riding horses, managed as an 'open' studbook, and the KWPN-Harness horses, representing a much smaller subpopulation within the KWPN breed and managed as an 'almost closed' studbook. It was recently reported that the deg...
Impact of white-spotting alleles, including W20, on phenotype in the American Paint Horse. The American Paint Horse Association (APHA) records pedigree and performance information for their breed, a stock-type horse valued as a working farm or ranch horse and as a pleasure horse. As the name implies, the breed is also valued for its attractive white-spotting patterns on the coat. The APHA utilizes visual inspections of photographs to determine if coat spotting exceeds threshold anatomical landmarks considered characteristic of desirable patterns. Horses with sufficient white patterning enter the 'Regular' registry, rather than the 'Solid Paint-Bred' division, providing a threshold m...
Comparative population genomic analysis uncovers novel genomic footprints and genes associated with small body size in Chinese pony. Body size is considered as one of the most fundamental properties of an organism. Due to intensive breeding and artificial selection throughout the domestication history, horses exhibit striking variations for heights at withers and body sizes. Debao pony (DBP), a famous Chinese horse, is known for its small body size and lives in Guangxi mountains of southern China. In this study, we employed comparative population genomics to study the genetic basis underlying the small body size of DBP breed based on the whole genome sequencing data. To detect genomic signatures of positive selection, we ap...
Establishment of a candidate equine influenza Florida Clade 2 strain A/eq/Richmond/1/07 horse antiserum as Ph. Eur. Biological Reference Preparation/OIE International Reference Reagent. Equine influenza (EI) is an important respiratory disease of horses, with welfare and economic consequences. Vaccination remains one of the most efficient prevention methods available. Equine influenza virus (EIV) is constantly evolving and consequently EI vaccines need to be updated on a regular basis. In 2010, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Expert Surveillance Panel (ESP) on EI provided a new recommendation for EI vaccine strain composition, including the incorporation of representative EIV strains of both Florida Clade 1 and Clade 2 sub-lineages (FC1 and FC2, respectively). ...
Puncture of the Equine Embryonic Capsule and Its Repair In Vivo and In Vitro. Vitrification of embryos >300 µm in diameter requires puncture of the glycoprotein capsule, although the size of the hole compatible with embryo survival is unknown. Forty-five day-7 or -8 embryos were punctured using a 30-µm glass biopsy pipette mounted on a micromanipulator (n = 20) or manually with either an acupuncture needle (∼100-µm diameter -hole; n = 10) or a microneedle with a <1 µm tip to produce a ∼30-µm diameter hole (n = 15) before transferring to recipient mares; further 12 embryos were punctured with either the acupuncture needle or microneedle before being cultured ...
Large Animal Emergency Relief Services-A Model for University Engagement With Private Practitioners and Development of Practice Readiness for Veterinary Students. Large animal teaching hospitals often struggle to maintain consistent teaching caseloads, which are affected by seasonal variations, economic pressures, increased abilities of local large animal practices to hospitalize large animals, and client intolerance for the operational needs of an academic mission. Non-academic large animal practices enjoy a more consistent caseload but suffer from a lack of emergency relief and a limited ability to share emergency duties, which may have adverse effects on work-life balance. An academic, on-farm, large animal emergency relief service can combine multip...
Application of a non-target variable data independent workflow (vDIA) for the screening of prohibited substances in doping control testing. A non-target variable Data Independent Acquisition (vDIA) workflow based on accurate mass measurements using a Q Exactive OrbiTrap is presented for the first time for equine doping control testing. The vDIA workflow uses a combination of MS1 events (1 to 2) and multiple vDIA events to cover the analytes of interest. The workflow basically captures a digital image of a sample allowing all relevant MS1 and MS2 data to be recorded. In theory, the workflow can accommodate an unlimited number of analytes as long as they are amenable to the sample extraction protocol and fall within the mass limits ...
Genetics, Genomics, and Emergent Precision Medicine 12 Years After the Equine Reference Genome Was Published. The first equine reference genome was completed in 2007 and published in 2009. This major accomplishment has enabled equine science to advance in ways that broadly parallel the transformative impact that genomics has had on many animal species including humans. A conceptual overview of reference genomes, genome annotation, and the major implications for equine science is presented. The relationship between genomic sequencing and the accelerating application of precision P4 medicine is discussed in the context of human and equine patients. Emergent technologies built on the foundation of genomi...
Are humans evolved specialists for running in the heat? Man vs. horse races provide empirical insights. What is the central question of this study? Do available comparative data provide empirical evidence that humans are adapted to endurance running at high ambient temperatures? What is the main finding and its importance? Comparing the results of races that pit man against horse, we find that ambient temperature on race day has less deleterious effects on running speed in humans than it does on their quadrupedal adversary. This is evidence that humans are adapted for endurance running at high ambient temperatures. We debate whether this supports the hypothesis that early man was evolutionarily ...
Exploring Perceptions of Equine Welfare Scenarios Using a Positive Approach. Horse welfare is a sensitive topic that often results in a variety of strong feelings when discussed in the horse-owning public. This study used a scenario-based questionnaire in a positive psychology approach to assess the public's feelings and discussions about horse welfare. Results indicated themes in important welfare qualities such as turnout, shelter, and ability to express natural behaviors, as well as a positive discussion about welfare. This study provides future implications for further research techniques in this area as well as communicative strategies surrounding equine welfare p...
Doppler indices of the equine fetal carotid artery throughout gestation. Assessment of pregnancy viability in the equine patient is currently based on gestational profiles of limited prognostic value. In recent years Doppler technology has been applied to uterine and umbilical arteries of pregnant mares to monitor fetal responsive haemodynamics, suggestive of compromise. To date, uterine artery Doppler indices failed to provide sufficient evidence of pregnancy viability and the umbilical cord of the equine fetus is inconsistently visualized past 250 days gestation. The objectives of this study were to: i) evaluate intracranial blood flow impedance by Doppler examin...
