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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.
Digestibility and Retention Time of Coastal Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) Hay by Horses. Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) and other warm-season grasses are known for their increased fiber concentrations and reduced digestibility relative to cool-season grasses and legumes. This study investigated the digestive characteristics and passage kinetics of three maturities of Coastal bermudagrass hay. A 5 × 5 Latin square design experiment was used to compare the digestion of five hays: alfalfa (Medicago sativa, ALF), orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata, ORCH), and Coastal bermudagrass harvested at 4 (CB 4), 6 (CB 6), and 8 weeks of regrowth (CB 8). Horses were fed cobalt-ethylenediaminetet...
The Equine Gingiva: A Histological Evaluation. Equine periodontal disease in horses has long been recognized as a painful disease, leading to a poor condition. The disease is widespread and attracts growing attention in equine dental medicine. The understanding of the underlying etiological and pathological mechanisms of equine periodontal disease is necessary to develop effective prophylactic and treatment options. As a first step, a thorough description of the histological features of the healthy equine gingiva is required. Specimens were taken from six horses (3 mares, 3 geldings, age: 0.5-26 years). The animals were euthanized for reas...
Finite Element Analysis of Six Transcortical Pin Parameters and Their Effect on Bone-Pin Interface Stresses in the Equine Third Metacarpal Bone. The objectives of this study were to validate a finite element model of the equine distal limb transfixation cast and to determine the effect of six transcortical pin parameters on bone-pin interface (BPI) stresses in the third metacarpal bone. Methods: A transfixation cast finite element model was developed from a computed tomography scan of the third metacarpal bone and modelled pin elements. The model was validated by comparing strain measured around a 6.3-mm transfixation pin in the third metacarpal bone with the finite element model. The pin parameters of diameter, number, location,...
Expression Profile of the Chromosome 14 MicroRNA Cluster (C14MC) Ortholog in Equine Maternal Circulation throughout Pregnancy and Its Potential Implications. Equine chromosome 24 microRNA cluster (C24MC), the ortholog of human C14MC, is a pregnancy-related miRNA cluster. This cluster is believed to be implicated in embryonic, fetal, and placental development. The current study aimed to characterize the expression profile of this cluster in maternal circulation throughout equine gestation. The expression profile of miRNAs belonging to this cluster was analyzed in the serum of non-pregnant (diestrus), pregnant (25 d, 45 d, 4 mo, 6 mo, 10 mo), and postpartum mares. Among the miRNAs examined, 11 miRNAs were differentially expressed across the analyzed ...
Does having a pet influence the physical activity of their young female owners? Many studies have shown that having a dog has an impact on the increase in physical activity (PA) of people. However, what is often not taken into account in many such studies is owning of other pets. The aim of this study was to compare PA levels between animal owners and non-owners and to research potential differences between owners of different kinds of animals. Methods: 111 young females of mean age 21 ± 1.2 years enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Czech version of short International physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to assess PA level, supplemented with a quest...
Practice of Noseband Use and Intentions Towards Behavioural Change in Dutch Equestrians. Understanding equestrians' noseband tightening practices and intentions is necessary to target welfare improvement strategies. Firstly, we measured tightness in dressage and show jumping horses in The Netherlands, shortly after implementation of the two-finger rule by the Royal Dutch Equestrian Federation. Noseband tightness decreased with age, was less tight in dressage horses than in show jumpers, and was dependent on the interaction between competition level and discipline. Fifty-nine percent of the riders tightened nosebands to such an extent that they adhered to the new regulation. Second...
Trot Accelerations of Equine Front and Hind Hooves Shod with Polyurethane Composite Shoes and Steel Shoes on Asphalt. The present study investigated accelerations of the front and hind hooves of horses comparing two different shoe types. A standard steel shoe, with studs, pins, and in some instances with toe grabs, was compared to a steel shoe covered on the bottom with a layer of polyurethane. Four horses were used; they trotted in hand on an asphalt track at their self-selected speed. The results showed significantly reduced decelerations during the stance phase with the polyurethane-covered shoes (10th percentile median steel -2.77 g, polyurethane -2.46 g; 0.06) and significantly increased decelerations i...
The distinct transcriptomes of fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscles in Mongolian horses. Skeletal muscle is the largest organ system in the mammalian body and plays a key role in locomotion of horses. Fast and slow muscle fibers have different abilities and functions to adapt to exercises. To investigate the RNA and miRNA expression profiles in the muscles with different muscle fiber compositions on Mongolian horses. We examined the muscle fiber type population and produced deep RNA sequencing for different parts of skeletal muscles. And chose two of them with the highest difference in fast and slow muscle fiber population (splenius and gluteus medius) for comparing the gene expre...
Standing CT of the equine head: Reducing radiation dose maintains image quality. Multiple published studies involving computed tomographic (CT) examinations of the equine head utilise a wide range of mAs parameters for image acquisition. This prospective, experimental study assessed the effects of lowering mAs during CT image acquisition on image quality and scatter radiation on 10 cadaver equine heads. Each head was scanned three times at 300, 225, and 150 mAs, with all other scanning parameters remaining constant between series. An anthropomorphic phantom was positioned adjacent to each equine head during image acquisition, mimicking a human bystander, with an ionizatio...
Effects of Low-Level Laser Therapy and Chiropractic Care on Back Pain in Quarter Horses. Low-level laser therapy has been used clinically to treat musculoskeletal pain; however, there is limited evidence available to support its use in treating back pain in horses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of low-level laser therapy and chiropractic care in treating thoracolumbar pain in competitive western performance horses. The subjects included 61 Quarter Horses actively involved in national western performance competitions judged to have back pain. A randomized, clinical trial was conducted by assigning affected horses to either laser therapy, chi...
Serum acylcarnitine profile in endurance horses with and without metabolic dysfunction. Mitochondrial β-oxidation is essential in fat metabolism and can be monitored with blood acylcarnitine profiling, as partly degraded fatty acids accumulate as their carnitine esters. To guarantee continuous energy supply during long-distance exercise, endurance horses oxidise considerable amounts of fat in the mitochondrion. In endurance races over 80 km, glycogen depletion is evident in equine slow-twitch high oxidative muscle fibres and as a consequence, horses participating in endurance races over 80 km rely almost entirely on β-oxidation of fatty acids. This study investigated mitoch...
High-starch diets alter equine faecal microbiota and increase behavioural reactivity. Gut microbiota have been associated with health, disease and behaviour in several species and are an important link in gut-brain axis communication. Diet plays a key role in affecting the composition of gut microbiota. In horses, high-starch diets alter the hindgut microbiota. High-starch diets are also associated with increased behavioural reactivity in horses. These changes in microbiota and behaviour may be associated. This study compares the faecal microbiota and behaviour of 10 naïve ponies. A cross-over design was used with experimental groups fed high-starch (HS) or high-fibre (HF) die...
Production technology, nutritional, and microbiological investigation of traditionally fermented mare milk (Chigee) from Xilin Gol in China. Mare milk originated from female horses, known as mares, to feed their foals during lactation. The health-promoting characteristics of traditionally fermented mare milk (Chigee) are well known for the function of clinic treatment in the traditional Mongolian medicine. This study was conducted to investigate the production technology of Chigee and to evaluate the nutritional and microbiological characteristics of mare milk and Chigee based on 188 samples. The nutritional analysis of mare milk and Chigee indicated that lactose significantly decreased from 6.95 ± 0.45% to 2.82 ± 1.65% and a...
The Pattern of Superficial Body Temperatures in Leisure Horses Lunged with Commonly Used Lunging Aids. The natural head and neck position (HNP) of horses differs from the position in horse riding when bit is used. The special lunging aids (LAs) are applied in order to modify HNP. Different types of LAs have the potential to affect the work of horse muscles and the superficial thermographic patterns (STPs). The effects of thre LAs on STPs of neck, chest, back, and hindquarters were investigated. Methods: Sixteen leisure horses were lunged with freely moving head (FMH), rubber band (RB), chambon (CH), and triangle side reins (TRs). The thermographic images (n = 896) were analyzed before/after lun...
Assessing the fertility of two mares cloned from the same founder animal. Two cloned mares, produced from the same sample of skin fibroblasts, were bred during four breeding seasons from their second year of age, as embryo donors, in exactly the same conditions, using the same stallions for both cloned mares. The aim of this study was to test the embryo donor potential of cloned mares and to compare the results obtained from two cloned mares of the same mare with other embryo donor mares (n = 31-39 per breeding season) at the same stud. For both cloned mares, 19 embryos were recovered by 43 collection attempts (44%) (7/22 for one; 12/21 for the other), 16 (84%) pr...
Ancient Genomes Reveal Unexpected Horse Domestication and Management Dynamics. The horse was essential to past human societies but became a recreational animal during the twentieth century as the world became increasingly mechanized. As the author reviews here, recent studies of ancient genomes have revisited the understanding of horse domestication, from the very early stages to the most modern developments. They have uncovered several extinct lineages roaming the far ends of Eurasia some 4000 years ago. They have shown that the domestic horse has been significantly reshaped during the last millennium and experienced a sharp decline in genetic diversity within the last...
Temporal and spatial changes in bone accrual, density, and strain energy density in growing foals. Bone adaptation is in part driven by mechanical loading, and exercise during youth has been shown to have life-long benefits for bone health. However, the development of early exercise-based interventions that reduce the incidence of fractures in racing horses is limited by the lack of characterization of normal development in growing bone. Previous efforts to quantify bone development in the horse have relied on repeated radiographs or peripheral quantitative computed tomography scans, which are limited in their assessment of the entire bone. In this study, we acquired computed tomography sca...
An investigation of the equine epidermal growth factor system during hyperinsulinemic laminitis. Equine laminitis is a disease of the digital epidermal lamellae typified by epidermal cell proliferation and structural collapse. Most commonly the disease is caused by hyperinsulinemia, although the pathogenesis is incompletely understood. Insulin can activate the epidermal growth factor (EGF) system in other species and the present study tested the hypothesis that upregulation of EGF receptor (EGFR) signalling is a key factor in laminitis pathophysiology. First, we examined lamellar tissue from healthy Standardbred horses and those with induced hyperinsulinemia and laminitis for EGFR distrib...
Nursing Theory Informs Dressage. Application of nursing theory in daily life by applying elements of Parse's paradigm allowed for a more expansive view of the dressage experience by focusing on the paradox of visible-invisible in the unique rhythmic-patterns of the horse-rider team. The study of classical nursing theory has diminished in a similar pattern as classical dressage. The importance of studying the classics in any field is emphasized along with concerns about the future of nursing and healthcare.
Therapeutic mesenchymal stromal stem cells: Isolation, characterization and role in equine regenerative medicine and metabolic disorders. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have become a popular treatment modality in equine orthopaedics. Regenerative therapies are especially interesting for pathologies like complicated tendinopathies of the distal limb, osteoarthritis, osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) and more recently metabolic disorders. Main sources for MSC harvesting in the horse are bone marrow, adipose tissue and umbilical cord blood. While the acquisition of umbilical cord blood is fairly easy and non-invasive, extraction of bone marrow and adipose tissue requires more invasive techniques. Characterization of the stem cells a...
Needs Assessment: What Are the Barriers to Use of Equine Genetic Testing? Genetic testing offers precise and accurate data to horse owners concerning their horse's health and offers potential economic value increases of foal crops via genome-assisted selection. Despite availability of at least 96 commercially available markers, fewer than 20 are commonly used. This project seeks to identify the barriers to the incorporation of genomic tools in diverse equine operations. Based on studies examining public opinion of human medical testing, we expected that lack of genetic education and few industry requirements for testing may contribute to neutral or negative opinions...
Horse Racing and Veterinary Practices in New Jersey. The New Jersey horse racing industry has declined over the last 5 years as indicated by decreases in the number of racing days, stallions standing, mares bred, and foals registered. These changes were hypothesized to have potential negative consequences for veterinary practices. The objective of the survey was to investigate changes in veterinary practice revenue and staff over a five-year period. Members of the New Jersey Association of Equine Practitioners completed a survey detailing their involvement in the horse racing industry and breeding of racehorses. A response rate of 49% was achiev...
Effect of Different Blanket Weights on Surface Temperature of Horses in Cold Climates. The objective of this study was to examine changes in surface temperature of blanketed horses during cold weather. Four mature stock-type horses were used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Treatments included 3 different blanket weights (based on g of fiberfill): light weight (LW; 0 g), medium weight (MW; 200 g), heavy weight (HW; 400 g), and a nonblanketed control (CON). Thermographic images were obtained from a standardized lumbar location before blanketing and immediately after cold exposure. During cold exposure, horses were outside with ad libitum access to grass hay and water for 1 h...
Omeprazole Reduces Calcium Digestibility in Thoroughbred Horses. Proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole reduce nutrient digestibility in humans. This study determined the effect of omeprazole on the digestibility of diets containing limestone or marine-derived calcium (BMC) and to assess changes in blood parameters associated with gastric acid production and calcium status in horses. Thoroughbreds were used to evaluate the digestibility of diets containing different calcium sources with or without omeprazole over four 21-day periods. Each 21-day period had a 15-day diet adaptation phase followed by a 6-day collection phase, consisting of a 5-day total fe...
Age-related changes of tendon fibril micro-morphology and gene expression. Aging is hypothesized to be associated with changes in tendon matrix composition which may lead to alteration of tendon material properties and hence propensity to injury. Altered gene expression may offer insights into disease pathophysiology and thus open new perspectives toward designing pathophysiology-driven therapeutics. Therefore, the current study aimed at identifying naturally occurring differences in tendon micro-morphology and gene expression of newborn, young and old horses. Age-related differences in the distribution pattern of tendon fibril thickness and in the expression of the ...
Plant-produced chimeric virus-like particles – a new generation vaccine against African horse sickness. African horse sickness (AHS) is a severe arthropod-borne viral disease of equids, with a mortality rate of up to 95% in susceptible naïve horses. Due to safety concerns with the current live, attenuated AHS vaccine, alternate safe and effective vaccination strategies such as virus-like particles (VLPs) are being investigated. Transient plant-based expression systems are a rapid and highly scalable means of producing such African horse sickness virus (AHSV) VLPs for vaccine purposes. Results: In this study, we demonstrated that transient co-expression of the four AHSV capsid proteins in agroin...
Genetic investigation of equine recurrent uveitis in Appaloosa horses. Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is characterized by intraocular inflammation that often leads to blindness in horses. Appaloosas are more likely than any other breed to develop insidious ERU, distinguished by low-grade chronic intraocular inflammation, suggesting a genetic predisposition. Appaloosas are known for their white coat spotting patterns caused by the leopard complex spotting allele (LP) and the modifier PATN1. A marker linked to LP on ECA1 and markers near MHC on ECA20 were previously associated with increased ERU risk. This study aims to further investigate these loci and identify a...
Effects of breed, management and personality on cortisol reactivity in sport horses. Sport horses need to fulfill high physical and psychological requirements during training and competition. These as well as certain conditions of modern husbandry may affect their wellbeing. Here we aimed to (1) evaluate effects of demographic and management factors as well as personality traits on stress reactivity of sport horses, (2) investigate if elite sport horses have elevated stress levels compared to amateur sport horses, and (3) assess whether different equestrian disciplines differentially influence equine adrenal cortex responsiveness. For this purpose, we visited 149 healthy elite...
Horse Welfare During Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin (eCG) Production. Collection of blood from pregnant mares for extraction of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) is a critical but relatively unknown and poorly regulated practice in the countries in which it occurs. Equine chorionic gonadotropin is a hormone that is widely used to enhance reproductive performance and management of dairy and beef cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs kept under intensive housing systems. eCG is extracted from the blood of brood mares between days 40-120 of gestation. Although alternatives have been sought, there is currently no efficacious replacement, natural or synthetic, for eCG. Re...
Riding into Health: A Case Study on an Equine-Assisted Childhood Obesity Intervention. In this article, we present an exploratory case study that describes the initial outcomes of the Equine-Assisted Positively Fit (EAPF) program. Children with obesity and their caregivers were recruited to participate in the eight-session program. Results indicated that treatment completers ( = 2) had a decrease in fat mass and fat mass percentage and an increase in fat-free mass and fat-free mass percentage. Moreover, results from accelerometer measurements of physical activity indicated that participants increased their moderate to vigorous physical activity, as well as reported increased sel...
