"Horses" is a broad topic that encompasses various aspects of equine biology, behavior, and management. This category includes studies on the anatomy, physiology, and genetics of horses, as well as their behavior, nutrition, and care. Research in this area may also cover the historical and cultural significance of horses, their roles in agriculture, sport, and therapy, and the challenges associated with their conservation and welfare. The page aggregates peer-reviewed research articles and scholarly studies that explore the multifaceted relationships between humans and horses, examining both scientific and socio-economic perspectives.
Jacob RJ, Price R, Bouchey D, Davis T, Borchelt J.This article reviews the findings on temperature sensitivity of equine herpesvirus isolates with an emphasis on equine herpesvirus 3, etiological agent of equine coital exanthema. The hypothesis is presented that the relative apathogenic nature of this herpesvirus may be an indirect result of its inability to synthesize and/or process glycoproteins needed by the virus to produce infectious virions at the normal body temperature of its natural host. It is suggested that equine herpesvirus 3 is the more evolved and naturally attenuated member of the equine herpesviruses.
Perkins NR, Heath TJ.Pathways of peripheral lymph flow from the legs in horses were studied with casts, and with light and electron microscopic techniques. Although lymph nodes in horses occur in large groups, each lymph vessel draining from the periphery appeared to terminate on a single node within a group. The larger branches of each vessel divided either on the node surface or after penetrating into the node, and 25 to 60 terminal afferent vessels entered either the subcapsular, medullary or trabecular sinuses. Numerous initial efferent lymphatics arose either within the medulla, or at its surface, and they of...
Ellison RS, Jacobs RM.This study was undertaken to ascertain if the isoelectric focusing pattern of serum alkaline phosphatase (AP) from sick horses with high activity is useful for determining its tissue origin. The effect of oral prednisolone and phenylbutazone therapy on this enzyme in healthy horses was also investigated. The sick horses were divided into three groups: hepatic, intestinal and miscellaneous. All sera had approximately thirteen bands of AP activity when focused on agarose gels with a pH gradient of 3.5 to 9.5. All the horses in the liver disease group had greater than 65% of enzyme activity in ba...
Galey FD, Beasley VR, Schaeffer D, Davis LE.An aqueous extract was made from black walnut (Juglans nigra) heartwood obtained in the fall of the year. Ten hours after nasogastric administration of 5 L of the extract, a 550-kg, 13-yr-old Quarter Horse gelding experienced Obel grade-3 laminitis. The effect of aqueous extract of black walnut on vascular contractility was then tested, using isolated equine digital arteries and veins. The vessels were maintained in Krebs bicarbonate buffer with 95% oxygen at 37 C. The extract did not induce a direct contractile effect. It did, however, reversibly enhance the vasoconstriction induced in the is...
Mair TS, Taylor FG, Brown PJ.Two horses affected by chronic, intermittent colic were found, at post-mortem examination, to have localized annular thickening of a segment of the duodenum. Histological examination of the lesion in both cases revealed a tumour composed of bundles of oval or spindle-shaped cells that stained as muscle with van Gieson stain. The histological diagnosis was leiomyosarcoma. The tumour had caused partial bowel obstruction in both horses.
López-Rivero JL, Agüera E, Rodríguez-Barbudo MV, Galisteo AM, Morales-López JL.Samples taken from the middle gluteal muscle of 95 untrained adult horses of different ages and sex were subjected to histochemical analysis using the myosin adenosine triphosphatase (m-ATPase) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide tetrazolium reductase (NADH-TR) staining techniques. Fibres were classified into types I, IIA and IIB according to m-ATPase activity after preincubation at pH 4.4. The percentage of FT (Fast-Twitch Glycolytic) fibres and the proportion of IIB fibres with "high" and "low" oxidative capacity were determined in serial sections stained for NADH-TR. Statistical analysis ...
Ford TS, Freeman DE, Ross MW, Richardson DW, Martin BB, Madison JB.The case records of 26 horses with ileocecal intussusception over a 7-year period were reviewed to determine clinical features of the disease and response to treatment. The median age of horses with ileocecal intussusception was 1 year and ranged from 2 weeks to 19 years. There was no apparent gender or breed predisposition to this disease. An acute form of ileocecal intussusception was diagnosed in 19 horses with signs of moderate to severe abdominal pain of less than or equal to 24 hours' duration, and a chronic form was diagnosed in 7 horses with signs of intermittent, mild to moderate abdo...
Dean PW, Nelson JK, Schumacher J.Cartilage retention strengths of laryngoplasty prostheses were compared in larynges of 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old horses, using doubled polyester and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene prostheses. Bilateral laryngoplasties were performed on each of 15 (seven 2-year-old, two 3-year-old, and six 4-year-old) larynges, which were collected at an abbatoir. Prostheses were secured to a mechanical testing machine, and tension causing arytenoid cartilage abduction was applied, until total failure of the cartilage or prosthesis resulted. Tension caused cricoid cartilage failure in 1 specimen, and muscular pr...
Harkness RA, McCreanor GM, Allsop J, Snow DH, Harris RC, Rossdale PO, Ousey JC.1. Plasma hypoxanthine and xanthine concentrations are very low in the horse and low in rat, mouse and greyhound compared to concentrations in beagles, man, sheep and rabbit. 2. Activities in erythrocytes of the main enzyme metabolizing hypoxanthine, hypoxanthine phosphori-bosyltransferase, show a similar pattern (Tax et al., 1976, Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 54B, 209-212); thus low activities have been found where plasma concentrations were low. 3. Hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase activities in horse tissue other than erythrocytes are similar to those in man and rabbit with high activities ...
Kramme PM, Ziemer EL.Coccidioidal osteomyelitis was diagnosed in a horse after a 6-month period of coughing, weight loss, and lameness. The horse was euthanatized and the diagnosis was confirmed by gross and microscopic findings.
Solti L, Eulenberger K, Kurth D, Schöne L.Anoestrous mares were treated with prostaglandin (n = 43) and those that did not respond to prostaglandin (n = 29) with a synthetic progestagen, allyloestrenol, at a dose of 0.05 mg/kg body mass for 12 days. After the cessation of the long-term per os gestagen blockade the animals were checked for heat and, if a preovulatory follicle could be palpated, 2000 IU hCG was administered to induce ovulation. In some animals the plasma 17 beta-oestradiol (E2) and progesterone (P4) levels were also followed up throughout the gestagen treatment and for 10-14 days thereafter. As the favourable oestrus ra...
Patterson SD, Bell K.The carbohydrate side chains of the major plasma serpins of the horse and wallaby have been characterized by lectin analyses of protein blots from two-dimensional gels using the major human plasma serpin, alpha 1-protease inhibitor, as a control. Eight lectins were used in the characterization in conjunction with enzymatic deglycosylation of complex and high mannose side chains, chemical desialylation and defucosylation, and one round of 'Smith degradation', all being performed on the nitrocellulose blots. Assuming a standard complex side chain structure, the results of the 21 lectin/treatment...
Edlund O, Bowers L, Henion J, Covey TR.Urine samples were spiked with [17-methyl-2H3]methandrostenolone as internal standard and extracted with a mixture of dichloromethane and cyclohexane. The organic phase was concentrated and injected onto a short octyl-silica column (30 mm x 4.6 mm I.D.) for separation of methandrostenolone and 17-epimethandrostenolone. The effluent from the column was connected to a Sciex TAGA 6000E triple quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an atmospheric pressure ion source for sampling of ions generated by a heated pneumatic nebulizer with corona discharge ionization. This ion source produced abundan...
Coddeville B, Stratil A, Wieruszeski JM, Strecker G, Montreuil J, Spik G.Three serotransferrin variants Tf 2a, Tf 4b and Tf 5b were isolated in an homogeneous form from a preparation of homozygous horse serotransferrin Tf 0. On the basis of the results concerning molecular mass determination and the carbohydrate analysis, it is concluded that the serotransferrin variant Tf 2a contains only one glycan while variants Tf 4b and Tf 5b contain two glycans. The structure of all of the glycans has been established by combining methylation analysis, mass spectrometry and 400-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy. From the obtained results, it appears that the two glycans of Tf 5b varian...
Wilson WD, Madigan JE.Diagnosis of bacterial septicemia was confirmed by results of bacteriologic culture of antemortem blood samples and/or necropsy specimens obtained from 47 foals up to 8 days old. Gram-negative bacteria were isolated from all 47 foals, and mixed infections with more than one organism were involved in 26 (55%). Escherichia coli, Actinobacillus spp, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the most frequent isolates, infecting 55, 34, and 23% of foals, respectively. Gram-positive bacteria and anaerobic bacteria were isolated only from foals with mixed infections with gram-negative organisms. Clostridium pe...
DiPietro JA, Lock TF, Todd KS, Davis JL.Eighteen pony foals inoculated with 1,500 +/- 109 infective Parascaris equorum eggs were given 0.02 ml of ivermectin vehicle (liquid)/kg of body weight, PO, (control); 0.2 mg of ivermectin paste/kg, PO; or 0.2 mg ivermectin liquid/kg, PO, on postinoculation day (PID) 28. Foals were euthanatized on PID 42, and the small intestinal contents were examined for P equorum larvae. The mean number of fourth-stage P equorum larvae in foals treated with ivermectin paste and liquid were 3.5 and 6, respectively. Significantly (P less than 0.01) higher mean numbers of larvae (1,250) were detected in foals ...
Snyder JR, Tyler WS, Pascoe JR, Olander HJ, Bleifer DR, Hinds DM, Neves JW.Microvascular circulation of the ascending colon in healthy horses was studied using microangiography, light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The pelvic flexure with 30 cm of ventral and dorsal colon attached was removed from 14 adult horses immediately after horses were euthanatized. The lumen was flushed with warm water, and this section of the ascending colon was placed in a 37-C bath of isotonic NaCl. In sections from 8 horses, colic vessels were perfused with a radio-opaque medium for microangiography. After angiographic evaluation, tissue sections were prepared for light mic...
McCrindle CM, Ebedes H, Swan GE.Two Arabian horse stallions with behavioural problems were treated with long-acting neuroleptics in order to facilitate corrective training. Perphenazine enanthate, administered intramuscularly at a dose of 0.5 mg kg-1 had an effect for 30 d. Pipothiazine palmitate (1 mg kg-1) induced tranquilization of 30 d duration as well as extra-pyramidal clinical signs, ataxia and aphagia. Neither horse showed prolapse of the penis or haemolysis.
van de Velde LF.The present author's practice was offered the opportunity of testing a so-called buffy-coat analyser of the firm of Becton & Dickinson for its use in the field. He does not deny readers the report of his preliminary experience. In addition, the interpretation of the results and the limitations of the apparatus are briefly discussed.
Hildebrand SV, Hill T.Atracurium (0.4 mg/ml in isotonic NaCl solution) was administered by IV infusion to 7 healthy adult horses for 2 hours. Over the 2-hour period, a 95 to 99% reduction of train-of-four hoof-twitch response was maintained by 0.17 +/- 0.01 mg of atracurium/kg of body weight/h, for a total of 161 +/- 6 mg of atracurium (mean +/- SEM) for horses 1 to 4, 6, and 7. Horse 5, a mare in estrus, required 0.49 mg of atracurium/kg/h to maintain comparable relaxation. Hoof-twitch recovery time from 10 to 75% of baseline strength was 19.8 +/- 2.5 minutes for all horses. The 10 to 75% recovery time for horse 5...
Uppal PK, Yadav MP, Singh BK, Prasad S.A progenital disease encountered at one equine stud farm at Bangalore in Southern India during 1987 was investigated and confirmed as equine coital exanthema on the basis of characteristic lesions and clinical symptoms, isolation of equine herpes virus-3 (EHV-3) from the scabs collected from animals having active lesions and demonstration of neutralizing antibodies in the sera of recovered mares and stallion. This is the first authenticated report of the occurrence of equine coital exanthema in India due to EHV-3.
Coruzzi G, Poli E, Bertaccini G.The effects of nifedipine, verapamil and diltiazem were investigated in the isolated mare uterus in comparison with salbutamol. All the calcium-channel blockers and salbutamol inhibited the spontaneous, KC1- and electrically induced contractions; nifedipine and salbutamol were the most potent compounds. The calcium agonist Bay K 8644 (10(-8)-10(-6) mol/l) competitively antagonized the inhibitory effect of nifedipine (pA2 value = 8.54 +/- 0.06), whereas it was only slightly or totally ineffective against verapamil, diltiazem and salbutamol. These results indicate that calcium-channel blockers a...
Gustafson SB, McIlwraith CW, Jones RL.Four groups of 8 horses each had 1 midcarpal joint injected with 33 colony-forming units (CFU) of viable Staphylococcus aureus plus: 1 ml of saline solution (group 1, control), 250 mg of polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (PSGAG, group 2), 100 mg of methylprednisolone acetate (group 3), or 20 mg of sodium hyaulronate (group 4). Horses were euthanatized, and samples were obtained on the basis of clinical signs of septic arthritis that were nonresponsive to phenylbutazone administration. One group-1 horse, all 8 group-2 horses, 3 group-3 horses, and 4 group-4 horses were culture-positive for S aureu...
Tolnai CH, Forgách P, Marosi A, Fehér O, Paszerbovics B, Tenk M, Wagenhoffer Z, Kutasi O.In the last three decades, West Nile virus (WNV, Flaviviridae, Orthoflavivirus genus) has become one of the most important encephalitic agents worldwide, causing substantial numbers of cases in humans and horses every year by re-emerging in endemic areas and emerging in new territories. It is considered that after natural WNV infection, humans and birds develop long-term immunoprotection, but data on immunoprotection in horses is scarce. Objective: West Nile virus infection provides long-term humoral immunity in subclinically infected horses. Methods: Client-owned, naturally WNV subclinically ...
Berni P, Del Bue M, Conti V, Andreoli V, Ramoni R, Angelone M, Squassino GP, Bari E, Torre ML, Rinaldi M, Dotti S, Rossi R, Yusuf I, Mauri P....Most in vivo studies on MSC-secretome for osteoarthritis (OA) have relied on animal models, using products lacking pharmaceutical quality, not formulated for clinical use, and insufficiently characterized, limiting knowledge of its effectiveness. This study reports veterinary clinical trials on dogs and horses with spontaneous OA: in dogs (26 subjects), the trial is randomized, double-blinded, and controlled; in horses, 5 clinical cases were treated for safety assessment. Treatment consisted of hyaluronic acid with either lyosecretome - a freeze-dried, injectable MSC-secretome obtained through...
Lloyd-Edwards RA, Mulders E, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Veraa S. Headshaking is a common condition in horses, most cases are presumed idiopathic/trigeminal-nerve mediated. Diagnostic work-up of a headshaking horse may involve computed tomography (CT) of the head to exclude causative structural pathology. The relevance of the presence and severity of hyoid apparatus findings at CT to headshaking is unknown. A retrospective analysis of CT changes in the hyoid apparatus in horses was carried out. Comparisons were performed between horses with signs of headshaking and a control population and a subgroup of horses with signs of headshaking and no other 'likely...
Dai F, Toson M, Bertotto D, Dalla Costa A, Heinzl EUL, Lega F, Minero M, Padalino B, Stefani AL, Trestini S, Maietti F, Zonta G, Di Martino G.The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of self-loading training on the overall stress response during pre-slaughter transportation in slaughter horses. Thirty-two slaughter horses were divided into two groups: the control group (CG) and the Trained Group (TG). For six weeks, the TG horses were trained to self-load using a method based on target training and shaping. Animals from both groups were transported to the same slaughterhouse in small groups on different days using the same truck along the same route. The baseline and post-transportation values of the eye temperature and fecal...
Everts RE, Caron R, Foster G, McLoone K, Martin K, Brooks SA, Lafayette C.The roan coat color is described as the dispersion of white hairs within an otherwise solid background color coat. This phenotype is primarily expressed on the body of the horse, with the head and legs exhibiting few to no white hairs. Previous studies mapped the locus for roan to the KIT region and observed linked variants in a small number of breeds. However, utilizing those linked markers to determine the roan genotype in other breeds has seen limited success. In this communication we identify a second roan allele (RN2) which, in conjunction with a previously observed roan allele (RN1) disc...
Munoz Moran JA.This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of intra-articular (IA) injections of a combination of platelet rich plasma (PRP) and hyaluronic acid (HA) on joint effusion following arthroscopic removal of OCD in the tarso-crural joint (TCJ) in young Andalusian horses. Methods: Forty Andalusian horses diagnosed with OCD of the distal intermediate ridge of the tibia (DIRT) were included in the study. Horses enrolled in this study had persisting synovial effusion after arthroscopic removal of OCD in the TCJ. A subjective semi-quantitative effusion score was adopted in the study to define the ...
James C, Lloyd EM, Arthur PG.The extent to which muscle strain or tears are affecting race performance in horses is unknown because it is difficult to objectively identify muscle damage. One approach includes the use of physiological markers in blood. Recently, we linked the level of plasma thiol-oxidised albumin, an oxidative stress biomarker, to muscle damage in humans. Objective: This aim of this work was to investigate whether the level of plasma thiol-oxidised albumin was elevated in the days following a thoroughbred horse race. Methods: 'In vivo' experiments. Methods: Blood collection was performed by each trainer a...
Buschmann E, Easton-Jones C, Van Steenkiste G, De Wilde H, Roberts V, Durando M, Decloedt A, Marr C, van Loon G.Accessory pathways (APs) are muscular bundles directly connecting the atria and ventricles, bypassing the atrioventricular (AV) node-His-Purkinje system. Anterograde conduction along the AP results in ventricular preexcitation. A retrograde conducting AP allows ventriculo-atrial (VA) conduction, creating a reentry circuit that mediates orthodromic atrioventricular reentry tachycardia (OAVRT). This condition is well described in humans and small animals, but has not been reported previously in horses. Objective: Describe clinical and electrocardiographic findings of horses with retrograde AP co...
Maas LT, Louie EW, Finno CJ, Donnelly CG, Stern JA, Hill AE, Morgan JM.Cardiac arrhythmias are common in horses, but their clinical relevance remains controversial. Objective: To describe prevalence and identify risk factors for arrhythmias that may warrant additional screening in a sedentary mixed-breed population of horses. Methods: Prospective cross-sectional. Methods: Ninety-four clinically healthy, university-owned, sedentary horses underwent 24-h ambulatory electrocardiograms and echocardiograms. Potential risk factors were recorded for all horses. Affected individuals were defined as those with >1 supraventricular premature complex/h or with any ventric...
McGlennon AA, Verheyen KL, Newton JR, van Tonder A, Wilson H, Parkhill J, de Brauwere N, Frosth S, Waller AS.Strangles (Streptococcus equi infection) remains endemic in the UK, with ~300 laboratory diagnoses annually. Sub-clinically infected long-term carriers are considered a key driver of endemicity. Analysing genomes of circulating strains could provide valuable transmission insights of this pathogen. Objective: To determine the population structure and diversity of UK S. equi isolates and to model transmission using epidemiological and whole genome sequencing data. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional epidemiological and genomic surveillance. Methods: A dated phylogenetic tree derived from 511...
Gozalo-Marcilla M, Redondo JI, Bettschart-Wolfensberger R, Domenech L, Doménech J, Johnston GM, Taylor PM.To report on the Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Equine Fatalities 4 (CEPEF4). Methods: Confidential, observational, prospective, multicentre, cohort study. Methods: 47,396 horses/ponies undergoing general anaesthesia (GA). Methods: Characteristics of each GA (249 variables) were collected. Outcomes after seven days were ALIVE (or discharged), EUTHANASIA or DEAD. Logistic regression analysed patient demographics and the anaesthetic drugs (p < 0.05). Results: Data were collected from 47,396 GAs in 93 centres in 28 countries. Death rates were 1.2% overall, 0.6% for cases classified as NO...
Suomala H, Brotherus I, Hänninen L, Ternman E, Mykkänen AK.Very little is known about sleep disturbances in horses, although several management or animal-based factors may contribute to an increased risk of disturbances. Objective: To investigate factors related to rest and sleep behaviour of horses kept in stalls as perceived by Nordic horse owners or caretakers and their association with suspected sleep disturbances (SSD). Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: The 40 question online international survey included a convenience sample of horse owners or caretakers with horses over 4 years old kept in the same individual stalls for at least the l...
Smith R, Perkins E, Pinchbeck G, Ireland J.Poor pain management in horses is a welfare concern. The 'diagnosis' of pain cannot be separated from the broader set of interactions through which it emerges. The interactions that take place during veterinary consultations shape the ways in which, or whether, pain management is discussed. Objective: To understand owners' and veterinarians' decision making in relation to chronic pain and its management. Methods: Qualitative ethnographic study. Methods: Data were collected from four veterinary practices in Great Britain between May 2023 and April 2024. Around 200 h of ethnographic observatio...
Imandar M, Javadi A, Abdollahpour G, Mahale PRS, Qanbari A, Mirzaalimohammadi M, Taherkhani E, Olfatifar M, Nikkhahi F, Eslahi AV, Badri M.Leptospirosis, a global zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira spp., poses significant health risks to both animals and humans. This study aimed to assess the seroprevalence of antibodies against Leptospira interrogans serovars in stabled horses in Qazvin province, Northwest Iran. From January 2023 to April 2024, a total of 83 blood samples were collected from asymptomatic horses using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Results indicated a seroprevalence of 40.96% (95% CI: 31-52), with notable variations among regions: 38.89% (95% CI: 27-52) in Qazvin, 38.46% (95% CI: 18-64) i...
Geiger T, Lindenhahn L, Delarocque J, Geburek F.Data about efficacy of different training modalities during rehabilitation of horses with back pain is scarce. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of water treadmill training, lunging and dry treadmill training in horses with back pain. Methods: Eighteen warmblood riding horses referred with confirmed clinical signs of back pain including abnormal responses to passive mobilisation were randomized into three groups to participate in a 6-week water treadmill training, lunging or dry treadmill program under otherwise identical conditions. Two clinicians, one blinded to the program, pe...
Medina-Bautista F, Nocera I, Sánchez de Medina A, Di Franco C, Briganti A, Morgaz J, Granados MDM.The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of the ultrasound-guided thoracolumbar erector spinae plane (TL-ESP) block in standing horses. A total of 24 injections ( = 12) were performed at the L1 level using either 0.1 mL/kg of saline solution (SS group) or 2% lidocaine (LID group). The block feasibility was assessed based on needle visualization and injection time, while efficacy was evaluated through craniocaudal and dorsoventral (DV) spread using the pinprick technique over 270 min. Desensitization was observed at least once in 100% of horses in the LID group a...
Bayly WM, Leguillette R, Sides RH, Massie S, Guigand C, Jones KB, Warlick LM, Thueson EL, Troudt TA, Slocombe RF, Jones JH.Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) is common in racehorses. Stress failure of the blood-gas barrier causes EIPH when the transmural pulmonary capillary (Pcap)-alveolar pressure difference (Ptm) exceeds the barrier's stress failure threshold. Why Pcap increases is incompletely understood. We hypothesized that alterations in blood volume (BV) could affect left ventricular (LV) and pulmonary arterial wedge (PAW) pressures and Pcap, and correspondingly affect EIPH severity. Six thoroughbreds with EIPH exercised at the same treadmill speed (≈11.9 m/s [11.1, 12.2]; median [IQR]) before (...
Silva BCE, Drzewiecka EM, Piotrowska-Tomala K, Alpoim-Moreira J, Sadowska A, Kowalik MK, Pimenta J, Rebordão MR, Ferreira-Dias G, Skarzynski D....A reduction in myometrial contractile activity can lead to inadequate cleaning of the uterine lumen, resulting in persistent endometritis and potentially endometrosis in mares. Oxytocin (OXT) is a key hormonal regulator of myometrial contraction. While epigenetic regulation of myometrial gene expression has been studied in humans, there is limited information on the expression of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and ten-eleven translocation enzymes (TETs) in the myometrium of mares. This study aimed to evaluate the mRNA transcription of these enzymes and the potential role of DNA methylation in ...
Maldonado Moreno N, Alves Moreira J, Araujo De Oliveira L, Sanches Gontijo A, Castilho Baldi ML, Rocha Wenceslau R, Beier SL.A multimodal approach is recommended to optimize perioperative pain control in animals, although opioid use in horses remains limited due to the risks of central nervous system (CNS) stimulation and reduced intestinal motility. A group of 19 healthy, male, mixed-breed horses were divided into two groups and medicated with acepromazine (0.05 mg kg) and detomidine (10 µg kg), with methadone (0.05 mg kg) (ADM) or saline (ADS) administered intravenously (IV). Physiological variables, intestinal motility, gastric distention, and facial pain (EQUUS-FAP) were evaluated one day before (DB), before th...
Pfau T, Forbes B, Sepulveda-Caviedes F, Chan Z, Weller R.Based on fundamental mechanics, movement and force associate head and pelvic movement asymmetry with asymmetry of force production. We investigate, how often racehorses undergoing strenuous training regimens show evidence of switching between "preferred" limbs, i.e. one limb producing increased force, when assessed at monthly intervals? We hypothesize that clinical asymmetry thresholds designed for "detecting lameness" are frequently exceeded and that when applying previously established Thoroughbred-specific repeatability values, horses rarely switch between showing left- and right-sided asym...
Frontiers in geneticsAugust 29, 2025
Volume 16 1651628 doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1651628
Su Y, Ren W, Ma S, Meng J, Yao X, Zeng Y, Li Z, Li L, Wang R, Wang J.This study employed Yili horses participating in a 5000-meter race as a model to investigate exercise-induced gene expression alterations in peripheral blood using whole transcriptome sequencing. Jugular vein blood samples from the three leading horses were collected pre- and immediately post-race, yielding 2,171 differentially expressed mRNAs (2,080 upregulated, 91 downregulated), 4,375 differentially expressed LncRNAs (4,354 upregulated), and 68 differentially expressed circRNAs (64 upregulated). GO/KEGG analyses demonstrated significant enrichment of differential mRNAs in transmembrane tran...
Angwin CJ, de Assis Rocha I, Reed SM, Morrow JK, Graves A, Howe DK.Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) caused by Sarcocystis neurona is one of the most important neurological diseases of horses in the Americas. While seroprevalence of S. neurona in horses is high, clinical manifestation of EPM occurs in less than 1 % of infected horses. Antemortem diagnosis has proven challenging as serum antibodies against S. neurona are an indicator of infection but not necessarily disease. Factors governing the occurrence of EPM are largely unknown, although horse immunity might contribute to EPM pathogenesis. Immunoglobulin G is the predominant antibody class in eq...
Boado A, Pollard D, Lopez-Sanroman FJ, Dyson S.There is limited information regarding orthopaedic injuries in dressage horses. This study assessed the prevalence of injuries in a mixed referral and first opinion population of 272 horses training and competing in dressage, 238 of which were followed up one to five years after injury. Warmblood (55.8%) and Iberian (38.6%) breeds predominated. The median age was 8 years (interquartile range [IQR] 5,11; range 1,21). Horses were examined due to lameness (85.3%) or poor performance (14.7%). The median lameness grade was 2/5 (IQR 2,4; range 0,4). Forelimb lameness was more prevalent than hindlimb...
Gröndahl G, Righetti F, Aspán A, Bjerketorp J, Frosth S, Frykberg L, Jacobsson K, Guss B, Paillot R, Flock JI, Henriques-Normark B, Waller AS.Strangles, caused by Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi), is a prevalent infectious disease of horses. This is the first report on the use of a new vaccine, Strangvac, in a natural outbreak of strangles. Objective: To measure the effects of Strangvac vaccination during an outbreak of strangles at a Swedish farm. Methods: Longitudinal cohort study. Methods: Healthy horses (n = 17) were vaccinated on day 0, which occurred 23 days after strangles was first confirmed in three unvaccinated horses on the same farm. Blood serum samples were collected on day 0, day 28 and day 489. A com...
Lee S, Hector RC, Hess AM, Wotman KL.To determine whether dexmedetomidine prolongs corneal anesthesia following subconjunctival ropivacaine injection in healthy equine eyes. Methods: Ten horses with normal ophthalmic exams were enrolled in a randomized, blinded, crossover experiment with a minimum 4-week washout between treatments. Baseline corneal touch thresholds (CTT, cm) were measured via esthesiometry and a subconjunctival injection was performed in the treatment eye with ropivacaine (R, 0.3 mL 0.5%) or dexmedetomidine-ropivacaine (DR, 0.1 mL 0.5 mg/mL + 0.2 mL 0.5%) and saline (control, 0.3 mL) in the contrala...
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...
Murillo A, Lebrero ME, Valdés M, Ramos J, Villanueva-Saz S, Davies JE, Gómez Á, Pérez E, Riera C, Marteles-Aragüés D.Equine leishmaniosis, caused by Leishmania infantum and transmitted by infected sand flies, has been increasingly reported in Europe, although clinical and immunological data remain scarce. We describe a 10-year-old mare from southern Spain presenting with periocular nodular lesions. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry confirmed granulomatous dermatitis with intrahistiocytic Leishmania amastigotes. Additionally, Leishmania infantum DNA was detected in paraffin embedded skin biopsy. Following surgical removal of the lesions, sequential serological monitoring using enzyme-linked immunosorben...
Cleary M, West S, Kornhaber R, Johnston-Devin C, Thapa DK, McLean L, Hungerford C.Autistic children and adolescents experience a range of co-morbidities, including diagnoses of mental illness. Animal-assisted therapies have advanced rapidly over recent years as an effective and accessible intervention for autistic children and adolescents with various health issues. Horses offer a unique opportunity for interaction as the young person can physically ride the animal, thus creating a therapy with different physical interactions from other animals. This qualitative study had two main aims: first, to understand parents' experiences of their autistic child's involvement with hor...
McCreight KA, Barbosa LN, Odoi A, Reed P, Rajeev S.We estimated the seroprevalence in dogs, cats, and horses from Tennessee, USA, using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) against 12 serovars. We observed seropositivity in 110 of 374 (29.4%) dogs, 21 of 170 (12.4%) cats, and 42 of 88 (47.7%) horses. The highest seroprevalence was observed for serovars Autumnalis (74.6%) in dogs, and Bratislava in cats (42.9%) and horses (95.2%). We found a significant level of potential cross-reactivity between multiple serovars tested, with highest cross-reactivity to serovar Autumnalis in dogs. seroprevalence was significantly higher in vaccinated ...
Zazzo A, Le Corre M, Lazzerini N, Marchina C, Bayarkhuu N, Bernard V, Cervel M, Fiorillo D, Joly D, Lemoine M, Telouk P, Thil F, Turbat T, Balter V....Pastoral nomadism is of great cultural and economic importance in several regions of the world today. However, documenting ancient patterns of mobility in societies where pastoralism was central is challenging and requires tailored approaches and methodologies. Here we use strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopic analyses of dental enamel, together with a local strontium isoscape, to reconstruct the mobility patterns of seven domestic horses deposited in a Late Bronze Age grave from western Mongolia. Radiocarbon indicates that the animals were deposited within a short period of time, 3000 years a...
