"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.
Reinemeyer CR, Herd RP.The large intestines of 6 horses were divided by length into 12 segments, and each segment was washed and weighed. At least 5% by weight of each segment was examined by mural transillumination, and encysted cyathostome larvae were counted. Total numbers of larvae in each segment were calculated. Encysted larvae (98%) were present in the proximal 7 segments of the large intestine (cecum and proximal 75% of the ventral colon), and 2% were present in the distal 25% of the ventral colon and entire dorsal colon. Encysted larvae (6%) were located in the dorsal colon of 1 heavily infected horse. Larv...
Weiland G.The increasing horse trade requires a reliable immunodiagnosis of equine piroplasma infections due to import restrictions imposed by various countries, including the United States of America. It was the aim of our investigations to establish the suitability of serological tests for the detection of parasite carriers and, eventually, to differentiate between Babesia caballi and B. equi infections. The investigations were carried out on 11 ponies with experimentally-induced B. caballi and/or B. equi infection. The infections were confirmed by the demonstration of parasites in blood smears 2-13 d...
Slocombe JO, McCraw BM, Pennock P, Ducharme NG, Baird JD.Twenty pony foals (reared worm free), 6.5 to 10 weeks of age, were inoculated with Strongylus vulgaris and allocated to 5 groups, each with 4 foals. One week after inoculation, 1 group of 4 foals was given oxfendazole (OFZ) at a dosage rate of 10 mg/kg of body weight, another group was given 2 such treatments 48 hours apart, and a 3rd group was given a placebo. All treatments were administered by stomach tube. Three weeks later, foals were euthanatized and necropsied in a test for efficacy against early 4th-stage larvae. Oxfendazole was 80% and 94.9% effective against early 4th-stage S vulgari...
Stegmann GF.The effect of abnormal body position on cardiovascular and pulmonary function in the awake and anaesthetised horse is reviewed. Parameters such as pulmonary shunt, lung volumes, blood gases and alveolar-arterial oxygen partial pressure differences are discussed. Withholding food for 24 hours and mechanical ventilation may be used to improve blood gas values associated with abnormal recumbency during anaesthesia. During prolonged recovery, horses should be encouraged to adopt sternal recumbency.
Morris DD, Whitlock RH, Corbeil LB.An equine antiserum to core lipopolysaccharide was produced by inoculation of 6 horses with a boiled cell bacterin made from the J-5 mutant of Escherichia coli O111:B4. The antiserum immunoglobulin G titer to J-5 mutant E coli, as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, was 1:15,006. Pooled serum prepared before inoculation (preimmune serum) had a J-5 immunoglobulin G titer of 1:350. The J-5 antiserum was tested for its protective efficacy in sublethal endotoxemia in 14 horses. Four horses served as nontreated controls and were given nothing before endotoxin challenge exposure (10 mic...
Puotunen-Reinert A, Huskamp B.A retrospective study on surgical cases of colic in horses (n = 216) revealed that 42 (19.4%) developed post-surgical diarrhoea. Salmonella spp. were isolated in 6 (16.2%) of the cases (n = 37) exhibiting diarrhoea. In 35.7% of the cases (n = 42) recovery from surgery was disturbed by other complications; 23.8% (10/42) died, 2 of which from primary acute diarrhoea due to salmonellosis. Most of the outbreaks of diarrhoea occurred in winter and spring. From the associated variables examined, the duration of colic signs revealed a significant difference between the cases which developed acute pos...
Maitho TE, Lees P, Taylor JB.The disposition of phenylbutazone (4.4 mg/kg), administered intravenously to six Welsh Mountain ponies, was described by a two-compartment open model. Pharmacokinetic parameters were not significantly different after morning dosing in comparison with afternoon dosing. When phenylbutazone (4.4 mg/kg) was administered orally to the same ponies, marked variations in time to peak concentrations were produced with different feeding schedules. When access to hay was permitted before and after dosing, the mean time to peak concentration was 13.2 +/- 1.2 h and double peaks in the plasma concentration-...
Naughton GK, Mahaffey M, Bystryn JC.All of 24 animals (dogs, cats, and horses) with vitiligo were found to have antibodies to pigmented cells that could be detected by specific immunoprecipitation of radioiodinated, detergent-soluble surface macromolecules, and by indirect immunofluorescence on viable cells. These antibodies were not detected in 17 normal animals of the same species. The antibodies were directed to an 85-kDa surface antigen selectively expressed by pigmented cells that was not present on nonpigmented control cells. These observations suggest that vitiligo in animals is an autoimmune disease mediated to pigmented...
Verschooten F, Picavet TM.Desmitis of the fetlock annular ligament was diagnosed in 30 horses during a period of eight years. Most of the horses had been lame for a prolonged period and had chronically distended digital flexor tendon sheaths. Air tendograms demonstrated thickened palmar or plantar annular ligaments. In 25 horses the ligament was cut longitudinally; of these, 16 horses returned to full work without any difficulty and one became sound after a second operation. Follow up time varied from three months to seven-and-a-half years. None of the five untreated horses returned to work.
Orr JA, Erichsen DF, Shirer HW, Allen PL, Payne PA.The aim of this study was to determine whether increases in ventilation would occur during intravenous acid infusion even if systemic arterial pH was held constant. In six awake ponies, HCl (500 ml, approximately 0.312 M) was infused into the right atrium at a total dose of 1.0 meq/kg over 18 min while an equivalent dose of NaOH was infused into the left heart to restore systemic arterial pH to normal. Total ventilation increased at the onset of the infusion and remained elevated although systemic arterial pH was normal to slightly alkaline. The increase in ventilation during the initial 2 min...
Ruoff WW, Baker DC, Morgan SJ, Abbitt B.DIABETES mellitus is an uncommon disease in the horse and,
when reported, is frequently secondary to Cushing’s disease
(King, Kavanaugh and Bentinck-Smith 1%2; Loeb, Capen
and Johnson 1966; Tasker, Whiteman and Martin 1966;
Baker and Ritchie 1974; Pauli, Rossi and Straub 1974; Moore,
Steiss, Nicholson and Orth 1979). Diabetes mellitus, associated with chronic pancreatitis, was reported in a horse with
hyperglycaemia, glycosuria and ketonuria (Jeffrey 1969).
Other reported cases were not examined fully to determine the
underlying cause of hyperglycaemia (Jorgenson 1921 ; Wilkinson 195...
Tobin T, Chay S, Kamerling S, Woods WE, Weckman TJ, Blake JW, Lees P.Phenylbutazone is an acidic, lipophilic, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It is extensively metabolized in the horse. The metabolites so far identified, oxyphenbutazone, gamma-hydroxyoxyphenbutazone, account for some 25-30% of administered dose over 24 h. The plasma half-life of phenylbutazone and termination of its pharmacological action are determined primarily by its rate of hepatic metabolism. Phenylbutazone acts by inhibiting the cyclooxygenase enzyme system, which is responsible for synthesis of prostanoids such as PGE2. It appears to act on prostaglandin-H synthase and pros...
Day MJ, Penhale WJ.Skin biopsies from 47 dogs, 6 cats and 5 horses with suspected autoimmune skin disease were submitted for immunofluorescence from 1978 to 1985. These cases were predominantly Western Australian in origin, although a number were also referred from Queensland and Victoria. In 5 dogs, 2 cats and 2 horses immunoglobulin binding to intercellular cement substance and/or basement membrane was demonstrated by direct immunofluorescence. Antinuclear antibody was also demonstrated in several of these cases. Immunofluorescence was used in combination with histopathological examination to confirm the clini...
Jacob RJ.Preliminary experiments have revealed that several laboratory and wild-type strains of the equine herpesvirus (EHV) triad were temperature-sensitive for growth when assayed at 39 degrees C. The efficiencies of plating (EOP) observed were 10(-2) for both EHV 1 and 2, and 1 X 10(-6) for EHV 3. The EOPs were determined by plaque assays which compared titrations at 34 degrees C and 39 degrees C on equine fetal dermal fibroblast cells. Growth yield experiments, assayed at 34 degrees C, reflected those EOP's, but did not indicate any difference in yields when infected cultures were incubated at 34 d...
Juillerat MA, Taniuchi H.To investigate the role of evolutionarily invariant leucine 32 of horse cytochrome c, analogs of residues 28-38, (28-38), each containing a substituted amino acid at positions 32 or 35 were synthesized using Merrifield's method. Position 35 is leucine in horse cytochrome c but replaced by nonpolar amino acids in some species. The ability of the analogs to bind to the two-fragment complex of ferri- or ferro heme fragment (1-25)H and apofragment (39-104) was measured using gel filtration and equilibrium dialysis. Replacement of leucine 32 with isoleucine, for example, increased the dissociation ...
Hultgren BD.Pulmonary lobar hypertrophy was diagnosed in a 4-hour-old Quarter Horse full-term foal that had respiratory arrest shortly after birth. The gross and microscopic appearances were consistent with polyalveolar lobe, a congenital anomaly of human infants.
Hodson NP, Wright JA, Hunt J.Plasma levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol and catecholamines were used to study the role of the sympatho-adrenal system in equine grass sickness. Statistical evaluation determined differences of hormone levels between seven horses with grass sickness (one acute, five subacute and one chronic), six horses with colic (one with laminitis) and 16 control horses before and after mild stress. Plasma levels of the hormones were higher in horses with acute and subacute grass sickness than in the other groups. No differences were detected between horses with colic and stressed contr...
Yager JA, Foster SF, Zink MC, Prescott JF, Lumsden JH.Polymorphonuclear leukocytes from adult horses were separated from whole blood, using a 2-step Percoll gradient, and were tested for bactericidal function against Corynebacterium equi. Staphylococcus aureus, an organism against which equine neutrophils have proved efficacy, was a positive control. The percentage of uptake after a 15-minute preincubation of the neutrophils and bacteria in the presence of normal horse serum was also calculated. The results indicated that equine neutrophils effectively phagocytosed and killed C equi and S aureus. The percentage of uptake for S aureus (95% +/- 3%)...
Lyons ET, Drudge JH, Tolliver SC.Two controlled tests (experiments D and E) were done to evaluate a fenbendazole (FBZ) paste dosage regimen (10 mg/kg once a day for 5 days) for activity against naturally occurring infections of migrating Strongylus vulgaris and S edentatus in the mesenteric arteries and ventral abdominal wall, respectively. Data were also obtained on other internal parasites of the gastrointestinal tract and eyes in experiment E. Eight pony yearlings were used in experiment D (4 treated and 4 nontreated) and 6 horse weanlings were used in experiment E (3 treated and 3 nontreated). Intervals, expressed as days...
Okladnikov GI.The main clinical varieties of spinal cord and equine tail tumors are reviewed. Of 221 cases, the progressive course of the disease was recorded in 76,9%, slow-progressive course was observed in 68,1% and rapid-progressive in 8,8% of cases. It is stressed that in the presence of the progressive course of the disease there may occur different manifestations of the tumorous process of the spinal cord, the examination of which makes it possible to improve the diagnosis, particularly in the early stage of the spinal oncological process.
Corbin CJ, Legacki EL, Ball BA, Scoggin KE, Stanley SD, Conley AJ.The 5α-reductase enzymes play an important role during male sexual differentiation, and in pregnant females, especially equine species where maintenance relies on 5α-reduced progesterone, 5α-dihydroprogesterone (DHP). Epididymis expresses 5α-reductases but was not studied elaborately in horses. Epididymis from younger and older postpubertal stallions was divided into caput, corpus and cauda and examined for 5α-reductase activity and expression of type 1 and 2 isoforms by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Metabolism of progesterone and testosterone to DHP and dihydro...
Dagleish MP, Pemberton AD, Brazil TJ, McAleese SM, Miller HR, Scudamore CL.Man and horses both suffer from neutrophil mediated pulmonary diseases however there are striking species differences in the underlying pathology. In particular while pulmonary emphysema is a common pathological sequel to human respiratory disease it is not a major feature of the common equine neutrophil mediated condition, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The proposed reason for this difference is that equine neutrophils contain less elastase than equivalent human cells and therefore there is a reduced risk of excess and/or uninhibited elastase activity, which is considered the m...
Dixon PM, Brown R.Equine blood containing different levels of methaemoglobin was stored under varying conditions and the methaemoglobin content was monitored during the storage period. Only under aerobic storage at 4 degrees C did the methaemoglobin content of all samples appear to remain stable.
Okada CTC, Kaps M, Perez Quesada J, Gautier C, Aurich J, Aurich C.Spontaneous prolongation of the luteal phase has been described in horses, but the underlying causes are still unclear. The present study investigated details of gonadotrophin and progestogen secretion in pregnant mares (n = 11) with or without experimentally reduced early postovulatory luteal function. From days 0 to 3 after ovulation, they were treated with the prostaglandin F (PGF) analogue cloprostenol or left untreated. After conceptus collection on day 34, they were assigned to the opposite treatment. Mares were affiliated to the group primary corpus luteum (n = 6) or diestrous corpus lu...
Smith SJ, Cox JE, Houghton E, Dumasia MC, Moss MS.Deuterium, 14C- and 3H-labelled steroid substrates were incubated with minced testicular tissue from stallions of different ages. After extraction and separation of the neutral and phenolic fractions the metabolites were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The presence of the expected C19 neutral and C18 phenolic steroids was confirmed. An isomer of 5(10)-oestrene-3,17-diol was also identified.
Murabayashi H, Hondo E, Kitamura N, Furuoka H, Taguchi K, Nambo Y, Yamada J.One of the most attractive characteristics of a horse testis is the change of the weight during development. As the testicular weight changes and the number of Leydig cells decreases, pigments appear in interstitial tissues. In the present study, the characteristics of the pigments found in the interstitial tissues were examined histochemically and ultrastructurally. Specific stainings indicated that the pigmented granules showed almost all of the histological and histochemical characteristics of ceroid or ceroid-like pigment. The cells showed positive reaction for acid phosphatase while the p...
Schröer U, Lange A, Glatzel P, Ludwig H, Borchers K.The aim of the present study was to clarify whether an EHV-1 induced abortion can be prognosticated by an increase of antibody titres, virus shedding and/or viraemia and whether the current abortion diagnostic is suitable. In this context the immune response post immunization and a possible reactivation were of great interest. For this purpose blood samples of 32 mares between the ages of 5-21 years were regularly investigated during a period of two years before and after vaccination and pregnancy. Neutralization tests, indirect immunofluorescence tests as well as PCR and virus isolation were ...
Luna SP, Taylor PM.Halothane depresses cardiorespiratory function and activates the pituitary-adrenal axis, increasing beta endorphin. In horses, beta endorphin may enhance the anaesthetic-associated cardiorespiratory depression and mortality risk. The authors studied endogenous opioid effects on cardiorespiratory function and pituitary-adrenal activity in halothane-anaesthetised ponies by investigating opioid antagonism by naloxone. Six ponies were anaesthetised three times (crossover design). Anaesthesia was induced with thiopentone and maintained with 1.2 per cent halothane for 2 hours. Immediately after indu...
Harkins JD, Mundy GD, Stanley S, Woods WE, Sams RA, Richardson DR, Grambow SC, Tobin T.Isoxsuprine is reported to be a peripheral vasodilator used in human and veterinary medicine to treat ischaemic vascular disease. In horses, it is generally administered orally to treat navicular disease and other lower limb problems. To define the scope and duration of its pharmacological responses after oral administration, 6 horses were dosed with isoxsuprine HCl (1.2 mg/kg bwt) q. 12 h for 8 days and then tested to assess the duration and extent of pharmacological actions. There was no significant difference between isoxsuprine and control treatment values for heart rate, spontaneous activ...
White SD, Foley JE, Spiegel IB, Ihrke PJ.Equine sarcoidosis is a rare, multisystemic, noncaseating, granulomatous and lymphoplasmacytic disease of unknown etiology. A recent report described a horse with granulomatous skin disease displaying histologic, electron microscopic, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) findings consistent with equine herpesvirus 2 (EHV-2). Objective: To investigate the presence of EHV-2 and equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) in 8 horses with sarcoidosis. Methods: Eight horses with sarcoidosis, reported previously. Methods: Retrospective study. PCR assays of the tissues were performed to detect DNA associated with E...
Starick E.Serum samples from 72 stallions were examined for the occurrence of antibodies against equine arteritis virus, of which 41 animals (57%) were found to be positive. 32 of the seropositive stallions were then screened for persistent EAV infection, before and after the breeding season. Semen samples were investigated by RT-PCR followed by dot blot hybridization and nested PCR, and by virus isolation on cell cultures as well. The carrier state was virologically confirmed in 11 of 32 stallions (34%) during the first and in 9 of 20 (45%) during the second investigation. RT-PCR followed by confirmato...
Jacobsen B, Venner M, Gerdwilker A, Wohlsein P.A ventral meningomyelocele was found in a five week old, male German warmblood foal which exhibited central nervous symptoms. This rare malformation in horses may be caused by absent or defective fusion of vertebral bodies leading to herniation of the spinal cord and meninges with subsequent degenerative alterations of the spinal cord.