"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.
Fredricson I, Drevemo S, Dalin G, Hjertën G, Björne K.Locomotive disorders constitute a serious problem in horse racing which will only be rectified by a better understanding of the causative factors associated with disturbances of gait. This study describes a system for the quantitative analysis of the locomotion of horses at speed. The method is based on high-speed cinematography with a semi-automatic system of analysis of the films. The recordings are made with a 16 mm high-speed camera run at 500 frames per second (fps) and the films are analysed by special film-reading equipment and a mini-computer. The time and linear gait variables are pre...
Minder HP, Merritt AM, Chalupa W.Feces from 13 healthy horses and 8 horses with chronic diarrhea were subjected to an in vetro fermentation procedure that had been developed for rumen fluid. Fermentations were conducted over 6 hours in a closed system, with and without an essential amino acid (EAA) mixture being added to the basic starch-buffer medium. The addition of EAA caused no significant difference in results of fermentation of feces from healthy horses. For diarrheic animals, there was a significant (P less than 0.01) increase in gas and total volatile fatty acids production whether EAA were present or not, and alpha-a...
Riebold TW, Evans AT, Robinson NE.Arterial blood gas values, rate of pulmonary nitrogen washout, respiratory rate, arterial blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output were determined during ventilation of six anesthetized horses, with a demand valve. The horses were allowed to ventilate spontaneously, or intermittent positive pressure ventilation was utilized. When compared with spontaneous ventilation, intermittent positive pressure ventilation caused a significant increase in the rate of pulmonary nitrogen washout and a significant decrease of arterial carbon dioxide. It was concluded that intermittent positive pressure ...
Muir WW, Sams RA, Huffman R.The acute behavioral cardiopulmonary and pharmacokinetic effects of propoxyphene hydrochloride were studied in seven adult horses. Each horse was given three different dosages of propoxyphene (0.5, 1.0, 2.2 mg/kg) IV. Fourteen days was allotted between each drug administration. The lower IV dosages of propoxyphene (0.5, 1.0 mg/kg) resulted in no changes in indices of cardiopulmonary function. Four horses demonstrated a transient period of muscle fasciculations when given 0.5 mg of propoxyphene/kg. Horses given 1.0 mg/kg demonstrated a brief period of euphoria, ataxia, and muscle fasciculations...
Guthrie GP, Cecil SG, Kotchen TA.To assess the renin-aldosterone system in a large mammal, simultaneous morning activities of plasma renin and concentrations of aldosterone and cortisol were measured in 25 thoroughbred horses. Renin was relatively low in all horses (0.16 +/- 0.02 (S.E.M.) ng angiotensin I/ml per h), levels of aldosterone in plasma were 527 +/- 130 pmol/1 and levels of cortisol in plasma were 141 +/- 11 nmol/l. Levels of aldosterone were significantly correlated with levels of renin in all horses (r = 0.62, P less than 0.001) but not with those of cortisol, and renin was negatively correlated with age in male ...
Wester PW, Franken P, Häni HJ.Summary Both clinical and pathological features of seven horses suffering from a squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach are presented. The main complaints in the horses, aged six years or more, were loss both of weight and of condition. Metastases had often developed. The diagnostic difficulties and possibilities are discussed.
Henderson WM.An attempt is made to review the validity of the claim that more equine research is required with the conclusion that the problems in the equine field that would respond to research must be listed and each assigned a degree of priority according to suggested criteria. Future action will then depend upon identifying or stimulating scientific initiative and seeking the required financial support noting that self help from the equine industry has not been adequately utilised.
Nielsen K, Vibe-Petersen G.Heart scores increased with age and training. Yearlings had average heart scores of approximately 90 milliseconds (msecs). This increased to approximately 110 msecs in 5-year-old horses, after which there was only slight further increase. In horses 4 years or older, regression analysis revealed a highly significant correlation between heart score and kilometre time. In younger horses the level of significance was less. There was a positive correlation between heart scores and earnings in races. Thus, horses with heart scores above 115 msecs had won considerably more than horses with lower hear...
Abdou NI, Amare M, Sagawa A, Abdou NL.To understand the mechanism by which deaggregated horse anti-human thymocyte globulin (dATG) fails to induce untoward immunological reactions in man, three patients who received ATG and two patients who received dATG were studied for evidence of sensitization or tolerance to the foreign globulin. The ATG but not the dATG recipients developed allergic or serum sickness reactions; antihorse serum antibody could be detected in their serum and their blood cells proliferated in vitro in the presence of horse serum and secreted antihorse serum antibodies (P less than 0.001). Tolerance of the dATG re...
Smith HT, Millett F.Spectrophotometric titrations of five singly modified horse heart ferricytochromes c, specifically (trifluoromethyl)phenylcarbamylated (CF3PhNHCO-) or trifluoroacetylated (CF3CO-) at lysines-13, -72, and -79, were carried out. The CF3PhNHCO-Lys-13, Lys-79, and CF3CO-Lys-79 derivatives all underwent alkaline isomerization with loss of the 695-nm band to low-spin species with an apparent pK of about 8.9, as did the unmodified cytochrome. However, modification of lysine-72 appeared to alter the reaction pathway since the CF3PhNHCO-Lys-72 derivative isomerized to a high-spin form with an apparent ...
Breukink HJ, Németh F, van Dieten JS.The clinical examination, anaesthesia and surgery in a gelding with an incarcerated scrotal hernia are described. The results of examination of the blood at regular intervals are shown in a table. Surgery was performed without enterectomy. The postoperation course was uneventful. It is concluded that the possibility of scrotal hernia should be borne in mind, even in geldings with colic. The incarcerated portion of the small intestine is usually found to be the jejuno-ileal junction. The anaesthesiological and surgical features of equine scrotal hernia are discussed.
Giudicelli J, Emiliozzi R, Vannier C, de Burlet G, Sudaka P.A horse kidney neutral alpha-D-glucosidase (alpha-D-glucoside glucohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.20) was purified about 580-fold with a yield of 33% by an affinity chromatography technique using the p-aminophenyl-beta-D-maltoside, a substrate derivative, as ligand. The purified enzyme, homogeneous in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, was a glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 280 000 as calculated by gel filtration and its isoelectric focusing points was found to be pH 4.1. The purified enzyme was able to hydrolyze various substrates having (alpha-1,2), (alpha-1,3), (alpha-1,4), and (alpha-1,6) glu...
Goodship AE, Brown PN, Yeats JJ, Jenkins DH, Silver IA.The results of an assessment of carbon fibre for biological use are given, with particular reference to the clinical use of the material in the treatment of equine tendon injury. Biocompatability of the fibres is assessed using fibroblast cell cultures and replacement of normal tendon with carbon fibre prostheses in experimental animals. The rationale and technique for using this material in clinical cases of tendon injury in the racehorse are described. Results are given from 62 implant operations in a limited series of 40 horses.
Swerczek TW.Four experiments were performed to elucidate the pathogenesis of toxicoinfectious botulism in horses and foals. Groups of horses and foals were inoculated with one of the following: (1) crude toxin of Clostridium botulinum, type B, given IV, (2) C botulinum spores, given IM, (3) C botulinum spores, given IM, in necrotic lesions, and (4) C botulinum spores, given orally with and without dexamethasone. Toxin of C botulinum in minute amounts is toxic to horses. Clostridium botulinum spores produced toxicosis only when necrotic lesions were present. When C botulinum spores were given orally, they ...
Elinder CG, Jonsson L, Sternström T, Piscator M, Linnman L.The hardness of drinking water (i.e., the sum of calcium and magnesium concentrations) has been related to cadmium concentration in kidney cortex and to microscopic signs of arteriosclerosis and focal myocardial fibrosis in 50 Swedish horses slaughtered for meat production. A significant negative correlation was found between water hardness and cadmium concentrations in kidney cortex. This indicates that horses living in soft water areas are more inclined to accumulate cadmium from the general environment. Microscopic changes in the aorta and myocardium were approximately 2 times as frequent i...
Reinecke RK, Loots LJ, Reinecke PM.Dichlorvos in a special slow release formulation at 31 mg/kg body mass in equines was highly effective against all adult strongyles and Oxyuris equi, Parascaris equorum, Probstmayria vivipara and bots of Gasterophilus spp. It has no effect on 4th stage larvae of Trichonema ssp. nor the stomach worms Draschia megastoma and Habronema spp. Doses of dichlorovos 10 and 20 times the therapeutic dose (310 and 620 mg/kg body mass) caused transient clinical signs but these disappeared 96 hours after dosing.
Engelking LR, Gronwall R, Anwer MS.The effects of IV bile acid infusion (at approx 20% of normal excretion rate) on the biliary excretion of 3-alpha-hydroxy bile acids and bilirubin were investigated in ponies prepared surgically with chronic external biliary fistulas. Endogenous bile acid excretion (approx 45 mumol/min) decreased to the hepatic synthesis rate (approx 1.5 mumol/min) during the initial 4 to 5 hours of bile drainage. In type 1 studies, both chenodeoxycholic and taurocholic acid infusion (8 to 9 mumol/min) increased bilirubin excretion by 58% to 82% following 5 hours of biliary diversion. During type 2 studies, 3-...
Littlejohn A, Virlas D.Five doses of sodium cacodylate (194 mg) were administered intravenously to two horses at two-day intervals. The arsenic content of daily urine samples was determined for five days after the final dose, by which time urinary arsenic concentrations were close to those of control samples. It was considered that these results reflected a common property of organic arsenicals viz. more rapid excretion by mammals than is the case with inorganic arsenic compounds.
Butcher MT, Bertram JE, Syme DA, Hermanson JW, Chase PB.The digital flexors of horses must produce high force to support the body weight during running, and a need for these muscles to generate power is likely limited during locomotion over level ground. Measurements of power output from horse muscle fibers close to physiological temperatures, and when cyclic strain is imposed, will help to better understand the in vivo performance of the muscles as power absorbers and generators. Skinned fibers from the deep (DDF) and superficial (SDF) digital flexors, and the soleus (SOL) underwent sinusoidal oscillations in length over a range of frequencies (0....
De Lahunta A.This is a review of the more common diseases of the spinal cord and various areas of the brain of horses. The results of a two and one-half year study of spinal cord disease are emphasized. After a description of the lesion the salient clinical signs are described and the features that differentiate them from other similar diseases. In the seminar, films of case and slides of lesions will be shown to document these diseases.
La Rosa L, Twele L, Duchateau L, Gasthuys F, Kästner SB, Schauvliege S.A bolus of 50 mg kg MgSO (treatment Mg) or the same volume of saline (treatment S) was infused over 15 minutes in 5 adult healthy horses. T0 was the end of the infusion. Physiological parameters were recorded throughout the study period. Measurements of electrical, thermal, and mechanical nociceptive thresholds were performed at the pelvic limbs at baseline (before T0), and at specific timepoints. Blood samples were taken at fixed timepoints before, during and until 12 hours after the infusion. For statistical analysis, the 95% confidence intervals (CI's) for the differences in nociceptive th...
Cranley JJ.A survey of 1141 horses and ponies, for the presence of hydatid infection, was carried out at an export meat plant near Bristol. Lesions were attributed carefully by morphological, histological and immunological examinations and assessed by flame cell activity. All available detail concerning the animals was recorded. The surveys in the literature were assessed for the criteria on which their figures were based and were compared with the findings of this present survey. Attention was drawn to the apparent discord between the results of some surveys and others.
Kouba V.This analysis of global veterinary personnel was based on the available quantitative data reported by individual countries to international organisations. The analysis begins with a time series of globally reported numbers of veterinarians, starting in the year 1959 (140,391). In 2000 this number reached 691,379. Of this total, 27.77% of veterinarians were working as government officials, 15.38% were working in laboratories, universities and training institutions and 46.33% were working as private practitioners. The ratio of veterinarians to technicians was 1:0.63. The global average of resour...
van Niekerk HP, Couvaras S.The possibility of including sodium hydroxide-treated lucerne hay as a constituent in rations for horses was investigated by measuring its effect on the performance and certain bloodcomponents of growing foals. As no adverse effects were found it is concluded that further investigation is necessary to see whether the inclusion of low grade-treated roughages in the ration of horses would be of economic significance.
Zhao J, Marghitu DB, Schumacher J.Tranquilization of horses with acepromazine has been used to suppress erratic head movements and increase the accuracy of a lameness examination. Some equine clinicians believe that tranquilization with acepromazine will make lameness more evident by causing the horse to focus on adjusting its gait to avoid limb pain rather than its surroundings. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of acepromazine on the Lyapunov exponents of lame horses. Ten lame horses were trotted in a straight line for a minimum of 25 strides. Kinematic data created by head movement were analyzed. Nonlinear...
Foreman JH.Metabolic causes of exercise intolerance can be subtle and difficult to document in horses. Because of increased metabolic rate in exercising muscle, most metabolic causes of exercise intolerance are clinically manifested by muscle abnormalities such as ER. Newer causes of ER are being documented by current research and are summarized in the article on muscular causes of equine exercise intolerance. Endocrine causes of exercise intolerance have been poorly documented, but recent work has shown the detrimental effects of hypothyroidism on exercise tolerance in horses. Many metabolic manifestati...
Fuentealba NA, Sguazza GH, Eöry ML, Valera AR, Pecoraro MR, Galosi CM.Equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) infection has a significant economic impact on equine production, causing abortion, respiratory disease, neonatal death and neurological disorders. The identification of specific EHV-1 genes related to virulence and pathogenicity has been the aim of several research groups. The purpose of the present study was to analyze different genomic regions of Argentinean EHV-1 strains and to determine their possible relationship with virulence or clinical signs. Twenty-five EHV-1 Argentinean isolates recovered from different clinical cases between 1979 and 2007 and two refere...
Mia AS, Koger HD.Serum concentrations of arginase, glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) in dogs, cats, horses, cattle, sheep and pigs were determined before and after oral administration of CCl(4) at doses known to cause hepatic necrosis. Following CCl(4) administration, serum concentration of arginase and SGOT increased to a level of diagnostic significance in all animals. SGPT increased markedly in dogs and cats and marginally in 1 of 3 cattle and 2 of 3 pigs. In the surviving animals, the serum concentration of arginase returned to normal range much earlier than ...
Cenani A, Brosnan RJ, Madigan S, Knych HK, Madigan JE.Propranolol has been suggested for anxiolysis in horses, but its sedation efficacy and side effects, both when administered alone and in combination with α-adrenoceptor agonists, remain undetermined. This study aimed to document the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of propranolol, romifidine and their combination. Methods: Randomized, crossover study. Methods: Six adult horses weighing 561 ± 48 kg. Methods: Propranolol (1 mg kg; treatment P), romifidine (0.1 mg kg; treatment R) or their combination (treatment PR) were administered intravenously with a minimum of 1 week between treatment...
Doreau M, Dussap G.Female milk production was related to offspring water turnover, estimated by a tracer method (fig. 1). After deuterium oxide was injected into the blood of the offspring, we measured the decrease of its concentration in time. Milk intake was calculated by equations taking into account the weight gain of the offspring. The reliability of this method was checked in 28 bottle-fed lambs with known milk intake; the correlation between the actual intakes and our estimates was 0.98 with an error means of 5.6 p. 100. The error on the mean of 28 lambs was 0.5 p. 100 (table 1). The milk production of 6 ...
Merkt H, Klug E.The rules for the minimal requirements in health and genital potency for stallions formulated by GOTZE (1950) are reformulated, taking into consideration the results achieved by KLUG (1982) and KENNEY (1983). A stallion must be free of phenotypic hereditary faults. Furthermore he has to be in general and genital health and must be fit in both, potentia coeundi and generandi. The figures are based on the examination of thoroughbred and so called "warmblood" stallions. However, they can be adapted to other breeds like draughthorses and ponys.
Grünig G, Von Fellenberg R, Maier R, Corboz L.Seventeen out of 21 horses had pulmonary microbial organisms which reached considerable numbers in seven cases. Elastase-producing microorganisms from the environment (Streptomyces species and to a lesser extent Bacillus species) constituted 22 per cent to 99 per cent (mean 79 per cent) of the total growth. There was a considerable number of microorganisms with in vitro-produced elastases which were not or only slightly affected by horse serum. There was no correlation between numbers of organisms and pulmonary histopathological findings thus the significance of these microorganisms in the pat...
Dvoĭnos GM, Kharchenko VA, Zviagnitsova NS.The helminth fauna of 24 kulans from Askaniya-Nova and Badkhyz was studied. 42 species of helminths were found, 34 of which belong to strongylids. The helminth species composition of kulan is similar to that of other species of horses. This is a result of an intensive parasite exchange in the historical past when numerous populations of different Equidae species made long seasonal migrations over steppe inter-river lands of Asia and grazed for some time on common pastures.