"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.
Argenzio RA, Hintz HF.Factors affecting glucose tolerance and the effect of volatile fatty acids on plasma glucose were studied with five ponies in two 5×5 latin square trials. The treatments were equimolar infusions of glucose, acetate, propionate, butyrate and isontonic saline in fed or fasted ponies.
Animals fasted for 72 hr. exhibited a markedly lower glucose tolerance than those fed ad libitum. Propionate appeared to be the only VFA stimulating a significant glucose response in the fasted animals, but no response was noted in the fed animals. The data suggest that length of fast is an important variable in...
Darke PG, Holmes JR.The paper describes the use of a four-electrode cancellation technique, employing a bridge circuit to cancel mirror-image ECGs on the body surface of six horses. The axes joining points at which good cancellations were obtained were plotted on planar diagrams. Evidence is presented which suggests that a considerable proportion of cardiac activity could be regarded as though arising from the activity of a single resultant dipole although there is probably some mobility of the dipole centre during different parts of the cardiac cycle.
de Vries PJ, van der Holst W.The reliability of determination of the plasma progesterone level within approximately eighteen days after ovulation in the pregnancy diagnosis of mares is examined in the present study. Studies were done in seventy-five mares, a number of which were served or inseminated during several cycles so that a total number of eighty-seven blood samples were obtained. On the analogy of other authors, the progesterone level above which mares were believed to be pregnant and below which they were assumed to be non-pregnant, was set at 2 ng/ml. The twenty-five mares in which the level was below 2 ng/ml. ...
Vidović A, Jansen D.The first part of this case report describes the surgical treatment of a unilateral mandibular fracture in the standing horse by using a fixateur type I. By the time of implant removal, the fracture had completely healed. However, during implant removal, an implant failure of 2 of the 4 implants occurred with fragments remaining in the bone. The second part of the report focuses on the development of a special surgical instrument that was designed for removal of the implant fragments. Furthermore, the surgical method allowing the entire extirpation of the fragments within a second surgery is d...
Krueger K, Trager L, Farmer K, Byrne R.Tool use has not yet been confirmed in horses, mules or donkeys. As this subject is difficult to research with conventional methods, we used a crowdsourcing approach to gather data. We contacted equid owners and carers and asked them to report and video examples of "unusual" behaviour via a dedicated website. We also searched YouTube and Facebook for videos of equids showing tool use. From 635 reports, including 1014 behaviours, we found 20 cases of tool use, 13 of which were unambiguous in that it was clear that the behaviour was not trained, caused by reduced welfare, incidental or accidenta...
Hall LW, Young SS.Total respiratory resistance was measured rapidly and non-invasively in 6 conscious ponies before and after they inhaled approximately 25% of the minimal anaesthetic concentration (0.25 MAC) of either enflurane, halothane, or isoflurane, over a 10 min period. The forced random noise (FRN) method was used to measure the impedance over the frequency range of 5 to 40 Hz and its real part, the resistance, was extracted from these impedance measurements. At the concentrations used, halothane appeared to have no effect on the total respiratory resistance; enflurane and isoflurane seemed to increase ...
Ho EN, Kwok WH, Leung DK, Wan TS, Wong AS.Turinabol (4-chloro-17alpha-methyl-17beta-hydroxy-1,4-androstadien-3-one) is a synthetic oral anabolic androgenic steroid. As in the case of other anabolic steroids, it is a prohibited substance in equine sports. The metabolism of turinabol in human has been reported previously; however, little is known about its metabolic fate in horses. This paper describes the studies of both the in vitro and in vivo metabolism of turinabol in racehorses with an objective to identify the most appropriate target metabolites for detecting turinabol administration. For the in vitro studies, turinabol was incub...
Yang JM, Woods WE, Weckman TJ, Wood TW, Chang SL, Blake JW, Tobin T.1. Drug administration studies using diisopropylamine dichloroacetate (DADA) and diisopropylamine (DIPA) were conducted in Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses to assess physiological effects and develop detection methods. 2. Four horses received 0.08 mg DADA/kg body wt and showed no changes in heart and respiratory rates or body temperature as measured over a 1-hr period after administration. A transient diuretic effect was found to occur in 2 mares dosed with 0.80 mg DADA/kg body wt. 3. A qualitative detection method using thin-layer chromatography was developed to detect DIPA, the major met...
Rahmanian MS, Thompson DL, Melrose PA.The ultrastructural and immunoreactive staining characteristics of cells containing prolactin (lactotropes) and growth hormone (GH; somatotropes) in the anterior pituitaries of gonadally intact pony mares were studied at the electron microscopic level. Lactotropes included two morphological subsets: Type I cells were larger and contained large, dense, polymorphic granules that were scattered throughout the cytoplasm; Type II cells were smaller and contained small, dense, polymorphic granules that were predominantly found in peripheral areas of the cytoplasm. Lactotropes constituted 5 to 16% of...
Robinson NE.The primary function of the equine respiratory system is the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide at a rate that is matched to metabolism. Gas exchange requires ventilation, distribution of gas within the lung, perfusion of blood through pulmonary capillaries, matching of ventilation and blood flow, diffusion of gases between air and blood, and transport of gases to and from the muscles. In this article, the author reviews what is known about each of these processes in the resting and exercising horse.
Treiber KH, Boston RC, Geor RJ, Hess TM, Harris PA, Kronfeld DS.Tools and criteria to evaluate and understand glucose metabolism are essential to optimise equine energy utilisation for exercise performance and reduced metabolic health risks. Objective: To re-evaluate models of glucose kinetics in the horse at rest and during endurance type exercise using a single injection technique and compartmental modelling. Methods: Twelve exercise trained Arabian geldings received a bolus of 100 µmol/kg bwt [6,6-(2) H]glucose i.v. while at rest and while running at ∼ 4 m/s on a treadmill. Tracer and tracee glucose curves from 4-150 min after the bolus dose (while t...
Attenburrow DP.The development of a radio-stethoscope for horses is described. The equipment consisted of a sound transducer applied to the skin adjacent to the trachea and a radio transmitter attached to the saddle. The signals emitted were detected by telemetry and recorded on a magnetic tape-recorder. The recorder incorporated a monitor earphone so that sounds could be reproduced at the time of recording. The frequency response obtainable ranged from a few Hz to 4 KHz. This technique provided an objective means of studying the respiratory sounds generated during exercise although absolute values could not...
Klohnen A, Peroni JF.With the recent development of video-assisted thoracic surgery, visual inspection of the thoracic cavity has been used to provide a more accurate diagnosis and prognosis of thoracic diseases and to better manage these diseases. Equipment, techniques, and complications for standing thoracoscopy in horses are described.
