"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.
Walshe N, Cabrera-Rubio R, Collins R, Puggioni A, Gath V, Crispie F, Cotter PD, Brennan L, Mulcahy G, Duggan V.Obesity is endemic in human populations in the western society, and with mounting evidence that the intestinal ecological environment plays a major role in its pathogenesis, identification of therapies based on intestinal microbiota modulation are gaining attention. Obesity in companion animals is also a common clinical problem. We set out using a multidimensional approach, to determine the effectiveness and safety of a weight loss program for horses incorporating diet restriction and exercise. In addition, we aimed to investigate the effect of this program on the overall intestinal health of ...
Reed RA, Epstein KL, Bramski JH, Diehl KA, Ryan CA.To determine the effect of xylazine on intracranial pressure (ICP) in standing compared to isoflurane-anesthetized horses. Methods: Prospective, crossover study design. Methods: University Teaching Hospital. Methods: Six adult horses donated to the University. Horses were determined to be healthy via physical examination, complete blood count, and neurological evaluation. Methods: Horses were anesthetized, maintained on isoflurane in oxygen in left lateral recumbency, and ventilated to normocapnia. Horses were instrumented for intraparenchymal measurement of ICP, invasive blood pressure, pulse...
Maleas G, Mageed M.This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the clinical effect of bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) and leukocyte rich PRP (LR-PRP) compared to horses undergoing controlled exercise alone in horses with >3 months proximal suspensory desmopathy in hindlimbs (HPSD). Nighty-three horses were divided into three groups according to the treatment: a control (n = 22), LR-PRP (n = 46), and BMAC (n = 25) group. Lameness and ultrasound scores were recorded before treatment (T0) and at 6 months (T1) post-treatment. Records horses considered sound at evaluation and level of performance were addition...
Chanda M, Puangthong C, Pathomsakulwong W, Apichaimongkonkun T, Leklub J.Two horses diagnosed with underrun heels leading to navicular syndrome were fitted with Z-bar shoes. They occasionally showed moderate lameness on the affected legs after the sixth and tenth consecutive farrier adjustments. The affected hooves were sensitive to compression of the frog and sole in their palmar regions. Modified Z-bar shoes were created and shod on the lame legs based on previous with regional anaesthesia and recent clinical examination. The lameness scores were slightly improved at the first shoeing with the modified Z-bar shoes but were markedly improved at four and eight week...
Kitaura T, Sato F, Hada T, Ishimaru M, Kodama R, Nambo Y, Watanabe G, Taya K.The secretion of prolactin and growth hormone in response to exercise and emotional stresses was investigated in Thoroughbreds. Two experiments were performed: one with loading of only exercise stress and one with simultaneous loading of exercise and emotional stresses. Exercise stress was loaded in 4 steps using a treadmill for horses: pre-exercise period (5 min), walking period (6.5 min), galloping period (3 min), and cooling down period (10 min). Emotional stress was loaded by showing a loud video of an audience at a racetrack during the walking period. The results clearly demonstrated that...
van Loon JPAM, Macri L.The objective assessment of chronic pain is of utmost importance for improving welfare and quality of life in horses. Freedom from disease and pain is one of the 'five freedoms' that are necessary for animal welfare. The aim of this study was to develop a pain scale for the assessment of chronic pain in horses (Horse Chronic Pain Scale; HCPS), which is based on behavioural and facial expressions. The scale was used to assess 53 horses (26 horses diagnosed with chronic painful conditions by means of clinical examination and additional diagnostic procedures (consisting of osteoarthritis, chronic...
Dhakal P, Tsunoda N, Nambo Y, Taniyama H, Nagaoka K, Watanabe G, Taya K.Although equine gestation is unique from the standpoint of fetal gonadal enlargement and regression, the activator of this process is still unknown. The present study aimed to show a possible role of activin during equine gestation. In the first experiment, weekly plasma samples from six pregnant mares were used to measure activin A. In the second experiment, eight pregnant mares carrying female (gestational days 110, 140, 180, and 270) and male fetuses (gestational days 120, 180, 225, and 314) were used for immunohistochemistry of activin receptors (IA, IB, IIA, IIB), and their intracellular ...
Fawcett JA, Innan H, Tsuchiya T, Sato F.Many studies have reported that advancing age in broodmares has a negative impact on the reproductive performance of horses. However, although the ages at first and last mating vary among broodmares, it is unknown how this variation affects the correlation between age and reproductive performance in mares. Here, in order to examine the effects of the ages at first and last mating, we analyzed all recorded mating events for Thoroughbreds in Japan from 1997 to 2017. We found that the live foal birth rate of mares with a younger age at first mating indeed declined at an earlier age than those wit...
Park T, Cheong H, Yoon J, Kim A, Yun Y, Unno T.(1) Background: The intestinal microbiota plays an essential role in maintaining the host's health. Dysbiosis of the equine hindgut microbiota can alter the fermentation patterns and cause metabolic disorders. (2) Methods: This study compared the fecal microbiota composition of horses with intestinal disease and their healthy counterparts living in Korea using 16S rRNA sequencing from fecal samples. A total of 52 fecal samples were collected and divided into three groups: horses with large intestinal disease (n = 20), horses with small intestinal disease (n = 8), and healthy horses (n = 24). (...
Arnold C, Pilla R, Chaffin K, Lidbury J, Steiner J, Suchodolski J.Diarrhea is an adverse effect of antimicrobial therapy in horses. This matched, case-controlled study compared the fecal microbiome and metabolome of horses on antibiotics that developed diarrhea (AAD, = 17) to those that did not develop diarrhea (ABX, = 15) and to a control population not exposed to antibiotics (CON, = 31). Fecal samples were collected from horses that were matched for diet and antimicrobial agent (including dose, route, and duration of therapy). Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes was performed, and QIIME 2.0 was used to generate alpha and beta diversity metrics. Untarg...
de Siqueira SM, da Costa Maia R, do Nascimento Ramos V, da Silva Rodrigues V, Szabó MPJ.We herein describe zebuine cattle tick infestation in a farm in southeast Brazil with an examination accurate enough to detect tick immatures and species other than R. microplus. Cattle were inspected monthly for ticks from May 2015 to May 2017 and 7604 ticks were collected along 276 bovine inspections. Rhipicephalus microplus was the dominant species (7197 specimens, 94.5% from the total), but Amblyomma sculptum was also collected (407/5.5%). Horse tick infestations were evaluated for comparison purposes of A. sculptum infestations of a primary host sharing pastures with bovines. Ticks were c...
Fitzharris LE, Franklin SH, McConnell AK, Hezzell MJ, Allen KJ.Exercise-induced upper airway collapse (UAC) probably occurs when the stabilising muscles of the upper airway are unable to withstand the dramatic changes in airflow and pressure that occurs during exercise. In racehorses, the mainstay of treatment is surgical intervention. In human athletes, exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction has been treated successfully with inspiratory muscle training (IMT). The aims of this study were: (1) to assess the feasibility of IMT in racehorses; and (2) describe the exercising endoscopy findings pre- and post-IMT in racehorses diagnosed with dynamic UAC. Horse...
Mellish MA, Lucas ZN, Puchalski SM, Kusch TA.Laminitis is a painful condition that causes lameness in horses. However, monitoring this condition in feral horses is logistically difficult. Laminitis can be detected postmortem, as inflammation of the sensitive laminae of the hoof changes the relative location of the bony structures within the hoof capsule. Thus, evaluation of cadavers may be used to estimate laminitis prevalence in feral populations of horses. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of laminitis in feral horses inhabiting the Sable Island National Park Reserve, Canada, using radiographic imagery on the h...
Krueger K, Esch L, Farmer K, Marr I.Every animal species has particular environmental requirements that are essential for its welfare, and when these so-called "basic needs" are not fulfilled, the animals suffer. The basic needs of horses have been claimed to be social contact, social companionship, free movement and access to roughage. To assess whether horses suffer when one or more of the four proposed basic needs are restricted, we examined several studies ( = 38) that reported behavioural and physiological reactions to these restrictions. We assigned the studies according to the four types of responses investigated: (a) Str...
Molla AM, Fentahun T, Jemberu WT.Epizootic lymphangitis (EL) is a chronic, contagious, fungal disease of equids. The disease is highly prevalent in cart pulling equines of Ethiopia affecting the livelihood of the cart owning households and welfare of the cart animals. This study estimated the economic impacts of EL and assessed cart owners' knowledge and practices related to the disease in northwest Ethiopia. A multistage cluster sampling approach was implemented to select cart animal owners for the study. A total of 274 cart animal owners were interviewed to collect data for the study. The average annual economic loss per ca...
Galiazzo G, Tagliavia C, Giancola F, Rinnovati R, Sadeghinezhad J, Bombardi C, Grandis A, Pietra M, Chiocchetti R.Colic is a common digestive disorder in horses and one of the most urgent problems in equine medicine. A growing body of literature has indicated that the activation of cannabinoid receptors could exert beneficial effects on gastrointestinal inflammation and visceral hypersensitivity. The localisation of cannabinoid and cannabinoid-related receptors in the intestine of the horse has not yet been investigated. The purpose of this study was to immunohistochemically localise the cellular distribution of canonical and putative cannabinoid receptors in the ileum of healthy horses. Distal ileum spec...
Pagliara E, Nicolo A, Rossi C, Cammaresi C, Donadio G, Bertuglia A.Perineural anaesthesia is an essential part of lameness investigation in horses. Painful reactions to injections imply a high risk of accidents for veterinarians. To evaluate the efficacy of two topical anaesthetic creams on desensitization of the skin at two perineural injection sites and to evaluate the effects these formulations may have on pain perception distally to the application sites. Randomized, blind, prospective study. 14 healthy horses were randomly divided in two groups of 7 horses each, one treated with EMLA and one with PLIAGLIS preparations. The mechanical nociceptive thresh...
Todini L, Malfatti A.An instance of hormone assay method flaw is reported. In this journal Chronobiology International, two papers appeared in which an ELISA method for human serum or plasma was utilized for blood serum of horse and sheep, respectively. From our testing, it is resulted that such method does not work at all for equine, sheep and other animal species. The use of commercial hormone assay kits for heterologous species always needs a careful validation procedure. First, the same hormone molecule by different species could not share enough homology to be regognized by and react with antibodies utilized ...
Haralambus R, Florczyk A, Sigl E, Gültekin S, Vogl C, Brandt S, Schnierer M, Gamerith C, Jenner F.Synovial sepsis is a commonly occurring, potentially career-ending or even life-threatening orthopaedic emergency. Diagnosis of synovial sepsis is currently primarily based on synovial fluid analysis, which often leaves diagnostic ambiguity due to overlap of clinicopathological parameters between septic and aseptic inflammatory synovitis. Objective: To evaluate the reliability of lysozyme (LYS), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and elastase (ELT) as biomarkers for synovial sepsis in horses using a photometric assay to measure increased enzyme activity. Methods: Prospective, single-blinded, analytical, cl...
Riggs CM, Riggs SJ, Cheung TY, Tsang F, Oldaker L.Equine surgical facilities are not always available, even in situations where high-value horses are involved in relatively high-risk activities. Objective: To develop a self-contained equine surgical unit that can be relocated and transported by road. Methods: Proof of concept. Methods: A modular operating suite for horses, which included a theatre, scrub room, instrument preparation and storage room, and an anaesthetic induction/recovery box: Transportable Equine Operating Theatre (TEOT) was designed, constructed and tested. A second, larger unit was then built following the same design crite...
Araki M, Ohtaki T, Kimura J, Hobo S, Taya K, Tsunoda N, Taniyama H, Tsumagari S, Nambo Y.Immunohistochemical investigations of the expression of surfactant protein A (SP-A) and surfactant protein D (SP-D) in the uterine and placental tissues of 13 pregnant mares were performed using anti-horse monoclonal primary antibodies. Strong positive reactions for both SP-A and SP-D were observed in the trophoblasts in the microcotyledons of the placentae at 182 to 314 days of gestation; in uterine glandular epithelial cells, faint-to-weak reactions were observed during gestation. This study describes, for the first time, the changes in the SP-A and SP-D expression levels in the endometrium ...
Kalantari RK, Rouzbehan Y, Fazaeli H, Direkvandi E, Salem AZM.The aim of this study was to investigate, the effect of different levels of concentrates and grain processing on feeding behavior, nutrient digestibility, fecal pH and blood metabolites in the horse. Sixteen 5 to 11 years old Turkmen horses with an initial body weight 433±50 kg were used in this experiment based on completely randomized design. Four treatments were studied, in three treatments were used 20, 25 and 30% of concentrate containing processed grains (A20, A25 and A30, respectively), and in one treatment was used 25% of concentrate containing whole grain (B25). The amount of feed in...
Tura G, Savini F, Gallina L, La Ragione RM, Durham AE, Mazzeschi M, Lauriola M, Avallone G, Sarli G, Brunetti B, Muscatello LV, Girone C, Bacci B.Sarcoids are the most common cutaneous tumor of equids and are caused by bovine papillomavirus (BPV). Different clinical subtypes of sarcoids are well characterized clinically but not histologically, and it is not known whether viral activity influences the clinical or histological appearance of the tumors. The aim of this study was to verify whether the development of different clinical types of sarcoids or the presence of certain histological features were associated with BPV distribution within the tumor. The presence of BPV was assessed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and visualized in ...
Morris ERA, Boyle AG, Riihimäki M, Aspán A, Anis E, Hillhouse AE, Ivanov I, Bordin AI, Pringle J, Cohen ND.Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (SEE) is a host-restricted bacterium that causes the common infectious upper respiratory disease known as strangles in horses. Perpetuation of SEE infection appears attributable to inapparent carrier horses because it neither persists long-term in the environment nor infects other host mammals or vectors, and infection results in short-lived immunity. Whether pathogen factors enable SEE to remain in horses without causing clinical signs remains poorly understood. Thus, our objective was to use next-generation sequencing technologies to characterize the genome, me...
Bell C, Rogers S.A key welfare concern for the equine population in the U.K. has been identified as delayed death, leading to prolonged suffering of horses. Reasons why some horse owners fail to have their horses euthanised include financial cost, emotional attachment, peer pressure, negative attitudes towards killing and poor recognition of behavioural indicators of equine pain and stress. The Five Freedoms framework of welfare was used to build a Likert-style survey to investigate the factors underlying attitudes of horse owners towards welfare measures in an end-of-life decision. Participants were asked to ...
Gozalo-Marcilla M, Ringer SK.Recovery remains the most dangerous phase of general anaesthesia in horses. The objective of this publication was to perform a structured literature review including levels of evidence (LoE) of each study with the keywords "recovery anaesthesia horse", entered at once, in the search browsers PubMed and Web of Science. The two authors independently evaluated each candidate article. A final list with 444 articles was obtained on 5 April 2021, classified as: 41 "narrative reviews/expert opinions", 16 "retrospective outcome studies", 5 "surveys", 59 "premedication/sedation and induction drugs", 27...
Fussell D, Bizikova P, Breuhaus B, Harris RA, Moore AR, Chen L, Linder KE.Bullous amyloidosis is a rare disease in humans that has not been described in a veterinary species in the peer-reviewed literature. The human disease is characterised by haemorrhagic vesicles and bullae on the skin and mucosae, which form due to amyloid deposition. Objective: To describe the clinical features, laboratory analysis and histopathological features of an unique presentation of bullous disease in a horse. Methods: A 17-year-old thoroughbred mare presented for weight loss and severe oral cavity ulcers. Methods: Investigations involved haematological evaluation, chemistry profiles, g...
Pusterla N, Barnum S, Miller J, Varnell S, Dallap-Schaer B, Aceto H, Simeone A.Here we report on an EHV-1 outbreak investigation caused by a novel genotype H752 (histidine in amino acid position 752 of the ORF 30 gene). The outbreak involved 31 performance horses. Horses were monitored over a period of 35 days for clinical signs, therapeutic outcome and qPCR results of EHV-1 in blood and nasal secretions. The morbidity of the EHV-1 outbreak was 84% with 26 clinically infected horses displaying fever and less frequently anorexia and distal limb edema. Four horses showed mild transient neurological deficits. Clinically diseased horses experienced high viral load of EHV-1 i...
Theelen MJP, Luiken REC, Wagenaar JA, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Rossen JWA, Zomer AL.Several studies have described the faecal microbiota of horses and the factors that influence its composition, but the variation in results is substantial. This study aimed to investigate the microbiota composition in healthy equids in The Netherlands under standard housing and management conditions and to evaluate the effect of age, gender, horse type, diet, pasture access, the season of sampling and location on it. Spontaneously produced faecal samples were collected from the stall floor of 79 healthy horses and ponies at two farms. The validity of this sampling technique was evaluated in a ...
Souza AF, Souza Junior AA.The equine hoof balance has been the subject of several studies, reflecting the importance of hooves for the good health and performance of these animals. An important condition for the hooves health is its loading, where too much weight in a small area can increase the chances of lameness. Therefore, an equation has been proposed to identify the relationship between body mass and hoof size and has been used in several studies. However, a clear description of how it was developed and what its results really indicate is not available in the literature. In light of this, this article aims to des...
Davis KU, Sheats MK.Asthma is a common and debilitating chronic airway disease that affects people and horses of all ages worldwide. While asthma in humans most commonly involves an excessive type 2 immune response and eosinophilic inflammation, neutrophils have also been recognized as key players in the pathophysiology of asthma, including in the severe asthma phenotype where neutrophilic inflammation predominates. Severe equine asthma syndrome (sEAS) features prominent neutrophilic inflammation and has been increasingly used as a naturally occurring animal model for the study of human neutrophilic asthma. This...
Estrada McDermott J, Pezzanite L, Goodrich L, Santangelo K, Chow L, Dow S, Wheat W.Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common condition with diverse etiologies, affecting horses, humans, and companion animals. Importantly, OA is not a single disease, but rather a disease process initiated by different events, including acute trauma, irregular or repetitive overload of articular structures, and spontaneous development with aging. Our understanding of the pathogenesis of OA is still evolving, and OA is increasingly considered a multifactorial disease in which the innate immune system plays a key role in regulating and perpetuating low-grade inflammation, resulting in sustained cartilage ...
Vanderperren K, Saunders JH.The equine fetlock is the joint most commonly associated with lameness. Although the fetlock is regarded as a simple joint, diagnosis of a fetlock disorder can be a challenge and various imaging modalities are routinely used to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. This review describes the principal disorders affecting the soft tissues of the fetlock region and addresses some of the technical aspects involved in taking radiographic and ultrasonographic images of the different soft tissue lesions. A combination of radiography and ultrasonography is still the most commonly used diagnostic approach i...
Piantedosi D, D'Alessio N, Di Loria A, Di Prisco F, Mariani U, Neola B, Santoro M, Montagnaro S, Capelli G, Veneziano V.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) has been frequently described in donkeys in subtropical and tropical regions, but published data reflecting large scale surveys are very limited in Europe. The seroprevalence of Babesia caballi and Theileria equi was determined in a donkey population from Campania Region in Southern Italy using a commercial indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), and the risk factors associated with the occurrence of the infection were assessed. Of 203 samples, the overall seroprevalence for EP was 57.1% (116/203), with 35.5% (72/203) for B. caballi and 44.3% (90/203) for T. equi. ...
Halper J, Kim B, Khan A, Yoon JH, Mueller PO.Degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD) is a debilitating disorder thought to be limited to suspensory ligaments of Peruvian Pasos, Peruvian Paso crosses, Arabians, American Saddlebreds, American Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds, and some European breeds. It frequently leads to persistent, incurable lameness and need to euthanize affected horses. The pathogenesis remains unclear, though the disease appears to run in families. Treatment and prevention are empirical and supportive, and not effective in halting the progression of the disease. Presently, the presumptive diagnosis of DSLD is ...
Swinburne J, Gerstenberg C, Breen M, Aldridge V, Lockhart L, Marti E, Antczak D, Eggleston-Stott M, Bailey E, Mickelson J, Røed K, Lindgren G....Two 3-generation full-sibling reference families have been produced and form a unique resource for genetic linkage mapping studies in the horse. The F(2) generations, now comprising 61 individuals, consist of 28- to 32-day-old embryos removed nonsurgically from two pairs of identical twin mares. The same stallion sired all F(2)s such that the two full-sibling families are half-sibling with respect to each other. The families are crossbred to maximize levels of heterozygosity and include Arabian, Thoroughbred, Welsh Cob, and Icelandic Horse breeds. Milligram quantities of DNA have been isolated...
Tauro L, Marino B, Diaz LA, Lucca E, Gallozo D, Spinsanti L, Contigiani M.St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) and West Nile virus (WNV) present ecological and antigenic similarities and are responsible for serious human diseases. In addition, WNV is a significant pathogen in terms of equine health. The purpose of our study was to analyse the seroprevalence of SLEV and WNV in equine sera collected in Santa Fe Province, Argentina. The seroprevalence determined using the plaque reduction neutralisation test was 12.2% for SLEV, 16.2% for WNV and 48.6% for a combination of both viruses. These results provide evidence of the co-circulation of SLEV and WNV in equines in Sa...
Yarnell K, Fleming J, Stratton TD, Brassington R.Infrared thermography (IRT) was used to assess surface temperature change as an indirect measure of muscle activity and exercise associated changes in blood flow in the working hind limb muscles of horses (n=7) undergoing water treadmill exercise. Three treatments were investigated including the treadmill ran dry (TD), water at the height of the proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP) and water at the height of the carpus (CP). Maximum skin surface temperature was recorded from the region of the semitendinosus muscle during exercise at each water height. There was a significant difference in surf...
Kearns CF, McKeever KH, John-Alder H, Abe T, Brechue WF.It has long been known that body mass and, more specifically, lean body mass are strongly correlated with maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) in man and animals. However, there are no data to date describing this phenomenon in the horse. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between body composition and VO2max in the horse. Twenty-three healthy and unfit Standardbred mares performed an incremental exercise test (GXT) to measure VO2max. Rump fat thickness (RTH), a measure of fat covering, was measured using B-mode ultrasound. Plasma volume, total blood volume and red cell volume w...
Abreu DC, Gomes AS, Tessler DK, Chiebao DP, Fava CD, Romaldini AHCN, Araujo MC, Pompei J, Marques GF, Harakava R, Pituco EM, Nassar AFC.Glanders is an equine zoonosis caused by Burkholderia mallei that is responsible for considerable economic loss. Complement fixation testing (CFT) using warm or cold incubation are recommended by the OIE, but many routinely used detection tests may present misleading results. To increase accuracy of glanders diagnosis and establish an appropriate protocol in collaboration with the National Equine Health Program, seven horses positive for glanders kept in isolation in Brazil were examined fortnightly by CFT, microbiological screening, and molecular testing. Warm and cold serologies with USDA an...
Watson ED, Sertich PL.Embryos, endometrial biopsies, and uterine lavage fluid were collected from pregnant and non-pregnant mares 14 days after ovulation. Embryos were cultured for 20.5 h with and without endometrial tissue from pregnant mares, and endometrial tissue was cultured alone. Endometrial content of PGF tended to be higher (P = 0.06) in non-pregnant than in pregnant mares, but the amount of PGF released from tissue during culture was similar for pregnant and non-pregnant mares. Lavage fluid from non-pregnant mares also tended (P = 0.08) to contain higher concentrations of PGF. Coincubation of embryos with...
Isgren CM, Williams NJ, Fletcher OD, Timofte D, Newton RJ, Maddox TW, Clegg PD, Pinchbeck GL.Surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in horses is important to aid empirical treatment decisions and highlight emerging AMR threats. Objective: To describe the AMR patterns of common groups of bacteria from clinical submissions from horses in the UK during 2018, and to determine how this varies by sample site and type of submitting veterinary practice. Methods: Prospective observational study. Methods: All data on bacterial culture and subsequent antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) collected in 2018 from six large equine diagnostic laboratories were included. Resistance patter...
Mansour C, Mocci R, Santangelo B, Sredensek J, Chaaya R, Allaouchiche B, Bonnet-Garin JM, Boselli E, Junot S.The parasympathetic tone activity (PTA) index is based on heart rate variability and has been developed recently in animals to assess their relative parasympathetic tone. This study aimed to evaluate PTA index in anaesthetized horses with different health conditions and the performance of PTA variations (∆PTA) to predict changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP). Thirty-nine client-horses were anaesthetized for elective or colic surgery and divided into "Elective" and "Colic" groups. During anaesthesia, dobutamine was administered as treatment of hypotension (MAP <60 mmHg). In both groups, no...
Firshman AM, Valberg SJ.Insulin resistance is thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of many equine conditions such as pars intermedia dysfunction, equine metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipaemia, laminitis, endotoxaemia and osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD); whereas polysaccharide storage myopathy in Quarter Horses and equine motor neuron disease (EMD) have been associated with increased insulin sensitivity. However, it is clear that there is not one ideal test, in terms of both practicality and accuracy, for evaluating insulin sensitivity in horses and improved diagnostic techniques are required. This...
Balasuriya UB.Equine arteritis virus (EAV), the causative agent of equine viral arteritis (EVA), is a respiratory and reproductive disease that occurs throughout the world. EAV infection is highly species-specific and exclusively limited to members of the family Equidae, which includes horses, donkeys, mules, and zebras. EVA is an economically important disease and outbreaks could cause significant losses to the equine industry. The primary objective of this article is to summarize current understanding of EVA, specifically the disease, pathogenesis, epidemiology, host immune response, vaccination and treat...
Gao Y, Zhang Y, Yang X, Qiu JH, Duan H, Xu WW, Chang QC, Wang CR.Equine strongyles, the significant nematode pathogens of horses, are characterized by high quantities and species abundance, but classification of this group of parasitic nematodes is debated. Mitochondrial (mt) genome DNA data are often used to address classification controversies. Thus, the objectives of this study were to determine the complete mt genomes of three Cyathostominae nematode species (, and ) of horses and reconstruct the phylogenetic relationship of Strongylidae with other nematodes in Strongyloidea to test the hypothesis that spp. belong to Cyathostominae using the mt genomes...
Epe C, Ising-Volmer S, Stoye M.The results of the coproscopical examinations in horses, dogs, cats and hedgehogs between 1984 and 1991 are presented. In 9192 samples from horses 55.5% stages of strongylids, 4.0% of Parascaris equorum, 2.2% of anoplocephalids, 1.6% Strongyloides westeri, 0.7% of Oxyuris equi, 0.6% of Eimeria leuckarti, 0.2% of Fasciola hepatica and 0.04% of Dictyocaulus arnfieldi were found. In 48.0% of the 46 samples from donkeys eggs from strongylids were detected, in 17.4% larvae from Dictyocaulus arnfieldi, in 2.2% eggs from Strongyloides westeri, Parascaris equorum and oocysts from Eimeria leuckarti, re...
Claes F, Ilgekbayeva GD, Verloo D, Saidouldin TS, Geerts S, Buscher P, Goddeeris BM.In this study, we compared the complement fixation test (CFT), the horse complement fixation test (HCFT) and a card agglutination test for trypanosomosis (CATT/T. evansi) for the diagnosis of equine trypanosomosis in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Cohen's kappa test was used to evaluate the concordance between the three tests. Kappa scores for CFT versus HCFT and CATT are both 0.6165 (95% Confidence Interval CI 0.414--0.819) indicating a "substantial" agreement between CFT and HCFT or CATT, respectively. Kappa for HCFT versus CATT is 0.395 (CI 0.142--0.648) indicating a "fair" agreement between t...
Walmsley JP.The accuracy of the diagnosis of ligamentous and meniscal injuries in the equine stifle has improved significantly in the last 20 years. There are, however, significant limitations in the diagnosis of stifle injuries because of the size and anatomy of the equine stifle. Treatment of soft tissue injuries to the equine stifle has been empirical,with only a few large case studies for specific conditions of stifle ligaments and menisci and only retrospective case studies of the outcome of treatment. This article describes the diagnosis and treatment of ligamentous and meniscal injuries in the equi...
Galuppi R, Piva S, Castagnetti C, Iacono E, Tanel S, Pallaver F, Fioravanti ML, Zanoni RG, Tampieri MP, Caffara M.The present study aims to evaluate the prevalence, pattern of spread and risk factors for the transmission of cryptosporidiosis in foals and mares hospitalized in a University Equine Perinatology Unit, where a new subtype family of Cryptosporidium horse genotype was described by Caffara et al. (2013). Mares (36) and foals (37) hospitalized during the 2012 foaling season were included. Multiple sampling from each animal was performed (a total of 305 stool samples were collected). One hundred and eleven environmental samples (gauze swabs) were also collected before and after the breeding season....
Burger D, Thomas S, Aepli H, Dreyer M, Fabre G, Marti E, Sieme H, Robinson MR, Wedekind C.Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) have been shown to influence social signalling and mate preferences in many species, including humans. First observations suggest that MHC signalling may also affect female fertility. To test this hypothesis, we exposed 191 female horses () to either an MHC-similar or an MHC-dissimilar stimulus male around the time of ovulation and conception. A within-subject experimental design controlled for non-MHC-linked male characteristics, and instrumental insemination with semen of other males ( = 106) controlled for potential confounding effects of ...
Höglund J, Ljungström BL, Nilsson O, Uggla A.A scolex antigen of the horse tapeworm Anoplocephala perfoliata containing at least 14 different proteins was employed in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of antibodies to A. perfoliata in equine sera. The assay was applied to sera from 426 slaughtered horses with different numbers of worms and with varying degrees of intestinal lesions. As measured by the ELISA, there was a very strong effect on the antibody levels both from the number of tapeworms present and from the intestinal lesion score. However, considerable individual variation was observed between horses wit...
Finno CJ, Gianino G, Perumbakkam S, Williams ZJ, Bordbari MH, Gardner KL, Burns E, Peng S, Durward-Akhurst SA, Valberg SJ.The cause of immune-mediated myositis (IMM), characterized by recurrent, rapid-onset muscle atrophy in Quarter Horses (QH), is unknown. The histopathologic hallmark of IMM is lymphocytic infiltration of myofibers. The purpose of this study was to identify putative functional variants associated with equine IMM. A genome-wide association (GWA) study was performed on 36 IMM QHs and 54 breed matched unaffected QHs from the same environment using the Equine SNP50 and SNP70 genotyping arrays. A mixed model analysis identified nine SNPs within a ~ 2.87 Mb region on chr11 that were significantly (...
Rivero JL, Talmadge RJ, Edgerton VR.The aim of this study was to characterize the myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoforms present in equine skeletal muscle. Methods: Muscle biopsies were removed from the superficial region of the gluteus medius muscle of five mature horses and analyzed by immunohistochemistry (using a battery of monoclonal antibodies specific for rat MyHC isoforms) and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Results: Immunohistochemistry allowed subdivision of three different muscle fiber populations containing a single MyHC, one slow and two fast, and two hybrid populations, one containing slow an...
Aguilar CM, Rangel EF, Deane LM.In an endemic area of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Rio de Janeiro State where a mule had been found infected, a systematic search among equines was performed, resulting in the detection of Leishmania parasites in skin lesions of 30.8% of the animals, which included horses and mules. The eventual role of equines in the epidemiology of the human disease is being investigated.
White SH, Johnson SE, Bobel JM, Warren LK.Untrained Thoroughbred horses (6 mares and 6 geldings; 11 yr [SE 1] and 565 kg [SE 11]) were used to evaluate antioxidant gene expression and enzyme activity in blood and skeletal muscle in response to prolonged exercise after receiving 2 levels of dietary selenium for 36 d: 0.1 (CON; = 6) or 0.3 mg/kg DM (SEL; = 6). Horses were individually fed 1.6% BW coastal bermudagrass hay, 0.4% BW whole oats, and a mineral/vitamin premix containing no Se. Sodium selenite was added to achieve either 0.1 or 0.3 mg Se/kg DM in the total diet. On d 35, horses underwent 2 h of submaximal exercise in a free-st...
Back W, Schamhardt HC, Savelberg HH, van den Bogert AJ, Bruin G, Hartman W, Barneveld A.Kinematic data of the equine hind limb are presented graphically and related to functional aspects of the hind limb in locomotion. The trot of 24 two-year-old Dutch Warmblood horses was recorded at 4 m/s on a high-speed treadmill using kinematic analysis equipment. Joint angle-time, angle-angle, stick and marker diagrams were used to present graphically the data following standardised procedures. As the kinematic data were expressed with reference to the joint angles of the horse standing squarely and were time-standardised to the duration of the stride cycle, mean joint curves for the total g...
Jackson CA, Berney C, Jefcoat AM, Robinson NE.Recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) or heaves is a manifestation of a hypersensitivity to dust, moulds, and spores in the environment of a susceptible horse. Although in the majority of RAO-affected horses, clinical remission can be achieved by keeping horses at pasture to reduce their allergen exposure, this often is not practicable. For this reason, we investigated if changing the environment of a single stall in a 4 stall stable was sufficient to improve lung function and reduce inflammation in RAO-affected horses. In addition, we determined if addition of oral prednisone provided additional...
