Nutrition in horses encompasses the study of dietary requirements and feeding practices that support equine health, growth, and performance. It involves the analysis of nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals, and their roles in equine physiology. Proper nutrition is essential for maintaining optimal body condition, supporting metabolic processes, and preventing dietary-related disorders. Research in this field examines the nutritional needs of horses at different life stages and activity levels, as well as the effects of various feed types and supplements. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the composition, digestion, and impact of different dietary components on equine health and performance.
Austin MMP, Ivey JLZ, Shepherd EA, Myer PR.Starvation in horses presents critical welfare, economic, and management challenges with underlying molecular mechanisms of metabolic modification and recovery left poorly defined. Prolonged caloric deprivation induces significant systemic shifts in carbohydrate, protein, and lipid metabolism, reflected in coordinated changes in tissue-specific gene expression. This review synthesizes current knowledge on equine metabolic responses to starvation, emphasizing pathways found through RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) studies. Molecular investi...
Wei J, Wei L, Ullah A, Geng M, Zhang X, Wang C, Khan MZ, Wang C, Zhang Z.Herbivorous animals rely on complex gastrointestinal systems and microbial communities to efficiently digest plant-based diets, extract nutrients, and maintain health. Recent advances in metagenomic technologies have enabled high-resolution, culture-independent analysis of gut microbiota composition, functional potential, and host-microbe interactions, providing insights into microbial diversity across the herbivore digestive tract. This review summarizes key findings on the gastrointestinal microbiota of herbivores, focusing on ruminant foregut and non-ruminant hindgut fermentation. Ruminants...
Lopes A, Aitkin E, Louro LF.Post-anaesthetic colic (PAC) is a complication in horses undergoing general anaesthesia (GA). Various preoperative feeding strategies are used in equine practice, yet their impact on PAC remains unclear. Objective: To identify perioperative risk factors associated with PAC and evaluate the influence of preoperative fasting on PAC prevalence and faecal output. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: Medical records of horses undergoing non-abdominal surgery under GA were reviewed. Horses were categorised into fasted and non-fasted groups based on their pre-anaesthetic feeding regimen. Mul...
Kędzierski W, Chałabis-Mazurek A, Bełkot Z, Janczarek I, Kowalik S.Microelement deficiencies are a current problem in horse breeding, causing infertility and fetal development disorders. The aim of the study was to control the concentration of zinc, copper and selenium in the blood serum of pregnant herd mares. The study included 154 mares in the second half of pregnancy, kept in five regions of south-eastern Poland: Łęczyńsko-Włodawska Plain, Chełmskie Hills, Łukowska Plain, Beskid Niski and Działy Grabowieckie. The concentration of zinc, copper and selenium in the obtained blood serum was determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The seru...
Hain AM, Tretow M, Bienert-Zeit A.Outside of Iceland, the Icelandic horse is prone to the development of Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis (EOTRH). The aim of this study was to determine the radiographic prevalence and clinical signs of EOTRH in elderly horses (≥15 years) in Iceland. The rostral oral cavity of 170 horses (aged 15-30 years) was examined clinically. In addition, husbandry and nutritional management history was recorded by use of a questionnaire. Radiographs (2-4 views) of 188 horses were evaluated, findings were categorized by numerical staging of the condition and collated with clinica...
Vidal-Cardos R, Fàbrega E, Dalmau A.The sustainability of extensive livestock systems is compromised. It is necessary to enhance our understanding of the activity and grazing behavior of different livestock species (cows, horses, and sheep) sharing the same mountainous areas. Nowadays, the observation and analysis of animal activity is greatly facilitated by remote tracking technology, especially in zones with difficult access. In this article, we proved that commercial geolocation collars can provide meaningful data on animal activity, behavior, and distribution, which can be used to model daily distances, activity patterns, gr...
Yano R, Moriyama T, Arai H, Scheftgen AJ, Suen G, Nishida T, Handa M, Fukuma N.Colic, a major gastrointestinal disease in horses, has a high recurrence rate and can lead to surgery or fatal outcomes, highlighting the need for effective prevention measures. Disruption of the microbiome is a multifaceted problem and can occur from a variety of factors, such as high-concentrate diets, which can then potentially cause colic. However, individual variation in the incidence of colic can occur when under identical management practices. The aim of this study was to characterize the fecal bacterial composition of Japanese draft horses with and without a history of colic in the pas...
Webster AP, Wright RK, Hammond JB, Kotey NA, Gleason CB, White RR.This study explored whether thermal imaging could provide an objective means of body condition scoring (BCS) horses and multiparous, gestating beef cows. This study consisted of two parts: one part assessed BCS in horses of the Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred breed types while the other evaluated BCS of gestating beef cows. Ground truth BCS were assigned by five to eight trained scorers for each animal. Thermal images were also collected from one or both sides of the body and analyzed for surface temperature. Surface temperature and BCS were evaluated with the whole body, and for five (cows) or ...
Stanisławczyk R, Żurek J, Rudy M, Gil M, Krajewska A, Dziki D.The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effect of horse age, high-pressure cooking, and various heat-treatment methods on the quality of horse meat. The research material consisted of samples of the longissimus thoracis muscle obtained from 14 horse carcasses from two age groups. Samples of the muscle were subjected to traditional cooking (TC), sous-vide cooking (S-V), high-pressure cooking (HHP), HHP + TC, and HHP + S-V. The chemical composition, physicochemical properties, color parameters, pigment levels, texture parameters, and sensory properties of the meat were determined. Exposing...
Andrews KM, Berghaus LJ, Hart KA.Equine Asthma Syndrome (EAS) is a chronic inflammatory respiratory disease of adult horses. While dietary polyphenols have shown anti-inflammatory effects in human asthma, their use in equine asthma has not been studied. Objective: To evaluate the effects of a mixed polyphenol supplement on systemic and pulmonary inflammation, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytology, and clinical respiratory signs in healthy and asthmatic horses. We hypothesized that polyphenol supplementation would decrease systemic and pulmonary inflammation in both healthy and asthmatic horses and would improve BAL cytology a...
Hunyadi LM, Sundman EA.Equine nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism (NSHP, Bighead Disease) is a consequence of diets with abnormal calcium: phosphorus ratios. With the widespread availability of fortified feeds and legume forage, the disease has largely disappeared. The Hawaiian Islands are unique in that legume forage is largely unavailable and pastures have high oxalate concentrations. This was a cohort study that included seventeen adult horses imported from the continental US to the Waiki'i region, Hawai'i that grazed on kikuyu grass pastures. Plasma ionized calcium and parathyroid hormone concentrations at...
Lamanna M, Buonaiuto G, Colleluori R, Raspa F, Valle E, Cavallini D.The time-activity budget is a key indicator of animal welfare. This meta-analysis integrated 14 studies (1979-2020) with 364 horses under wild, natural-living, and stabled conditions to evaluate feeding, resting, standing, and locomotion. Objective: The study aimed to categorize daily behavioural patterns in equines, with emphasis on feeding behaviour. Methods: Fixed and random effects models, forest plots, and ANOVA assessed the influence of management, sociality, sex, age, body size, and feeding type. Results: Feeding was greater in free-ranging (56 %) than stabled horses (38 %; p < 0.0001),...
Luthersson N, Harris PA, Parkin T, Þorgrímsdóttir ÚÝ, Bennet ED.It is unknown whether the high prevalence of Equine Squamous (ESGD) and Equine Glandular (EGGD) Gastric Disease in extensively grazed Icelandic horses in the autumn/winter is seasonally driven. Objective: To determine the prevalence of, and risk factors for, gastroscopically significant ESGD (ESGD:score of ≥2/4); gastroscopically severe ESGD (ESGD:score of ≥3/4) and gastroscopically significant EGGD (EGGD:score of ≥1/2) in extensively pasture-managed Icelandic horses at four timepoints. Methods: Prospective longitudinal cohort. Methods: Gastroscopy was undertaken in 80 Icelandic horses (...
Hosseini SH, Sharafi H, Emamjomeh A, Nasri F, Hosseini A, Mardani S, Moradi M.Postbiotics and parabiotics (PP) are innovative concepts in veterinary medicine that have garnered substantial interest owing to their unique properties and potential benefits. PP offers a promising alternative to live bacteria, demonstrating properties such as prebiotic, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer effects, while potentially mitigating some of the common challenges associated with live bacterial applications. PP products are manufactured and commercially employed in livestock, poultry, and pets. Moreover, postbiotic-based commercial products...
Dos Santos Gomes V, Dos Santos Marques JV, da Silva GN, Marmett B, Dallegrave E.The inhalation of pollutants from fossil fuel combustion increases oxidative stress and may cause genotoxic damage, a risk heightened during physical exercise due to increased respiratory rates. This concern extends to equines engaged in intense activities like show jumping. Antioxidant supplementation with vitamin E and selenium may mitigate oxidative stress induced by exercise in polluted environments. This study evaluated the effects of oral supplementation on show jumping horses subjected to physical exertion in urban (n = 10) and peri-urban (n = 10) areas with varying pollution le...
Lacerenza MD, Arantes JA, Reginato GM, Finardi GLF, Marchi PH, Vendramini THA, Corrêa RR, Pereira PAM, Valadão CAA, Dória RGS.This study investigated the oral microbiome of horses maintained on a high soluble carbohydrate diet based on sugarcane, in comparison to those fed a pasture-based diet composed of spp., aiming to identify associations between dietary intake, the composition of oral microbial communities, and the occurrence of dental caries and diastemata. A total of 20 healthy horses, both male and female, with an average age of 9 ± 3 years and weight of 400 ± 100 kg, without a defined breed, were selected. They were divided into two groups: the High Soluble Carbohydrate Group (HSCCG), consisting of 10 hor...
Menzies-Gow NJ.Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) is a common, slowly progressive, neurodegenerative disorder of the older horse. Oxidative damage to the hypothalamic periventricular neurons results in loss of dopaminergic inhibition of the pars intermedia region of the pituitary gland. Consequently, there is increased production of the pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC)-derived hormones normally produced by this region, as well as initial melanocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia, followed by adenomatous change. Clinical signs that are highly suggestive of the disease are generalised and regional hypertrich...
Huisman I, Groenestein CM, Vellinga TV, Pishgar-Komleh SH.Sustainability is gaining growing attention within the equine sector. Sustainability consists of various subjects including feed and nutrition, resource efficiency, animal welfare, carbon footprint (CFP) and biodiversity, for example. Studies in horse research focus mainly on behaviour and welfare. Little information is available about the environmental impact of equids. The few studies that can be found are principally concerned with local impact, such as nitrogen leaching or ammonia concentrations in bedding. Little is known about greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) for horses, although GHG emiss...
Wunderlich G, Bull M, McGilchrist N, Zhao C, Ross T, Rose M, Chapman B.The equine gut microbiome is a complex and dynamic ecosystem, housing a diverse consortium of bacteria and anaerobic fungi (AF) capable of breaking down complex plant matter and converting it into vital energy sources for their host. The aim of this study was to broaden our current understanding of bacterial and AF diversity in the equine hindgut and how it differs between cohorts and responds to dietary shifts. Results: Faecal samples were collected from 48 horses and the bacteriome and anaerobic mycobiome analysed using long-read amplicon sequencing. Samples were collected from racehorses (R...
Fiedler JM, Rosanowski S, Ayre ML, Slater JD.Participation in horse-related activities frequently involves relocating horses from the home stable to an activity venue, which might require local, regional, or international travel. In these circumstances, horses are exposed to unfamiliar surroundings and experience changes to their daily routines, which could have negative welfare impacts. An online survey was conducted in 2021 to ask experienced horse sector participants about the horse management practices that they perceived worked well and provided for positive horse welfare when undertaken at venues. Qualitative analysis identified fo...
Jing H, Liu P, Zheng S, Cao K, Li X.Total Mixed Ration (TMR) is recognized for its balanced nutritional composition, improved feed efficiency, enhanced animal production, and stabilization of the gastrointestinal microbiome. It has been extensively implemented in intensive ruminant farming, particularly for cattle and sheep, with demonstrated positive outcomes. However, its effects on the nutritional health of non-ruminant herbivores, such as horses, remain insufficiently investigated. This study aims to evaluate the comparative effects of TMR feeding versus conventional feeding practices in Akhal-Teke horses while maintaining i...
An N, Yang J, Zhao X, Basak P, Zhang Y, Suo H, Song J.High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) can modify protein structures to enhance functional properties, yet its effects on mare milk casein are unknown. This study investigated how HHP modifies mare milk casein's physicochemical, structural, and functional characteristics at pH 7 and 9. The results showed that HHP increased solubility, reduced turbidity, and altered particle size and surface charge. Structural analysis revealed conformational changes, including decreased β-sheet content (pH 7) and increased hydrophobic exposure. Functionally, at pH 7, HHP enhanced foaming and water-holding capacit...
Sillence MN, Holt K, Li FI, Harris PA, Coyle M, Fitzgerald DM.Ecdysterone controls moulting and reproduction in insects, crustaceans, and helminths. It is also produced by many plants, probably as an insect deterrent. The steroid is not made by vertebrates but has anabolic effects in mammals and could be useful for treating sarcopenia in aged horses. However, ecdysterone is banned in horseracing and equestrian sports, and with no limit of reporting, the risk of unintended exposure to this naturally occurring prohibited substance is a concern. To explore this risk, pasture plants and hay samples were analysed for ecdysterone content, as well as samples of...
Gong W, Ding W, Bou T, Shi L, Lin Y, Shi X, Wu H, Li Z, Dugarjaviin M, Bai D.Ferulic acid (FA), a natural antioxidant and major active component in Angelica sinensis, has beneficial effects on skeletal muscle health; however, its role in modulating muscle fiber type composition Mongolian horse remains unclear. In this study, we found that FA promotes the proliferation of Mongolian horse skeletal muscle satellite cell (MuSCs), upregulates the expression of fast-twitch muscle marker genes (e.g., MYH2), and downregulates the expression of slow-twitch markers (e.g., MYH7). RNA-seq revealed that FA activates the HIF-1 signaling pathway, significantly increasing PDK1 express...
Share ER, Mastellar SL, Rumble JN, Eastridge ML.Equine industry housing and feeding management strategies vary widely. Management choices are important as horses spend most of their time in housing environments and demonstrating ingestive/foraging behavior. As of 2023, over 1.4 million Ohioans identified as horse owners and/or enthusiasts. The objectives of this survey were to determine demographics of the Ohio horse industry, commonly used sources of information, knowledge gaps regarding equine management practices, and to explore what may influence equine management choices. Using Qualtrics (Provo, UT), a 52-question online, anonymous sur...
Andueza D, Martin-Rosset W.The nutritive value of forage for horses is closely dependent on the digestibility of organic matter (OMD), which is typically measured in vivo. Researchers have developed a variety of prediction methods to estimate the digestibility value of hay. In ruminants, pepsin-cellulase degradability, expressed as dry matter enzymatic degradability (dCS) and organic matter enzymatic degradability (dCO), is a commonly employed method for predicting OMD in forage types. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of predicting the dry matter digestibility (DMD), OMD, energy digestibility ...
Mutillod C, Buisson E, Tatin L, Mahy G, Dufrêne M, Morvan N, Mesléard F, Dutoit T.The urgency of restoring ecosystems over vast areas has placed rewilding using wild herbivores at the forefront. However, few scientific studies address its effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning compared to more traditional conservation interventions with domestic herbivores. Equus ferus przewalskii horses introduced 30 years ago in the National Park of Cévennes, France - as a step of a conservation program of the species for its reintroduction in Mongolia - now occur as a semi-wild horse population, socially natural (i.e., management is based on natural selection). This introduct...
Qin X, Xi L, Zhao L, Han J, Qu H, Xu Y, Weng W.Gut microbiota exerts a pivotal function in host nutrient metabolism and maturation of the mucosal immunity. Analyzing the reciprocal interaction between horses and gut microbiota constitutes a crucial aspect of scientific feeding practices. This study aims to investigate the differences in gut microbiota among Hequ horses, Mongolian horses, and Thoroughbred horses, as well as between Thoroughbred horses at two age stages. Unassigned: Paired-end sequencing with a read length of 2×250 bp targeting the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene in fecal samples was carried out. Subsequently, differences...
de Carvalho CN, Cunha PP, Belo J, Muñiz F, Baucon A, Cachão M, Figueiredo S, Buylaert JP, Galán JM, Belaústegui Z, Cáceres LM, Zhang Y....Multiple sources of evidence for the systematic use of coastal ecosystems and resources by Neanderthals are known. Fossil hominin footprints offer direct portraits of individual or social group presence and locomotor behavior, and interspecific interactions, in the coastal ecospace. Here we describe the first two hominin tracksites found in the southwestern most region of Europe. At Monte Clérigo, dated to 78 ± 5 ka, trackways of three individuals demonstrate how Neanderthals navigated dune landscapes. These behaviors suggest route planning, with dune systems serving as advantageous set...
Begmatov S, Beletsky AV, Mardanov AV, Lukina AP, Glukhova LB, Karnachuk OV, Ravin NV.Genome reduction and associated metabolic deficiencies have been described in various lineages of parasitic and symbiotic microorganisms that obtain essential nutrients from their partners, and in some free-living microorganisms that inhabit stable environments. The animal gut is a relatively stable ecosystem, characterized by an abundance of organic substances and a high concentration of microorganisms, which provides favorable conditions for the survival of microorganisms with reduced genomes. Metagenomic analysis of 49 samples of feces of farm animals (cows, sheep, yaks, and horses) reveale...
Johnson PJ.Certain management practices tend to promote the development of obesity (metabolic syndrome) in mature horses as they enter their teenage years. These management practices include the provision of starch-rich (high glycemic index) and fat-supplemented rations to healthy horses that are relatively inactive. Some horse breeds and ponies appear to be genetically predisposed to metabolic syndrome. The accretion of intra-abdominal adiposity by equids is associated with the development of insulin insensitivity (hyperinsulinemia), glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and insidious-onset l...
Ross PF, Rice LG, Osweiler GD, Nelson PE, Richard JL, Wilson TM.During the 1989 corn harvest season, numerous reports of equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM) outbreaks and a pulmonary edema (PPE) syndrome in swine from several regions of the United States were received by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL), Ames, Iowa. Previous and concurrent research linked Fusarium moniliforme and fumonisin-contaminated feeds to both diseases. Chemical and mycological investigations revealed fumonisin B1 (FB1) concentrations of 20 to 360 ppm in suspect swine feeds and 8 to 117 ppm in suspect equine feeds. Nonproblem feeds contained concentrations below 8...
Medina B, Girard ID, Jacotot E, Julliand V.Eight horses were allotted into pairs consisting of one cecum- and right ventral colon-fistulated animal and one cecum-fistulated animal. They were fed daily at the same level of intake either a high-fiber (HF) or a high-starch (HS) diet without or with 10 g of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae preparation, in a 4 x 4 Latin square design. The HS diet provided a starch overload (i.e., 3.4 g starch x kg(-1) BW x meal(-1)) while maintaining a high amount of fiber intake (i.e., dietary NDF/starch ratio was 1.0). A 21-d period of adaptation to the treatments occurred before cecal and colonic contents were...
Pusterla N, Kass PH, Mapes S, Johnson C, Barnett DC, Vaala W, Gutierrez C, McDaniel R, Whitehead B, Manning J.The prevalence and epidemiology of important viral (equine influenza virus [EIV], equine herpesvirus type 1 [EHV-1] and EHV-4) and bacterial (Streptococcus equi subspecies equi) respiratory pathogens shed by horses presented to equine veterinarians with upper respiratory tract signs and/or acute febrile neurological disease were studied. Veterinarians from throughout the USA were enrolled in a surveillance programme and were asked to collect blood and nasal secretions from equine cases with acute infectious upper respiratory tract disease and/or acute onset of neurological disease. A questionn...
Grimm P, Philippeau C, Julliand V.Faeces could be used for evaluating the balance of the equine hindgut microbial ecosystem, which would offer a practical method for assessing gut health and how this relates to disease. However, previous studies concluded that faeces microbial ecosystem was not representative of the proximal hindgut (caecum and ventral colon). This study aimed to evaluate if variations of the faecal microbial ecosystem were similar to those observed in the proximal hindgut. Six horses, fistulated in the caecum and right ventral (RV) colon, were subjected to a gradual change of diet, from a 100% hay (high fibre...
Nawrocka D, Kornicka K, Śmieszek A, Marycz K.Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) is a steadily growing life-threatening endocrine disorder linked to insulin resistance, oxidative stress, and systemic inflammation. Inflammatory microenvironment of adipose tissue constitutes the direct tissue milieu for various cell populations, including adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ASCs), widely considered as a potential therapeutic cell source in the course of the treatment of metabolic disorders. Moreover, elevated oxidative stress induces inflammation in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs)-the first-line cells exposed to dietary compounds. In...
Hudson JM, Cohen ND, Gibbs PG, Thompson JA.To determine whether specific feeding practices were associated with development of colic in horses. Methods: Prospective matched case-control study. Methods: 364 horses examined by veterinarians in private practice in Texas because of colic (cases; n = 182) or any other reason (controls; 182). Methods: Participating veterinarians were sent forms at the beginning of the study to collect information on signalment, feeding management practices, farm management practices, and preventive medical treatments. Case and control horses were compared by use of conditional logistic regression to identify...
Moreau MM, Eades SC, Reinemeyer CR, Fugaro MN, Onishi JC.In the equine carbohydrate overload model of acute laminitis, disease progression is associated with changes in bacteria found in the cecum. To date, research has focused on changes in specific Gram-positive bacteria in this portion of the intestinal tract. Metagenomic methods are now available making it possible to interrogate microbial communities using animal protocols that sufficiently power a study. In this study, the microbiota in cecal fluid collected from control, non-laminitic horses (n=8) and from horses with early-stage acute laminitis induced with either oligofructan (n=6) or corns...
Quercia S, Freccero F, Castagnetti C, Soverini M, Turroni S, Biagi E, Rampelli S, Lanci A, Mariella J, Chinellato E, Brigidi P, Candela M.Even if horses strictly depend on the gut microbiota for energy homeostasis, only a few molecular studies have focused on its characterisation and none on the perinatal gut microbial colonisation process. Objective: To explore the perinatal colonisation process of the foal gut microbial ecosystem and the temporal dynamics of the ecosystem assembly during the first days of life. Methods: Longitudinal study. Methods: Thirteen Standardbred mare-foal pairs were included in the study. For each pair, at delivery we collected the mare amniotic fluid, faeces and colostrum, and the foal meconium. Milk ...
Schoster A, Weese JS, Guardabassi L.The gastrointestinal microbiota is extremely important for human and animal health. Investigations into the composition of the microbiota and its therapeutic modification have received increasing interest in human and veterinary medicine. Probiotics are a way of modifying the microbiota and have been tested to prevent and treat diseases. Probiotics are proposed to exert their beneficial effects through various pathways. Production of antimicrobial compounds targeting intestinal pathogens, general immune stimulation, and colonization resistance are among these mechanisms. Despite widespread ava...
Chaucheyras-Durand F, Sacy A, Karges K, Apper E.Horses are large non-ruminant herbivores and rely on microbial fermentation for energy, with more than half of their maintenance energy requirement coming from microbial fermentation occurring in their enlarged caecum and colon. To achieve that, the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) of horses harbors a broad range of various microorganisms, differing in each GIT segment, which are essential for efficient utilization of feed, especially to use nutrients that are not or little degraded by endogenous enzymes. In addition, like in other animal species, the GIT microbiota is in permanent interplay with...
Pleasant RS, Suagee JK, Thatcher CD, Elvinger F, Geor RJ.Increased blood insulin levels are associated with an increased risk of pasture-associated laminitis in equids. Objective: To determine the relationship between plasma insulin, leptin, and lipid levels, and measures of oxidative stress with adiposity in mature light breed horses. Methods: 300 randomly selected light breed horses, aged 4-20 years. Methods: A random sample of horses (140 mares, 151 geldings, and 9 stallions) was drawn from the VMRCVM Equine Field Service practice client list. Evaluations occurred June 15 - August 15, 2006, with all sampling performed between 0600 and 1200 hours....
Marasas WF.Fusarium moniliforme is one of the predominant fungi associated with corn intended for human and animal consumption world-wide. Fumonisins, food-borne carcinogens that occur naturally in corn, were first isolated and chemically characterized in South Africa in 1988. The major metabolite, fumonisin B1 (FB1), was subsequently shown to cause leukoencephalomalacia (LEM) in horses, pulmonary edema syndrome (PES) in pigs, and liver cancer in rats. FB1 is also a cancer promoter and initiator in rat liver; hepatotoxic to horses, pigs, rats, and vervet monkeys; cytotoxic to mammalian cell cultures; and...
Blackmore TM, Dugdale A, Argo CM, Curtis G, Pinloche E, Harris PA, Worgan HJ, Girdwood SE, Dougal K, Newbold CJ, McEwan NR.The horse, as a hindgut fermenter, is reliant on its intestinal bacterial population for efficient diet utilisation. However, sudden disturbance of this population can result in severe colic or laminitis, both of which may require euthanasia. This study therefore aimed to determine the temporal stability of the bacterial population of faecal samples from six ponies maintained on a formulated high fibre diet. Bacterial 16S rRNA terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) analyses of 10 faecal samples collected from 6 ponies at regular intervals over 72 hour trial periods identifie...
Meier AD, de Laat MA, Reiche DB, Pollitt CC, Walsh DM, McGree JM, Sillence MN.The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between laminitis development in ponies and insulin/glucose concentrations in response to the oral glucose test (OGT) and a dietary challenge high in nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs). After undergoing an OGT (1 g dextrose/kg BW in feed), 37 ponies with 2-h serum insulin concentrations ranging from 22 to 1,133 μIU/mL were subjected to a diet challenge period (DCP), consuming 12 g NSC/kg BW/d for up to 18 d. Insulin and glucose responses were measured on day 2 of the DCP. Clinical laminitis was diagnosed by blinded experts and confi...
Dugdale AH, Curtis GC, Cripps P, Harris PA, Argo CM.Increased prevalence of obesity among UK horses and ponies demands evidence-based advice to promote weight loss. Objective: Restriction of dry matter intake (DMI) to 1% of body mass (BM, 67% [corrected] of predicted maintenance digestible energy [DE] requirements) would promote weight loss without compromise to health. Methods: Five mature (mean ± s.e. 10 ± 2 years), overweight/obese pony mares (BM, 257 ± 20 kg: body condition score [BCS] 6.8/9 ± 0.5) were studied over 12 weeks. Animals were individually housed. Daily provision of a chaff-based, complete diet (measured DE, 8.5 MJ/kg DM) wa...
Glinsky MJ, Smith RM, Spires HR, Davis CL.Three experiments, each utilizing three ponies, were conducted using a mixed VFA solution of [1−14C] acetate, [1−14C] propionate and [2–33H] butyrate to determine VFA production rates in the cecum of the pony. Diet A used in experiment 1, contained a forage to grain ratio of 1:2, while diet B, used in experiments 2 and 3, contained a forage to grain ratio of 3:1. Experiment 1, in which a constant infusion technique was used, resulted in net VFA production rates (mmoles/min) of 3.667 to 3.977 (x̄=3.836) for acetate, .410 to 1.664 (x̄=1.213) for propionate and .342 to 1.124 (x̄=.629) fo...
Sykes BW, Bowen M, Habershon-Butcher JL, Green M, Hallowell GD.To date, risk factors for equine glandular gastric disease (EGGD) have not been described in Thoroughbred racehorses. Objective: To determine management factors associated with EGGD, identify clinical signs in affected horses, and compare these to equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD). Methods: The study was carried out on 109 Thoroughbred racehorses from 8 training yards (3 in the United Kingdom and 5 in Australia). Methods: Gastroscopic examination alongside a questionnaire regarding management, feeding, exercise, and health. Results: Management factors and clinical signs were different for...
Santos AS, Rodrigues MA, Bessa RJ, Ferreira LM, Martin-Rosset W.Having evolved as a grazing animal, a horse's digestive physiology is characterized by rapid gastric transit, a rapid but intense enzymatic digestion along the small intestine, and a long and intense microbial fermentation in the large intestine. The process of understanding and describing feed degradation mechanisms in the equine digestive system in general, and in the hindgut ecosystem in particular, is essential. Regardless of its importance for the nutritional status of the host, the significance of the cecum-colon ecosystem has not yet been fully understood, and few reports have focused d...
Liu G, Bou G, Su S, Xing J, Qu H, Zhang X, Wang X, Zhao Y, Dugarjaviin M.Gastrointestinal microbiota has significant impact on the nutrition and health of monogastric herbivores animals including donkey. However, so far the microbiota in different gastrointestinal compartments of healthy donkey has not been described. Therefore, we investigated the abundance and function of microbiota at different sites of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) (foregut: stomach, duodenum, jejunum and ileum; hindgut: cecum, ventral colon, dorsal colon, and rectum) of healthy adult donkeys mainly based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruc...
Ang L, Vinderola G, Endo A, Kantanen J, Jingfeng C, Binetti A, Burns P, Qingmiao S, Suying D, Zujiang Y, Rios-Covian D, Mantziari A, Beasley S....Domesticated horses live under different conditions compared with their extinct wild ancestors. While housed, medicated and kept on a restricted source of feed, the microbiota of domesticated horses is hypothesized to be altered. We assessed the fecal microbiome of 57 domestic and feral horses from different locations on three continents, observing geographical differences. A higher abundance of eukaryota (p < 0.05) and viruses (p < 0.05) and lower of archaea (p < 0.05) were found in feral animals when compared with domestic ones. The abundance of genes coding for microbe-...
Stellingwerff T, Decombaz J, Harris RC, Boesch C.Interest into the effects of carnosine on cellular metabolism is rapidly expanding. The first study to demonstrate in humans that chronic β-alanine (BA) supplementation (~3-6 g BA/day for ~4 weeks) can result in significantly augmented muscle carnosine concentrations (>50%) was only recently published. BA supplementation is potentially poised for application beyond the niche exercise and performance-enhancement field and into other more clinical populations. When examining all BA supplementation studies that directly measure muscle carnosine (n=8), there is a significant linear correlation...
Dunnett M, Harris RC.The aim of this work was to test the hypothesis that in vivo carnosine biosynthesis is dependent upon endogenous beta-alanine availability, by studying the effect of sustained dietary beta-alanine supplementation in the horse on the carnosine concentration in types I, IIA and IIB skeletal muscle fibres. The diets of 6 Thoroughbred horses were supplemented 3 times/day with beta-alanine (100 mg/kg bwt) and L-histidine (12.5 mg/kg bwt) for a period of 30 days. Percutaneous biopsies of the m. gluteus medius from a depth of 6 cm were taken on the days immediately before and after the supplementatio...
The Journal of nutritionJune 15, 2006
Volume 136, Issue 7 Suppl 2099S-2102S doi: 10.1093/jn/136.7.2099S
Longland AC, Byrd BM.Fresh forages constitute a majority of the diet for many horses and ponies that graze on pastures during the growing season in many parts of the world. Grasses generally predominate in such pastures, with varying proportions of legumes. Nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) (simple sugars, starch, and fructan) can induce laminitis experimentally, and NSC can accumulate to >400 g/kg of dry matter (DM) in pasture grasses. In this article we discuss the environmental factors affecting NSC accumulation in pastures and estimate the potential daily intakes of pasture NSC by grazing horses. We also di...
De La Torre U, Henderson JD, Furtado KL, Pedroja M, Elenamarie O, Mora A, Pechanec MY, Maga EA, Mienaltowski MJ.A healthy gastrointestinal (GI) tract with a properly established microbiota is necessary for a foal to develop into a healthy weanling. A foal's health can be critically impacted by aberrations in the microbiome such as with diarrhea which can cause great morbidity and mortality in foals. In this study, we hypothesized that gut establishment in the foal transitioning from a diet of milk to a diet of grain, forage, and pasture would be detectable through analyses of the fecal microbiotas. Fecal samples from 37 sets of foals and mares were collected at multiple time points ranging from birth to...
Aleman M, Finno CJ, Higgins RJ, Puschner B, Gericota B, Gohil K, LeCouteur RA, Madigan JE.To describe epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features of neuroaxonal dystrophy in Quarter Horses (QHs) on a single farm. Methods: Prospective case series. Animals-148 horses. Methods: Neurologic, pathological, and toxicological evaluations were completed in selected neurologically affected horses over a 2-year period. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Results: 87 QHs and 1 QH-crossbred horse were affected. Most (50/88 [56.8%]) affected horses were 1 to 2 years old (median age, 2 years [range, 2 months to 34 years]). Neurologic deficits included obtundation (53/88 [60%]...
Renzi S, Riccò S, Dotti S, Sesso L, Grolli S, Cornali M, Carlin S, Patruno M, Cinotti S, Ferrari M.The use of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) in orthopedic practice has recently and rapidly acquired an important role. Therapies based on the use of MSCs for the treatment of acute injuries as well as chronic inflammatory disorders are gradually becoming clinical routine. These cells have demonstrated intriguing therapeutic potentialities (i.e.: inflammation control, tissue regeneration and pathological scar prevention), that have been taken into consideration for use in both human and veterinary medicine. In particular, horses represent high performance athletes considered models for human p...
Živkov Baloš M, Ljubojević Pelić D, Jakšić S, Lazić S.The donkey milk has a remarkable similarity to human milk, in addition to its valuable nutritional composition and content of numerous immune factors. The donkey milk is the subject of research worldwide, and data from the literature suggest significant differences with respect to the contents of individual components. However, some basic characteristics of donkey milk have been established: low contents of fat and cholesterol, total proteins and casein and high contents of lactose, whey proteins, calcium, selenium, and Vitamin D3. The donkey milk is rich in various protective proteins (α-lac...
Tinker MK, White NA, Lessard P, Thatcher CD, Pelzer KD, Davis B, Carmel DK.A 1 year prospective study was conducted on 31 horse farms to identify risk factors for equine colic. Farms were randomly selected from a list from 2 adjacent counties of Virginia and Maryland, USA. The association between colic and farm or individual horse risk factors related to management, housing, pasture, use, nutrition, health and events was first examined by univariate statistical analysis. Individually significant (P < = 0.25 for farm factors, P < = 0.10 for horse factors) variables were used in a stepwise multivariable forward logistic regression to select explanatory factors (P < = 0...
