Predictive models in equine research involve the use of statistical and computational techniques to forecast outcomes related to horse health, performance, and behavior. These models integrate various data inputs, such as genetic information, physiological parameters, and environmental factors, to predict future events or conditions. Applications of predictive models in equine science include anticipating disease outbreaks, assessing performance potential, and optimizing breeding strategies. By analyzing historical and real-time data, these models can provide insights that assist in decision-making processes. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the development, validation, and application of predictive models in the context of equine science.
Alexeenko V, Tavanaeimanesh H, Stein F, Gold J, Hughes L, McCue M, Marr C, Durward-Akhurst S, Jeevaratnam K.Cardiac arrhythmias are common in healthy athletic horses and may lead to poor athletic performance or exercise-associated sudden death. Early detection of high-risk horses is an important goal of cardiovascular diagnostics. We hypothesised that non-linear analysis of electrocardiogram disorderliness can be used to identify horses exhibiting intermittent ectopic atrial and ventricular heart rhythm abnormalities at exercise using brief, artifact-free recordings of normal sinus rhythm electrocardiograms collected at submaximal heart rates. In a convenience prospective cross-sectional study, ambu...
An SJ, Sohn Y, Forbes E, Ryu SH.Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) is a common developmental orthopedic condition in Thoroughbred racehorses and although arthroscopic surgery is widely used for treatment, its long-term effects on race performance remain unclear. This retrospective study evaluated the effect of OCD surgery on race performance, compared the predictive power of pedigree and management variables and applied interpretable machine learning methods for forecasting race performance outcomes. Data were collected from 75 Thoroughbreds that underwent OCD surgery between 2015 and 2017 and 257 maternal siblings without reco...
Hall NP, Sweeney DM, Holmströem M, Kim W, Wang Y, Donahue KD, Palmer SE, Lambert DH, Bayly WM.To determine whether targeted lesion-specific algorithms developed from data collected with accelerometer-based inertial measurement units worn by racing Thoroughbreds could retrospectively identify horses at high risk of incurring forelimb condylar or proximal sesamoid fractures. Unassigned: Fracture-specific algorithms were generated from July 2021 to December 2024 with accelerometer data from 42,623 races by 15,755 horses, including 54 races by 23 horses that subsequently suffered condylar fractures and 90 races by 31 horses that later sustained proximal sesamoid fractures. Fracture-specifi...
Lutvikadic I, Preldzic D, Floriano D, Hopster K.Pulse pressure (PP) reflects ventricular stroke volume and arterial compliance, but its utility as a marker of cardiac disease in animals is not well established. This study evaluated the association between PP and echocardiographically confirmed cardiac abnormalities in dogs and horses and assessed its potential in pre-anesthetic evaluation. Clinical and echocardiography examination of 20 dogs and 20 horses was sufficient for inter-group comparisons and assignments to a Cardiac group (echocardiographically confirmed cardiac disease) or a Control group (healthy animals). Non-invasive oscillome...
Cabaret J, Guerrero Molina C, Martínez-Ortiz-de Montellano C, Alcala Canto Y.Faecal egg counts (FECs) are used to assess the intensity of gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections in herbivores. FEC distribution is aggregated, meaning that approximately 20% of animals harbour 80% of infections. In times of escalating anthelmintic resistance, it may be necessary to restrict treatment to the animals with the heaviest infections. This strategy is called targeted selective treatment (TST) and is relevant to GIN, for example. The difficulty lies in identifying which animals to treat. One solution is to select potentially at-risk animals based on age (for example, treating ...
Tyrnenopoulou P, Kalatzis D, Kiouvrekis Y, Flouraki E, Folias L, Loukopoulos E, Starras A, Chalvatzis P, Tsioli V, Mavrogianni VS, Fthenakis GC.The objective of the present study was to apply supervised Machine Learning to predict severe complications after equine orchiectomy. A dataset of 612 cases of orchiectomies in stallions was used for the development of a computational model, among which in 8.5% of cases severe complications (colic, continued stallion-like behaviour, evisceration, funiculitis, haemorrhage, and scrotal infection) were diagnosed post-orchiectomy. Three supervised Machine Learning tools were employed: Logistic Regression (12 different models evaluated), Random Forest (64 models), and Gradient Boosting (8 models). ...
Tyrnenopoulou P, Flouraki E, Folias L, Loukopoulos E, Starras A, Chalvatzis P, Tsioli V, Mavrogianni VS, Fthenakis GC.The objectives of this work were (i) to evaluate the incidence of complications in male horses after orchiectomy performed in the field, i.e., away from a veterinary hospital, (ii) to describe the post-operative complications that occurred in these animals and (iii) to study the potential predictors for the development of such complications. This study involved 612 animals, on which orchiectomy was performed. The operative part of the study was carried out by one of three experienced veterinary surgeons. Standard pre-operative procedures were followed. Orchiectomy was performed using one of th...
Africa DD, Ikeda K, Maeda T, Inoue S, Ringhofer M, Yamamoto S, Go CK.Collective decision-making and movement coordination are essential behaviours observed in biological systems, from animal herds to human crowds. Horses are a highly social species with a multilevel society. Herding, where the harem is collected to move in a certain direction, is an often-cited example of agonistic behaviour in horses, yet poorly understood in a granular, quantitative sense. We use transfer entropy to measure herding in a harem group of feral Garrano ponies in Serra D'Arga, Portugal. First, we characterize the harem's leader-follower relationships by quantifying the time lag (a...
Ledeck J, Dubrowski T, Schoumacher M, Peeters S, Le Goff C, Egyptien S, Deleuze S, Cavalier E, Ponthier J.Refined profiling of conjugated estrogens and androgens during equine pregnancy using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) could provide accurate fetal-sex determination. Current methods for fetal-sex prediction remain limited by timing, accuracy, and operator expertise. This study investigated sex-specific differences in maternal conjugated steroid profiles to develop a reliable, non-invasive predictive method. Samples were collected from 141 mares of various breeds starting at sixteen weeks of pregnancy. The samples were pooled according to gestational stage, divided int...
Key K, Berg K, Kirkegaard J, Andresen KR, Hansen SS.Equine lameness diagnosis largely relies on subjective visual assessments, which can be biased. Although marker-based methods, force plates and inertial measurement units (IMUs) provide objective measurements, they require specialized setups. Vision-based algorithms offer a portable, markerless alternative, but their accuracy needs thorough testing. Objective: To evaluate a custom vision-based algorithm for estimating the groundline across multiple camera angles, including handheld use in horses trotting on a treadmill. Methods: Experimental comparative study. Methods: Eight Standardbred trott...
Malekipour F, Whitton RC, Muir P, Lee PV.Stress fractures are common in racehorses, with the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint being the most frequently affected site as it is subjected to high-magnitude and high-rate cyclic loads during training and racing. These loads lead to repeated compressive stresses, resulting in subchondral bone (SCB) sclerosis, fatigue microcracks, and matrix damage that can progress to parasagittal fractures or palmar osteochondral disease (POD). The present study developed joint-specific 3D FE models and slice-based FE models using standing CT images for three trained racehorses, each presenting distinct SC...
Ricard A, Deretz S, Menard C, Priest BDS.The objective was to evaluate the genetic relationship between the surface temperature of regions of interest, measured using infrared images of young horses and functional longevity in jumping. This relationship was assessed by comparing the temperatures measured in the offspring of two groups of sires, one favourable and one unfavourable, to longevity. The study used a specific data collection protocol on a sample of 921 young progeny, before they began competing, of 141 extreme stallions, comprising 61 favourable and 80 unfavourable sires. These stallions had been selected based on estimate...
Ramírez-Juidias E, Díaz de la Serna-Moreno Á, Delgado-Pertíñez M.Rangeland degradation poses a serious challenge for the sustainable management of free-ranging livestock in Mediterranean wetlands. In National Park, Spain, the endangered horse depends exclusively on natural forage, making it essential to monitor vegetation productivity and grazing suitability under increasing climate variability. This study presents a satellite-based assessment of rangeland carrying capacity to support the adaptive management of this iconic breed. A six-year time series (2015-2020) of 1242 images from Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS and Sentinel-2 (L1C/L2A) was processed using ILWIS an...
Ozger ZB, Cihan P, Ozaydin I.Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as one of the most transformative tools for developing clinical decision-support systems in veterinary medicine. Despite its growing use, its full potential remains underutilized in equine medicine, an area of both high economic and clinical importance. Accurate survival prediction in horses with colic is crucial for timely intervention and improved clinical outcomes. Methods: This study aimed to predict survival outcomes in horse colic cases by developing models that combine traditional machine-learning algorithms (XGBoost, Light Gradient Boosting Mach...
Moghbeli Damane M, Ayatollahi Mehrgardi A, Esmailizadeh A, Momen M.Inbreeding is caused by mating between related individuals and is associated with reduced fitness and performance. Generally, in the horse population, inbreeding is caused by geographically restricted areas and intensive natural or artificial selection. For this reason, assessing accurate inbreeding is essential for developing and implementing effective breeding strategies aimed at preserving genetic diversity and reducing the harmful consequences of inbreeding. One of the most accurate approaches for assessing genomic inbreeding and autozygosity is through the analysis of runs of homozygosity...
Alexeenko V, Anchan DS, Ter Woort F, Ribonnet C, van Erck E, Marr C, Jeevaratnam K.Non-linear equine electrocardiography (ECG) analysis is an actively developing study area which has the potential to lead to novel, artificial intelligence-based diagnostic tools in equine cardiology. As more ECG recording devices are becoming available, there is a need to ensure results are interchangeable regardless of the equipment used to record the equine ECG. Objective: To evaluate the agreement of ECG complexity values obtained using the Televet™ and Equimetre™ systems. Methods: Cross-sectional clinical. Methods: ECGs were recorded using two devices simultaneously from 37 healthy Th...
Journal of biomechanicsNovember 16, 2025
Volume 194 113078 doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2025.113078
Opolz MD, Sipes GC, Moshage SG, McCoy AM, Kersh ME.Equine models are useful in biomechanics research due to their similarity in musculoskeletal tissue to humans, their athletic nature, and rapid skeletal development which permits ontogenetic studies. However, a continuing challenge in musculoskeletal models for large animal biomechanics is measuring the ground reaction force (GRF) during locomotion and therefore few reports of biomechanical measures such as joint torques. Here we evaluate two statistical approaches for estimating forelimb ground reaction forces in foals (n = 3). Longitudinal motion capture, GRF, and subject mass data during ...
Linnegar B, Hoegh A, McCallum H, Peel AJ.Anthropogenic climatic and landscape change can drive behavioural shifts in wildlife and thus lead to increased risk of pathogen exposure for humans and domestic animals. While spillover research often focuses on the reservoir hosts or ongoing transmission in humans, livestock and companion animals can play important roles as bridging and amplifying hosts, facilitating the emergence of highly pathogenic diseases. Objective: To investigate the distribution and density of domestic horses in the context of their role as bridge hosts for Hendra virus and build models to study zoonotic emergence. M...
Takahashi Y, Pfau T, Tsuruoka F, Yoshida T, Edwards WB, Mukai K.To identify the race- and horse-level factors affecting stride parameters during Thoroughbred races in Japan. Unassigned: Global Navigation Satellite System sensors were attached to 921 horses (1,189 starts) participating in 83 races, with distances ranging from 1,000 to 1,800 m, held from April through July 2024. Stride frequency and stride length were calculated from speed spectrograms at 3 racing phases (phase 1, 200 m after gate open; phase 2, 10 m after reaching the final straight stretch; and phase 3, 130 m before the finishing line). Additionally, 10 variables (race distance, surface ty...
Kuroda T, Knych HK, Noble GK, Minamijima Y, Leung GN, Nomura M, Mizobe F, Ishikawa Y, Kusano K, Toutain PL.Flunixin meglumine is widely used to manage pain and inflammation in horses, and its regulation requires robust pharmacokinetic analysis for harmonization. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis of flunixin disposition using plasma and urine concentration data from 65 horses across four countries to robustly estimate pharmacokinetic parameters in setting screening limits (SLs) for controlling medications in horses. A population (POP) model was developed using nonlinear mixed-effects model analysis. The irrelevant plasma concentration (IPC) and irrelevant urine concentration (IUC) were det...
Ali A, Derar DR, Alaeyeari AA, Alharbi YM.This study aimed to monitor intrauterine fetal growth, establish predictive equations for gestational age estimation, and determine the optimal period for fetal sexing in Arabian horses using ultrasonography. Unassigned: Seven Arabian mares were monitored from insemination to parturition using transrectal ultrasonography. The following fetal and embryonic parameters were measured: embryonic vesicle (EV), crown-rump length (CRL), biparietal diameter (BIP), stomach diameter (STD), chest depth (CHD), abdominal diameter (ABD), kidney length (KDL), eyeball diameter (EBD), and eye lens length (ELL)....
de Lara NSS, Weiss RR, Oba E, Kozicki LE, Souza FA, Bergstein-Galan TG, Muehlbauer E, Silvestri M, de Lima PHL, Vaz ES.In equine reproduction, determining foetal sex is of economic and strategic importance, but currently available methods are often invasive, costly, or require specialised expertise. This study aimed to assess whether plasma progesterone concentrations could serve as a predictive tool for foetal sex determination in Criollo mares between the 4th and 8th months of gestation and to determine whether these measurements could identify foetal sex. Blood samples were collected at 30-day intervals from 17 Crioula mares between 114 days and 240 days of gestation. Maternal plasma progesterone concen...
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...
Friend MM, McGaffigan EM, Hall SM, Staniar WB, Smarsh DN.Early detection of inflammation using a common test could be a valuable tool for preserving horse health. Objective: This observational study aimed to identify variation in complete blood count (CBC) parameters and inflammatory indices with inflammation, and to develop reference intervals (RIs) from horses with known inflammatory states, hypothesizing that RIs developed from horses with normal acute phase protein concentrations would improve the ability to predict inflammation. Methods: Concentrations of serum amyloid A (SAA) and haptoglobin from clinically healthy horses and horses under vete...
Kamiya U, Kakiuchi K, Kawamura K, Ueda K, Kawai M, Matsui A, Negishi N.Accurate monitoring of grazing behavior in horses is essential for pasture management and welfare evaluation; however, conventional observation methods are labor-intensive and lack temporal resolution. Objective: This pilot study aimed to develop and validate a deep learning model using jaw-mounted accelerometer data to classify grazing and non-grazing behaviors in yearling horses under various pasture conditions. Methods: Four yearling Thoroughbred horses were equipped with triaxle accelerometers mounted under their jaws. Data were recorded at 10 Hz (100 ms) during a 19 h free-grazing period ...
Dumičić I, Ostojić L.Like other domesticated species, most notably dogs, horses have been reported to follow human gestures and successfully use them to gain rewards in an object choice task. Empirical support for the hypothesis that a domain-general mechanism may underlie this ability comes from studies in which horses have successfully solved the task by using not just a human pointing gesture but also an arbitrary physical cue, namely a wooden marker. Here, we replicated the two conditions in which these two cues were used by Proops et al. (2010) with two critical changes: first, we positioned the marker out of...
Kapusniak A, Lara NM, Hitchens PL, Bailey S, Nath L, Franklin S.Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used to enhance electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation in human medicine. In equine athletes, exercise-associated arrhythmias are common and linked to sudden cardiac death at rates higher than in humans. However, ECG interpretation in horses remains time-consuming and subjective, with the clinical relevance of mild rhythm disturbances often unclear. Objective: Evaluate the application of AI to ECG interpretation for arrhythmia detection, with emphasis on current and potential use in athletic species, particularly horses. Methods: About 17 studies we...
Mudge M.Morbidity after equine abdominal surgery is common and post-operative complications can be costly to owners. The focus of this article is on intraoperative decision-making and current evidence, including surgical techniques and prognostic information that can prevent and predict complications. Emerging techniques for intra-operative monitoring and intestinal viability assessment, anastomotic techniques, body wall suturing, peritonitis treatment, and pain management are discussed.
Mc Sweeney D, Wang Y, Palmer SE, Holmströem M, Donohue KD, Farnsworth KD, Sanz MG, Lambert DH, Bayly WM.To determine whether screening of racing Thoroughbreds with accelerometer-based inertial measurement unit sensors and a specifically trained algorithm identified horses most at risk for fatal musculoskeletal injury (FMI) and whether age, gender, race distance, and track surface were associated with increased risk. Unassigned: Stride data from 28,481 races by 11,834 Thoroughbreds from July 25, 2021, until May 4, 2024, were assigned an algorithm-based risk score from 1 to 6 (6 = greatest risk). Logistic regression models examined the association between incidence of fatal injuries and risk score...
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 ...
Carroll CL, Huntington PJ.Three hundred and seventy two horses of varying breeds, height and fatness were weighed and measured for height at the withers. They were assessed for condition score by adaptation of a previously published method. The heart girth and length of 281 of the horses were also measured. Weight of horses was highly correlated (P less than 0.001) with height (r2 = 0.62), condition score (r2 = 0.22) and girth2 x length (r2 = 0.90). Nomograms were constructed to predict weight from height and condition score, and girth and length measurements. Weight can also be accurately estimated from the formula: (...
Kohn RA, Dinneen MM, Russek-Cohen E.The objectives of this study were to evaluate the potential for using blood urea N concentration to predict urinary N excretion rate, and to develop a mathematical model to estimate important variables of N utilization for several different species of farm animals and for rats. Treatment means (n = 251) from 41 research publications were used to develop mathematical relationships. There was a strong linear relationship between blood urea N concentration (mg/100 mL) and rate of N excretion (g x d(-1) x kg BW(-1)) for all animal species investigated. The N clearance rate of the kidney (L of bloo...
Ahern BJ, Parvizi J, Boston R, Schaer TP.Review the literature for single site cartilage defect research and evaluate the respective strengths and weaknesses of different preclinical animal models. Methods: A literature search for animal models evaluating single site cartilage defects was performed. Variables tabulated and analyzed included animal species, age and number, defect depth and diameter and study duration. Cluster analyses were then used to separate animals with only distal femoral defects into similar groups based on defect dimensions. Representative human studies were included allowing comparison of common clinical lesio...
Carter RA, Treiber KH, Geor RJ, Douglass L, Harris PA.The ability to predict ponies at increased risk of laminitic episodes, when exposed to nutrient dense pasture, would facilitate management to avoid disease. Objective: To identify variables and clinically useful cut-off values with reproducible diagnostic accuracy for the prediction of ponies that subsequently developed laminitis when exposed to nutrient dense pasture. Methods: A cohort of predominantly Welsh and Dartmoor ponies from a closed herd was evaluated in March 2006 (n = 74) and March 2007 (n = 57). Ponies were categorised as never laminitic or previously laminitic according to report...
McGowan TW, Pinchbeck GP, McGowan CM.Equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) is an ageing-related neurodegenerative disorder. The prevalence and risk factors for PPID using seasonally adjusted basal adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) concentrations in aged horses have not been previously reported. Objective: To determine the prevalence, risk factors and clinical signs predictive for PPID in a population of horses aged ≥ 15 years in Queensland, Australia. Methods: Owner-reported data was obtained using a postal questionnaire distributed to an equestrian group. A subgroup of surveyed owners were visited and a veterina...
Minetti AE.By refining a previously published model, a simple equation for the estimation of the mechanical internal work during locomotion is presented. The only input variables are the progression speed, the stride frequency and the duty factor, i.e. the fraction of the stride duration at which a foot is in contact with the ground. The inclusion of this last variable, easily measurable, allows to obtain a single equation for both walking and running. The model predictions have been compared with the mechanical internal work experimentally obtained on humans in several conditions: speeds (range 0.8-3.3 ...
Bisanzio D, Giacobini M, Bertolotti L, Mosca A, Balbo L, Kitron U, Vazquez-Prokopec GM.West Nile Virus (WNV) transmission in Italy was first reported in 1998 as an equine outbreak near the swamps of Padule di Fucecchio, Tuscany. No other cases were identified during the following decade until 2008, when horse and human outbreaks were reported in Emilia Romagna, North Italy. Since then, WNV outbreaks have occurred annually, spreading from their initial northern foci throughout the country. Following the outbreak in 1998 the Italian public health authority defined a surveillance plan to detect WNV circulation in birds, horses and mosquitoes. By applying spatial statistical analysi...
Roy MF, Kwong GP, Lambert J, Massie S, Lockhart S.Despite its widespread use in equine medicine, the clinical value of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) concept in horses remains unknown. Objective: To study the prognostic value of measures of SIRS in horses and identify the best model of severe SIRS to predict outcome. Methods: A total of 479 consecutive adult horse emergency admissions to a private primary referral practice. Methods: Prospective observational study. All adult horses admitted for emergency treatment over the study period were included. Multivariate logistic regression and stepwise model selection were used. ...
Chang MH, Kim KH, Kim HS, Jun HJ, Kim DH, Jang JH, Kim K, Jung CW.Immunosuppressive therapy (IST) with antithymocyte globulin (ATG) plus cyclosporine (CSA) is standard therapy in patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) who do not have an available HLA-matched sibling donor. Methods: The current study aimed to determine the predictive factors for response to IST in patients with SAA and to identify prognostic factors following IST. A total of 62 patients diagnosed with SAA who received IST with either rabbit ATG (n = 33) or horse ATG (n = 29) plus CSA between October 1994 and December 2007 were included. Results: With a median follow-up duration of 60.5 mo...
Conte A, Candeloro L, Ippoliti C, Monaco F, De Massis F, Bruno R, Di Sabatino D, Danzetta ML, Benjelloun A, Belkadi B, El Harrak M, Declich S....West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-transmitted Flavivirus belonging to the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of the Flaviviridae family. Its spread in the Mediterranean basin and the Balkans poses a significant risk to human health and forces public health officials to constantly monitor the virus transmission to ensure prompt application of preventive measures. In this context, predictive tools indicating the areas and periods at major risk of WNV transmission are of paramount importance. Spatial analysis approaches, which use environmental and climatic variables to find suitable habit...
Colenbrander B, Gadella BM, Stout TA.Pregnancy rates in managed horse populations depend on the innate fertility of the mares and stallions involved and on the quality of breeding management. Of course, because a single stallion usually mates many mares, stallion fertility is a critical factor in the overall success of a breeding program. Unfortunately, accurate evaluation of stallion fertility per se requires a large number of normal mares to be mated and is necessarily retrospective. Rather, the ideal is to predict fertility in advance of the stallion's breeding career, and this is currently attempted by way of a thorough physi...
Pfau T, Stubbs NC, Kaiser LJ, Brown LE, Clayton HM.To determine whether body lean angle could be predicted from circle radius and speed in horses during lunging and whether an increase in that angle would decrease the degree of movement symmetry (MS). Methods: 11 medium- to high-level dressage horses in competition training. Methods: Body lean angle, head MS, and trunk MS were quantified during trotting while horses were instrumented with a 5-sensor global positioning system-enhanced inertial sensor system and lunged on a soft surface. Speed and circle radius were varied and used to calculate predicted body lean angle. Agreement between observ...
Avella CS, Ely ER, Verheyen KL, Price JS, Wood JL, Smith RK.It is important to ascertain the prevalence of superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) injuries and to improve methods of predicting injury in National Hunt (NH) racehorses. Objective: To establish: 1) the prevalence of SDFT tendinopathy in NH horses; 2) whether routine ultrasonography can be used to predict SDFT injuries; 3) whether previous tendinopathy predisposes to reinjury; 4) a normal range for the SDFT cross-sectional area (CSA); and 5) the effects of gender, age, background (ex-flat or ex-store), limb, training and rest periods on SDFT CSA. Methods: Routine ultrasound assessment of t...
Brown DJ, Rush JE, MacGregor J, Ross JN, Brewer B, Rand WM.A novel method for quantitative echocardiographic interpretations is introduced based on the calculation of ratio indices in which each raw M-mode measurement is divided by the aortic root dimension (Ao). "Aorta-based" indices were calculated with the animal's measured aortic root dimension (Ao(m)) as the length standard. Conversely, "weight-based" indices employed an idealized estimate of aortic dimension (Ao(w)) with a weighted least squares linear regression against the cube root of body weight (Ao(w) = kW(1/3)). Use of these indices circumvented undesirable statistical characteristics inhe...
Tan H, Wilson AM.Manoeuverability is a key requirement for successful terrestrial locomotion, especially on variable terrain, and is a deciding factor in predator-prey interaction. Compared with straight-line running, bend running requires additional leg force to generate centripetal acceleration. In humans, this results in a reduction in maximum speed during bend running and a published model assuming maximum limb force as a constraint accurately predicts how much a sprinter must slow down on a bend given his maximum straight-line speed. In contrast, greyhounds do not slow down or change stride parameters dur...
García-Carrasco JM, Muñoz AR, Olivero J, Segura M, Real R.West Nile virus is a widely spread arthropod-born virus, which has mosquitoes as vectors and birds as reservoirs. Humans, as dead-end hosts of the virus, may suffer West Nile Fever (WNF), which sometimes leads to death. In Europe, the first large-scale epidemic of WNF occurred in 1996 in Romania. Since then, human cases have increased in the continent, where the highest number of cases occurred in 2018. Using the location of WNF cases in 2017 and favorability models, we developed two risk models, one environmental and the other spatio-environmental, and tested their capacity to predict in 2018...
Dugdale AH, Grove-White D, Curtis GC, Harris PA, Argo CM.Body condition scoring systems were originally developed to quantify flesh cover in food animals and are commonly used to evaluate body fat in Equidae. The relationship between concurrent estimates of body fat content (eTBF%, deuterium oxide dilution; range, 2.7-35.6%) and subjective appraisals of body 'fatness' (body condition score, BCS; range, 1.25-9/9), was investigated in 77 mature horses and ponies. Univariate (UVM, r(2)=0.79) and multivariable (MVM, r(2)=0.86) linear regression models described the association, where BCS and eTBF% were explanatory and outcome variables, respectively. Ot...
Harrison SM, Whitton RC, Kawcak CE, Stover SM, Pandy MG.The equine metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint is frequently injured, especially by racehorses in training. Most injuries result from repetitive loading of the subchondral bone and articular cartilage rather than from acute events. The likelihood of injury is multi-factorial but the magnitude of mechanical loading and the number of loading cycles are believed to play an important role. Therefore, an important step in understanding injury is to determine the distribution of load across the articular surface during normal locomotion. A subject-specific finite-element model of the MCP joint was devel...
Barker CM, Reisen WK, Kramer VL.The California Mosquito-Borne Virus Surveillance and Response Plan recently was developed to provide a semi-quantitative means for assessing risk for western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) or St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) viruses and to provide intervention guidelines for mosquito control and public health agencies during periods of heightened risk for human infection. West Nile virus recently has arrived in California, and the response plan also will provide a baseline for assessing the risk for human and equine infection with this virus. In the response plan, overall risk is calculated by ave...
Ishihara A, Reed SM, Rajala-Schultz PJ, Robertson JT, Bertone AL.To evaluate use of kinetic gait analysis for detection, quantification, and differentiation of hind limb lameness and spinal ataxia in horses. Methods: Prospective clinical study. Methods: 36 horses. Procedures-Kinetic gait analysis with a force plate was performed for 12 clinically normal horses, 12 horses with hind limb lameness, and 12 horses with spinal ataxia. Kinetic variables were compared among groups, correlated to subjective grading, and used to build predictive models to assess the accuracy of discrimination. Results: Subsets of kinetic variables were characteristically altered in a...
Toutain PL, Autefage A, Legrand C, Alvinerie M.The purpose of the present study was to establish in the horse the relationship between plasma concentration profiles of phenylbutazone (PBZ) and flunixin meglumine (FM) and their pharmacological effects in order to build a predictive pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model. In five horses, an experimental arthritis was induced by injecting Freund's adjuvant into a carpal joint. PBZ (4 mg/kg) and FM (1 mg/kg) were injected by the intravenous route as a single intravenous dose in two different trials. Five pharmacodynamic end-points were regularly measured after test article injection usi...
Boemer F, Detilleux J, Cello C, Amory H, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Richard E, van Galen G, van Loon G, Lefère L, Votion DM.Equine atypical myopathy (AM) is caused by hypoglycin A intoxication and is characterized by a high fatality rate. Predictive estimation of survival in AM horses is necessary to prevent unnecessary suffering of animals that are unlikely to survive and to focus supportive therapy on horses with a possible favourable prognosis of survival. We hypothesized that outcome may be predicted early in the course of disease based on the assumption that the acylcarnitine profile reflects the derangement of muscle energetics. We developed a statistical model to prognosticate the risk of death of diseased a...
Mughini-Gras L, Mulatti P, Severini F, Boccolini D, Romi R, Bongiorno G, Khoury C, Bianchi R, Montarsi F, Patregnani T, Bonfanti L, Rezza G....In Italy, West Nile virus (WNV) equine outbreaks have occurred annually since 2008. Characterizing WNV vector habitat requirements allows for the identification of areas at risk of viral amplification and transmission. Maxent-based ecological niche models were developed using literature records of 13 potential WNV Italian vector mosquito species to predict their habitat suitability range and to investigate possible geographical associations with WNV equine outbreak occurrence in Italy from 2008 to 2010. The contribution of different environmental variables to the niche models was also assessed...
Rochais C, Fureix C, Lesimple C, Hausberger M.Chronic pain is thought to affect patients' cognitive functioning, including attention. Loss of attention is likely to have an impact on the execution of daily tasks, and, therefore, to have negative effects. However, relationships between chronic pain and cognitive deficits are still debated. Pre-clinical studies using laboratory animals prove useful to model pain-related cognitive impairment, but animal models had to predict effects in the real world. This study investigates attentional engagement of domestic horses by comparing observations in a home setting and evaluations of vertebral dis...
Furr MO, Lessard P, White NA.Thirty-two physical examination and laboratory variables were recorded during examination of 165 horses admitted for acute abdominal disease. Univariate analyses were performed to determine which of the variables were significantly different between horses that lived or died. Stepwise logistic regression was performed to identify variables with the best predictive value. Four variables (heart rate, peritoneal fluid total protein concentration, blood lactate concentration, and abnormal mucous membrane) remained significant when entered into the model. Histograms for each significant variable we...
Sarin JK, Te Moller NCR, Mancini IAD, Brommer H, Visser J, Malda J, van Weeren PR, Afara IO, Töyräs J.Arthroscopic assessment of articular tissues is highly subjective and poorly reproducible. To ensure optimal patient care, quantitative techniques (e.g., near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)) could substantially enhance arthroscopic diagnosis of initial signs of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). Here, we demonstrate, for the first time, the potential of arthroscopic NIRS to simultaneously monitor progressive degeneration of cartilage and subchondral bone in vivo in Shetland ponies undergoing different experimental cartilage repair procedures. Osteochondral tissues adjacent to the repair sites...
Morrell JM, Johannisson A, Dalin AM, Hammar L, Sandebert T, Rodriguez-Martinez H.Artificial insemination is not as widely used in horses as in other domestic species, such as dairy cattle and pigs, partly because of the wide variation in sperm quality between stallion ejaculates and partly due to decreased fertility following the use of cooled transported spermatozoa. Furthermore, predictive tests for sperm fertilising ability are lacking. The objective of the present study was to assess sperm morphology and chromatin integrity in ejaculates obtained from 11 warmblood breeding stallions in Sweden, and to evaluate the relationship of these parameters to pregnancy rates to i...
Hoffman AM, Staempfli HR, Willan A.The costly nature of intensive care for neonatal foals prompted a study of predictive variables for survival in a referral hospital. Applying stepforward logistic regression to parameters that differed significantly (P less than 0.10) between survivors (S) and nonsurvivors (NS) in a retrospective study (n = 56), two variables retained statistical significance [anion gap (AG, P = 0.0047) and venous PO2 (PvO2, P = 0.0342)], thus forming the basis for a predictive equation for survival: the Pn (probability of NS) = eA/(1 + eA) where A = -1.46 - 0.107 (PvO2) + 0.213 (AG). The predictive equation w...
Larison B, Pinho GM, Haghani A, Zoller JA, Li CZ, Finno CJ, Farrell C, Kaelin CB, Barsh GS, Wooding B, Robeck TR, Maddox D, Pellegrini M, Horvath S.Effective conservation and management of threatened wildlife populations require an accurate assessment of age structure to estimate demographic trends and population viability. Epigenetic aging models are promising developments because they estimate individual age with high accuracy, accurately predict age in related species, and do not require invasive sampling or intensive long-term studies. Using blood and biopsy samples from known age plains zebras (Equus quagga), we model epigenetic aging using two approaches: the epigenetic clock (EC) and the epigenetic pacemaker (EPM). The plains zebra...
Lane EA, Bijnen ML, Osborne M, More SJ, Henderson IS, Duffy P, Crowe MA.To evaluate factors contributing to fertility of thoroughbred mares, data from 3743 oestrous periods of 2385 mares were collected on a large thoroughbred farm in Ireland. Fourteen stallions (mean age 8.3 years; range 4-15 years) had bred 2385 mares (mean age 9.4 years; range 3-24 years). Maiden mares accounted for 12%, mares with a foal at foot for 64%, and barren, slipped or rested mares for 24% of the total. The mean pregnancy rate per cycle was 67.8% (68.6% in year 1 and 66.9% in year 2). Backward stepwise multivariable logistic regression analysis was utilized to develop two models to eval...
