Statistical analysis in equine research involves the application of mathematical techniques to collect, review, and interpret data related to horse health, behavior, and performance. This field encompasses a variety of methods, including descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and multivariate analysis, to identify patterns, test hypotheses, and draw conclusions from equine data. Statistical analysis aids in understanding various aspects of equine science, such as disease prevalence, treatment efficacy, genetic traits, and performance metrics. This page aggregates peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the methodologies, applications, and outcomes of statistical analysis in the context of equine studies.
Asadollahpour Nanaei H, Seguin-Orlando A, Negara K, MacLeod JN, Kalbfleish T, Orlando L.The Thoroughbred horse is a legacy of centuries of selective breeding for speed, emerging from the admixture of British mares and imported Oriental stallions. While previous work explored its genetic diversity, inbreeding, and selection signatures, the breed demographic and selection dynamics during the 20-century remain poorly understood. Here, we sequenced the genome of Phar Lap, a late-1920s/early-1930s racing champion, and analyzed the largest time-series of Thoroughbred whole-genome sequences, within a global panel of 850 horse genomes. Demographic modeling reveals a marked decline in gen...
Shah MH, Roshan D, Pugh J, Murray J, Fuller C, Kung S, Reville A, O'Connor S.Despite horse racing's exceptionally high concussion risk, there is no jockey-specific ImPACT study. This work aimed to develop demographically adjusted, jockey-specific ImPACT norms and to evaluate complementary approaches to clinical classification. Unassigned: Retrospective baseline data from 663 Irish jockeys (2021-2024) were analyzed. Two normative methods were applied: (i) a univariate regression-based approach estimating expected scores for each cognitive domain independently, adjusting for age, sex, and education, with percentile-based classification; and (ii) a multivariate regression...
Davie AJ, Beavers R, Denham J.This study evaluated the reliability of five treadmill protocols that assess heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (Bla) responses in Thoroughbred horses to determine their effectiveness in serving as potential tools for monitoring fitness and the wellbeing of racehorses. Of the five exercise tests, four consisted of repeated interval gallops at constant speeds (8 m/s and 10 m/s) and grade (6°) and one test of a continuous gallop at constant speeds (8 m/s) and grade (6°). Eight hundred and twenty-three gallops in total were performed by 64 horses. The test-retest reliability and absolute agreeme...
Gao Y, Luo Z, Dong Z, Li S.Equine colic remains one of the leading causes of mortality in horses, with timely diagnosis and accurate prognostic assessment being critical for clinical decision-making. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been increasingly applied to support diagnostic and prognostic evaluation in veterinary medicine. However, the scope, methodological characteristics, and performance of AI models in equine colic have not been systematically mapped. Therefore, this scoping review was conducted to summarize current AI applications in equine colic, identify commonly used algorithms, describe re...
Perzyna M, Bardet E, Baranowska K, Kiełbik P, Puchalska M, Pawliński B, Witkowska-Piłaszewicz O.Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute phase protein used as an inflammatory biomarker in equine medicine. However, no universally accepted assay-specific reference interval (RI) exists for donkeys, and available literature remains limited, with only few studies using different donkey breeds and immunoassay platforms. This study aimed to establish an assay- and population-specific RI for serum SAA in apparently healthy donkeys using a species-specific double sandwich ELISA. Unassigned: Serum SAA concentrations were measured in 176 apparently healthy donkeys. RI estimation followed ASVCP/CLSI r...
Santana ML, Bignardi AB.Barrel racing performance reflects a complex interplay among genetic merit, rider ability, training strategies, and competition-specific conditions. In practice, events differ substantially in their economic scale, and prize money can serve as a proxy for management intensity, rider expertise, and selection pressure. Objective: This study investigated whether economic stratification, represented by total prize money per event, is associated with changes in (co)variance components for barrel racing time in Brazilian Quarter Horses. Methods: A reaction-norm model was implemented using 349,262 ra...
Santana ML, Bignardi AB.Resilience, defined as the capacity to maintain consistent performance under variable conditions, has emerged as a relevant breeding objective in livestock systems, yet remains largely unexplored in equine populations. The objectives of this study were to (1) derive indicators of resilience from longitudinal barrel racing time (BRT) records in Brazilian Quarter Horses, (2) estimate genetic parameters for these indicators, and (3) quantify their genetic relationships with BRT and accumulated career earnings (ACE). The dataset comprised BRT records from barrel racing events held between 2010 and...
Vostra-Vydrova H, Moravcikova N, Kasarda R, Shihabi M, Druet T, Halvonik A, Hofmanova B, Dovc P, Zorc M, Molina A, Demyda-Peyrás S, Valera M....Baroque horses represent a distinctive group of breeds that emerged mainly between the 16th and 18th centuries, shaped by the demands of European royalty and their courts. Although recognised as separate breeds, they share common ancestry, breeding goals, and historical gene flow. This study aimed to evaluate their genomic diversity, population structure, and admixture patterns. We analysed 1 160 individuals from eight breeds - Lipizzan, Old Kladruby Horse, Pura Raza Española, Lusitano, Friesian, Criollo, Peruvian Paso, and Puerto Rican Paso Fino - using 34 026 single-nucleotide polymorphis...
Bordignon V, Buratini J, Cue RI, Barrilari V, Gonçalves MA, Merlini G, Fernandes CB, Squires E, Pontes JHF, Fleury PDC.Equine OPU‑ICSI supports commercial IVEP, yet substantial variability persists. We retrospectively analyzed a large dataset generated in Brazil spanning Quarter Horses, Warmbloods, and Mangalarga to evaluate whether predictors previously identified in the literature show comparable patterns under distinct ecological and breeding conditions. Overall oocyte and embryo outcomes were aligned with broadly reported trends from previous studies. Oocytes retrieved from estrous mares bearing a dominant follicle exhibited higher maturation and blastocyst rates. Stallion effects segregated into distinc...
Takahashi K, Mukai K, Shirai T, Ebisuda Y, Sugiyama F, Yoshida T, Hatta H, Kitaoka Y.This study investigated whether different pacing patterns during high-intensity exercise elicit distinct transcriptional responses in equine skeletal muscle. Eight Thoroughbred horses completed two treadmill exercise sessions in a randomized crossover design. In the positive-pacing condition, horses exercised at 110% maximal O₂ uptake (V˙O₂max) for 1 min followed by 90% V˙O₂max for 1 min, whereas in the negative-pacing condition, the order was reversed. At 4 h after exercise, the positive-pacing protocol resulted in upregulation of 1,989 genes and downregulation of 840 genes, whereas t...
Demeyere M, Dufourni A, Verhaeghe LM, Vernemmen I, De Backer T, van Loon G, Decloedt A.Mitral valve regurgitation (MR) is frequently detected in horses, but its classification and prognostication remain challenging. This study investigated whether auscultatory findings and left atrial function are associated with MR severity. Methods: Fifty controls (no/trivial MR) and 101 MR horses (58 mild, 36 moderate, seven severe) were retrospectively evaluated. All were in sinus rhythm and underwent auscultation and echocardiography. Mitral regurgitation severity was graded using a scoring system. Systolic murmur characteristics (duration, type and grade) were recorded. Left atrial functio...
Hallowell KL, Horne CR, Miller CS, Tufts SR, Dembek K, Love KR, van Eps AW, Schnabel LV.The prevalence of insulin dysregulation (ID) has not been investigated in sport horses. Stall-side insulin assays offer convenience but need further validation. Objective: To determine the prevalence of and risk factors for ID in a sport horse population using an oral sugar test (OST) and assess agreement between stall-side and validated laboratory assays for insulin quantification. Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study. Methods: One hundred eighty sport horses presenting for orthopaedic evaluation at a university hospital (N = 140) or local farms (N = 40) were tested for ID using...
Delecave Dias T, Hauser RG, Cleary KB, Durward-Akhurst S.Arrhythmias can cause poor performance and sudden death in horses. Long-term (>24 h) electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring has been used to identify arrhythmias in humans and is superior to short-term monitoring for transient arrhythmia detection. Televet is the current equine gold-standard ECG device. The Cardea SOLO™ (CS) is a single-use monitor with automated ECG analysis software allowing ECG monitoring for 7 days. Objective: Our objective was to validate the performance of the CS compared to the Televet. Methods: Method validation. Methods: ECGs were performed on 12 healthy horses s...
Cranston N, Buckley P, Rose L, Loy J, Randle H.Weaning is a stressful time in a foal's (Equus caballus) life. As humans artificially manage weaning in domestic horses, it provides an opportunity to safeguard horse welfare early in life, with potential long-term benefits. While numerous studies have examined the effects of different weaning and management interventions on foal stress, optimal weaning practices have yet to be identified. Overall purpose of the study: To identify which weaning interventions and management practices have the greatest potential to improve foal welfare based on physiological and behavioural outcomes. Research qu...
Khanahmadi A, Rahimi Mianji G, Moradi Shahrebabak H, Hafezian SH, Zandi MB.Breakthroughs in genomic technologies have enabled the formulation of methods to identify genomic variation in domestic animal species. Detection of the variation is necessary because it is associated with breed characteristics and economic importance in domestic animal genetics. Unassigned: This study aimed to identify the genomic regions in Turkmen and Kurdish horse breeds that have been the target of different selections over many years. It also sought to locate the genes and Quantitative trait loci (QTL) in these regions that contributed to the differentiation of these two breeds or the di...
Abdullah , Bensmail H, Johnson JP, Bouhali O.Laminitis is a painful and potentially life-threatening inflammatory condition of the equine hoof, and its detection remains a major challenge in veterinary practice. Although several risk factors have been reported, the prediction of the onset of laminitis in a subclinical stage using routine clinical data is still limited. This study aims to address this gap by developing an interpretable machine learning (ML) framework for the prediction of the risk of laminitis in horses. A point-based risk scoring system was first constructed using multivariate logistic regression to quantify the contribu...
Cullen E, Carslake HB, Henderson I, Stoneham S, Pinchbeck GL, Archer DC.Broodmares are at increased risk of gastrointestinal colic. However, colic risk factors specific to this population have not been investigated. Objective: To investigate horse- and management-level risk factors for post-partum colic in a cohort of Thoroughbred broodmares in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Methods: Prospective, nested case-control study. Methods: Twenty-nine Thoroughbred stud farms in the United Kingdom and Ireland were recruited, and 1044 mares were followed over the 2021 and/or 2022 foaling seasons. Data were collected on signalment, medical and management history for post-pa...
Marlowe JL, Hughes L, Barrey E, Leeb T, Bellone R, McCue ME, Durward-Akhurst S. Advances in whole-genome sequencing (WGS) technology have led to the widespread adoption of WGS for investigating genetic diseases and traits in domestic animals. This has created a need for improved methods for prioritizing candidate causal variants. One way variants are prioritized is using variant annotators that predict variant effects based on their proximity to genomic features and effect on amino acid sequence. However, validation of variant annotators for domestic animal genomes is lacking. In this study, we calculated the agreement of three popular variant annotators, Ensembl Varian...
Irons A, Culwell J, Nicodemus MC, Vandiver M, North E, Cavinder C, Rios de Alvarez L, Williams T.Phenotypic characterization of traits like gait and coat color is useful for minor breed identification and conservation. The Mountain Pleasure Horse (MPH) is a minor American breed as it is listed as threatened by the Livestock Conservancy. Objective: The study objective was to utilize phenotypic characterization for identifying gait and coat color phenotype of the MPH. Methods: Gait was characterized utilizing frame-by-frame analysis to identify spatiotemporal variables of purebred horses (n = 6) performing the flat walk and saddle rack. Coat color was characterized using coat color assi...
Bou T, Ding W, Gong W, Li Z, Shi X, Dugarjaviin M, Bai D, Yang L.The Grassland Xichun horse is an emerging crossbred population developed from Xilingol mares and Thoroughbred stallions in Inner Mongolia, China, yet its blood physiological profile has not been systematically characterized. In this study, we compared 32 hematological and serum biochemical parameters between 177 Grassland Xichun horses and 35 Xilingol horses maintained under the same extensive grazing conditions. Following Benjamini-Hochberg FDR correction, 17 of 32 parameters differed significantly between breeds. Grassland Xichun horses showed markedly higher RBC count (9.145 vs 7.905 × 10Â...
Markowitz JS.Steeplechase jockeys compete in high-risk races requiring horses and riders to clear fixed obstacles at speed. Although rider dislodgement events are recognized hazards, their incidence and participation consequences are not well characterized. Methods: This retrospective observational study used publicly available race charts from United States National Steeplechase Association races (2023-2025). Dislodgement events were defined as falls or lost rider events. Incidence rates were calculated per 1,000 starts, and timber and hurdle races were compared using Poisson regression. Rider interruptio...
Próchniak T.The aim of this study was to pilot the assessment of sport predispositions in warmblood horse breeds, both domestic and foreign, and to evaluate factors influencing their performance. Data from 293 horses (725 starts) competing in national Grand Prix events with obstacle heights of 140-145 cm were analysed using general mixed models. The origins of Polish Halfbred Horses were examined, and correlations between results in the Young Horse Championships and later Grand Prix performance were assessed. Results showed that performance is significantly influenced by genetic factors, such as breed and...
Laseca N, Molina A, Marshall T, González I, Poyato-Bonilla J, Valera M.Accurate parentage assignment is essential for managing livestock breeding and genetic improvement. This study evaluated a breed-specific SNP panel (375 SNPs) for the Pura Raza Española (PRE) horse, comparing its performance against the traditional STR reference panel (18 microsatellite) and the international ISAG SNP core panel (378 SNPs) across population scenarios differing in levels of inbreeding and kinship. The PRE-specific SNPs were selected from the Axiom EQUIGENE array based on high genotyping reliability (call-rate > 99%), Mendelian error minimization, Hardy-Weinberg equilibr...
de Siqueira RF, Brito LA, de Figueiredo IM, Dos Santos ACR, Dos Anjos LS.Lineage-based selection is central to the Quarter Horse industry and is often justified by the assumption that morphology determines locomotor function. However, objective evidence linking static conformation to discipline-specific locomotor behaviour under standardised conditions remains limited. Objective: To investigate whether morphological differences among Quarter Horse disciplines are associated with distinct locomotor patterns or whether locomotor function converges across disciplines despite morphological variation. Methods: Cross-sectional. Methods: Barrel racing, reining, and ranch ...
Arı HH, Duro S, Alpak H, Tulobaev A, Ceylan N, Ashyk A, Salykov R, Djordjevic M, Gündemir O.This study aimed to evaluate sexual dimorphism in Kyrgyz horse skulls by separating size and shape components using Mosimann log-shape ratios, based on 18 linear cranial measurements recorded from 39 specimens. Raw linear data were analyzed alongside size-corrected Mosimann log-shape ratios to distinguish overall size from size-independent shape. Males showed larger raw means than females for all 18 variables, and 14 measurements remained significant after false-discovery-rate correction. The strongest raw differences involved skull length to nasale, total skull length, nasal length, breadth b...
Júnior AMCA, da Silva AH, Buroxid RP, Padovan JR, Nunes AT, Poleti MD, Fukumasu H, Gobesso AAO.Intense training in athletic foals may alter fecal microbiota, highlighting the need for nutritional strategies such as hydrolyzed collagen supplementation. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary hydrolyzed collagen on the fecal microbiome of weanlings in training. Methods: Twenty Mangalarga Marchador foals (206 ± 18 kg; 7 ± 1 mo age) were assigned to two groups: a supplemented group (50 g/day of hydrolyzed collagen for 180 days) and a control group. A completely randomized design with repeated measures over time was used. Foals were exercised five consecutive days pe...
Santana ML, Bignardi AB.Heat stress is an increasingly important challenge for the performance and welfare of equine athletes, particularly in competitions conducted across diverse climatic conditions. Understanding the genetic basis of performance responses to increasing thermal load is therefore essential to support robust genetic evaluation and sustainable selection strategies. The objective of this study was to evaluate barrel racing performance of Brazilian Quarter Horses across thermal environments defined by two widely used indicators, the temperature-humidity index (THI) and the wet bulb globe temperature (WB...
Peere S, Dewulf M, Van den Branden E, Papas M, Broothaers K, De Coster T, Briote I, Hedia M, Angel-Velez D, Hoogewijs M, Govaere J, Smits K.While fast in vitro embryo development has been associated with improved outcomes, the relationships of slow in vitro embryo development and vitrified versus fresh in vitro produced (IVP) embryo transfer to foaling percentage and foal sex are less explored. Objective: To determine the relationships of (1) day of blastocyst formation (D7-11 after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)) and (2) vitrification and warming method (one- and three-step) versus fresh transfer with pregnancy, early pregnancy loss (EPL), foaling percentage and foal sex. Methods: Retrospective clinical study. Methods: B...
Denwood MJ, Love S, Innocent GT, Matthews L, McKendrick IJ, Hillary N, Smith A, Reid SW.The faecal egg count (FEC) is the most widely used means of quantifying the nematode burden of horses, and is frequently used in clinical practice to inform treatment and prevention. The statistical process underlying the FEC is complex, comprising a Poisson counting error process for each sample, compounded with an underlying continuous distribution of means between samples. Being able to quantify the sources of variability contributing to this distribution of means is a necessary step towards providing estimates of statistical power for future FEC and FECRT studies, and may help to improve t...
Westermann CM, van Leeuwen R, van Raamsdonk LW, Mol HG.Atypical myopathy (AM) in horses is caused by the plant toxin hypoglycin A, which in Europe typically is found in the sycamore maple tree (Acer pseudoplatanus). Owners are concerned about whether their horses are in danger if they graze near maple trees. Objective: To measure hypoglycin A in the most common maple tree species in the Netherlands, and to determine whether concentration of toxin is a predictor of AM in horses. Methods: A total of 278 samples of maple tree leaves, sprouts, and seeds were classified by species. Mean concentrations of hypoglycin A were compared for the type of sampl...
Ortega-Ferrusola C, MacÃas GarcÃa B, Suárez Rama V, Gallardo-Bolaños JM, González-Fernández L, Tapia JA, RodrÃguez-Martinez H, Peña FJ.In an attempt to improve the information obtained after computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA), data from five stallions (three ejaculates from each) were analysed before (fresh, extended semen) and after cryopreservation using traditional statistics as well as a cluster analysis. The data matrix consisted of 13 987 observations of individual spermatozoa for fresh, extended semen, and 8305 for frozen-thawed samples. As expected, freezing and thawing resulted in a marked decrease of CASA-derived variables of sperm kinematics. All sperm velocities were significantly lower in frozen-thawed sampl...
Pascoe PJ, McDonell WN, Trim CM, Van Gorder J.A retrospective survey of 300 surgical treatments for colic involving 341 interventions was carried out to determine mortality rates and associated factors. These horses had been referred to the Ontario Veterinary College over the period September 1974 to February 1980. Data from the case records was collected and stored on a computer and statistical analysis was carried out using X(2) tests.Fifty percent (150/300) of the horses survived to be discharged from the hospital. Fifty-two horses were euthanized during the operation and another ten horses should have been; if these cases are excluded...
Czycholl I, Klingbeil P, Krieter J.Objective tools for the assessment of animal welfare are needed. The present study analyzed the interobserver reliability of the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) welfare assessment protocol for horses to further enhance knowledge concerning reliability. Therefore, two trained observers conducted 18 assessments on farm at the same time and on the same animals. The results were compared at individual level by calculation of Cohen's kappa (κ), weighted kappa (κ), and prevalence-adjusted, bias-adjusted kappa (PABAK). Spearman rank correlation coefficient (RS), intraclass correlation coefficient ...
Lightbody KL, Davis PJ, Austin CJ.Tapeworm infections pose a significant threat to equine health as they are associated with clinical cases of colic. Diagnosis of tapeworm burden using fecal egg counts (FECs) is unreliable, and, although a commercial serologic ELISA for anti-tapeworm antibodies is available, it requires a veterinarian to collect the blood sample. A reliable diagnostic test using an owner-accessible sample such as saliva could provide a cost-effective alternative for tapeworm testing in horses, and allow targeted deworming strategies. Objective: The purpose of the study was to statistically validate a saliva ta...
Langlois B, Blouin C.Declarations of matings (535,746) and 308,549 consecutive declarations of birth from 1989 to 1999 were analysed by logistic regression in order to determine the effects of year, breed and age of parents on numerical productivity (the number of foals declared per mated mare per year). For the years 1994 to 1999, the status of the mare, type of mating and month of first mating, were also available. The effect of inbreeding and, for warm-blooded horses, the effect of the level of performances or the effect of the level of breeding value estimation were also analysed. The main results are the foll...
Capomaccio S, Cappelli K, Barrey E, Felicetti M, Silvestrelli M, Verini-Supplizi A.It is known that moderate physical activity may have beneficial effects on health, whereas strenuous effort induces a state resembling inflammation. The molecular mechanisms underlying the cellular response to exercise remain unclear, although it is clear that the immune system plays a key role. It has been hypothesized that the physio-pathological condition that develops in athletes subjected to heavy training is caused by derangement of cellular immune regulation. The purpose of the present study was to obtain information on endurance horse gene transcription under strenuous conditions and t...
Hinchcliff KW, Morley PS, Jackson MA, Brown JA, Dredge AF, O'Callaghan PA, McCaffrey JP, Slocombe RF, Clarke AF.Risk factors for occult exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH) are poorly defined or quantified. Objective: To investigate the importance of putative risk factors for EIPH amongst Thoroughbred racehorses in Australia. Methods: Tracheobronchoscopy was used to determine EIPH status of 744 Thoroughbred racehorses after flat racing in Melbourne, Australia. Horses were identified for study before racing, and over 50% of horses racing during the study period were examined. Statistical analysis included use of bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis to account for simultaneous ...
Martin G, Yanez-Arenas C, Plowright RK, Chen C, Roberts B, Skerratt LF.Understanding environmental factors driving spatiotemporal patterns of disease can improve risk mitigation strategies. Hendra virus (HeV), discovered in Australia in 1994, spills over from bats (Pteropus sp.) to horses and thence to humans. Below latitude - 22°, almost all spillover events to horses occur during winter, and above this latitude spillover is aseasonal. We generated a statistical model of environmental drivers of HeV spillover per month. The model reproduced the spatiotemporal pattern of spillover risk between 1994 and 2015. The model was generated with an ensemble of methods f...
Visser EK, VanDierendonck M, Ellis AD, Rijksen C, Van Reenen CG.In 'sympathetic horsemanship' the importance of the natural behaviour of the horse and the use of body language in communication is emphasised. However, it is unclear what effect sympathetic horsemanship has on the welfare of horses. During a 5-week starting period the effect of a sympathetic (ST) versus a conventional (CT) training method was studied using 28 young Warmblood horses. Behavioural observations during the starting period as well as during a standardised final riding test were performed by trained observers. A Wilcoxon matched-pair test was used to detect differences within groups...
Tiwari M, Gujar G, Shashank CG, Ponsuksili S.High altitude adapted livestock species (cattle, yak, goat, sheep, and horse) has critical role in the human socioeconomic sphere and acts as good source of animal source products including milk, meat, and leather, among other things. These species sustain production and reproduction even in harsh environments on account of adaptation resulting from continued evolution of beneficial traits. Selection pressure leads to various adaptive strategies in livestock whose footprints are evident at the different genomic sites as the "Selection Signature". Scrutiny of these signatures provides us crucia...
Gmel AI, Druml T, Portele K, von Niederhäusern R, Neuditschko M.Linear description (LD) of conformation traits was introduced in horse breeding to minimise subjectivity in scoring. However, recent studies have shown that LD traits show essentially the same problems as traditionally scored traits, such as data converging around the mean value with very small standard deviations. To improve the assessment of conformation traits of horses, we investigated the application of the recently described horse shape space model based upon 403 digitised photographs of 243 Franches-Montagnes (FM) stallions and extracted joint angles based on specific landmark triplets....
Fazio E, Medica P, Cravana C, Ferlazzo A.In order to determine whether therapeutic riding could result in higher levels of stress than recreational riding, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response was evaluated in six horses by monitoring circulating β-endorphin, ACTH and cortisol concentrations. Horses were already accustomed to be trained both for therapy and riding school activity since 2004. Intervention consisted of 60-minute therapeutic sessions, two times per week for 6weeks with different riders: disabled and recreational riders (session A and B respectively). The therapeutic riders' group (A) consisted of six chil...
A human-animal relationship can be developed through subsequent interactions, affected by the positive or negative emotional valence of the proceeding one. Horses implement a process of categorization to classify humans with whom they interact as positive, negative, or neutral stimuli by evaluating the kind of approach and the nature of the contact. In these terms, human-animal interactions are emotionally charged events, eliciting specific emotional states in both subjects involved. Although the human-horse relationship has been mainly investigated through behavioral analysis, physiological i...
Raphel CF, Soma LR.Thoroughbred horses (n = 191) were examined with a flexible fiberoptic endoscope within 2 hours of racing on a dirt track; 147 (75.4%) had evidence of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), and 13 (9.0%) had blood at the nostrils. Of 107 Thoroughbreds examined within the same period after breezing, 41 (38.3%) had evidence of EIPH. One horse (2.4%) of this group had blood at the nostrils. Statistical analysis of frequency data showed that a relationship existed between EIPH and the horse's age or distance raced or breezed. Relationship did not exist between EIPH and sex or finishing posi...
Dai F, Dalla Costa E, Murray LM, Canali E, Minero M.This paper is a baseline study to present the initial outcomes of data collected in a sample of EU donkey farms using the AWIN welfare assessment protocol for donkeys, comprehensive of 22 valid, reliable and feasible animal-based indicators. A total of 20 donkey facilities (N = 12 in Italy and N = 8 in United Kingdom) were visited and 278 donkeys of different breed, aged 2-45 years, were assessed. Three assessors underwent a common training period to learn how to perform and score all the indicators included in the protocol. Data was collected using digitalized systems and downloaded to a data...
Henley WE, Rogers K, Harkins L, Wood JL.Survival analysis was used to assess risk factors for fatal injuries on UK race courses. This allowed assessment of variation due to temporal horse-level effects, including previous racing intensity and historical distribution of race types, as well as race-level factors. Comparisons were made between measuring survival time as number of days and as number of races to injury from the first race. Two related models were presented for time as number of races to injury: a Cox regression model fitted using partial likelihood, with the Efron approximation to handling ties, and a discrete-time logit...
Mouloodi S, Rahmanpanah H, Gohari S, Burvill C, Tse KM, Davies HMS.Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are fascinating interdisciplinary scientific domains where machines are provided with an approximation of human intelligence. The conjecture is that machines are able to learn from existing examples, and employ this accumulated knowledge to fulfil challenging tasks such as regression analysis, pattern classification, and prediction. The horse biomechanical models have been identified as an alternative tool to investigate the effects of mechanical loading and induced deformations on the tissues and structures in humans. Many reported invest...
St George L, Clayton HM, Sinclair J, Richards J, Roy SH, Hobbs SJ.Selection and training practices for jumping horses have not yet been validated using objective performance analyses. This study aimed to quantify the differences and relationships between movement and muscle activation strategies in horses with varying jump technique to identify objective jumping performance indicators. Surface electromyography (sEMG) and three-dimensional kinematic data were collected from horses executing a submaximal jump. Kinematic variables were calculated based on equestrian-derived performance indicators relating to impulsion, engagement and joint articulation. Horses ...
Denwood MJ, Reid SW, Love S, Nielsen MK, Matthews L, McKendrick IJ, Innocent GT.The Faecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT) is the most widely used method of assessing the efficacy of anthelmintics, and is the only in vivo technique currently approved for use with horses. Equine Faecal Egg Count (FEC) data are frequently characterised by a low mean, high variability, small sample size and frequent zero count observations. Accurate analysis of the data therefore depends on the use of an appropriate statistical technique. Analyses of simulated FECRT data by methods based on calculation of the empirical mean and variance, non-parametric bootstrapping, and Markov chain Monte ...
Evans KE, McGreevy PD.There is a lack of an established method for quantifying equine skull morphology. This study proposes a method that is valid for use on both live and deceased horses. A total of nine head measurements (skull length, cranial length, nasal length, ratio of cranial:nasal length, cranial width, zygomatic width, mandibular depth, nasal profile area, cranial profile area) and six indices (skull index, cranial index, nasal index, mandibular index, nasal profile index, cranial profile index) were recorded from 30 horses from a variety of breeds whilst the soft tissues of the head were intact. A line w...
Malik CL, Stover SM, Martin RB, Gibeling JC.Previous studies of the fracture properties of cortical bone have suggested that the fracture toughness increases with crack length, which is indicative of rising R-curve behavior. Based on this indirect evidence and the similarity of bone to ceramic matrix composites, we hypothesized that bone would exhibit rising R-curve behavior in the transverse orientation and that the characteristics of the R-curves would be regionally dependent within the cortex due to variations in bone microstructure and toughening mechanisms. To test these hypotheses, we conducted R-curve experiments on specimens fro...
Luck MM, Le Moyec L, Barrey E, Triba MN, Bouchemal N, Savarin P, Robert C.Long-term endurance exercise severely affects metabolism in both human and animal athletes resulting in serious risk of metabolic disorders during or after competition. Young horses (up to 6 years old) can compete in races up to 90 km despite limited scientific knowledge of energetic metabolism responses to long distance exercise in these animals. The hypothesis of this study was that there would be a strong effect of endurance exercise on the metabolomic profiles of young horses and that the energetic metabolism response in young horses would be different from that of more experienced horses....
Moraes CR, Runcan EE, Blawut B, Coutinho da Silva MA.The iSperm is a newly released semen analysis tool from Aidmics Biotechnology Co. LTD, which allows an iPad Mini to be transformed into a handheld microscope with objective semen analysis software for equine available through the Apple Store (version 4.5.2). The aim of this study was to compare iSperm values for sperm motility and sperm concentration to current acceptable methods for semen analysis and to determine the agreement with these methods using statistical methods. Two ejaculates from each of five Standardbred stallions were used to compare sperm motility (computer-assisted semen anal...
Votion DM, Linden A, Delguste C, Amory H, Thiry E, Engels P, van Galen G, Navet R, Sluse F, Serteyn D, Saegerman C.Over the last decade, atypical myopathy (AM) in grazing horses has emerged in several European countries. An exploratory analysis was conducted to determine horse- and pasture-level indicators or factors associated with AM in Belgium. Belgian cases of AM confirmed by histology (n=57) were compared to their healthy co-grazing horses (n=77) and to pastured horses not involved with AM as controls (n=386). The pastures where confirmed cases were grazing (42 pastures; 38 sites; 44 incidences of AM) were compared with those of the controls (216 pastures; 96 sites; no incidence of AM). Statistically ...
Hidalgo M, RodrÃguez I, Dorado J, Soler C.This work used semen samples collected from 12 stallions and assessed for sperm morphometry by the Sperm Class Analyzer (SCA) computer-assisted system. A discriminant analysis was performed on the morphometric data from that sperm to obtain a classification matrix for sperm head shape. Thereafter, we defined six types of sperm head shape. Classification of sperm head by this method obtained a globally correct assignment of 90.1%. Moreover, significant differences (p<0.05) were found between animals for all the sperm head morphometric parameters assessed.
Vidyashankar AN, Kaplan RM, Chan S.Resistance to anthelmintics in gastrointestinal nematodes of livestock is a serious problem and appropriate methods are required to identify and quantify resistance. However, quantification and assessment of resistance depend on an accurate measure of treatment efficacy, and current methodologies fail to properly address the issue. The fecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) is the practical gold standard for measuring anthelmintic efficacy on farms, but these types of data are fraught with high variability that greatly impacts the accuracy of inference on efficacy. This paper develops a statis...
