The relationship between veterinarians and horses encompasses the medical care, management, and welfare of equine patients. Veterinarians specializing in equine medicine are responsible for diagnosing, treating, and preventing a variety of health issues in horses, ranging from routine care and vaccinations to surgical procedures and emergency interventions. They also provide guidance on nutrition, exercise, and management practices to optimize the health and performance of horses. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the various aspects of veterinary care in equines, including advances in diagnostic techniques, treatment protocols, and the impact of veterinary interventions on equine health and welfare.
Teigland MB.The role of the veterinarian at auction sales begins long before the consignment is assembled. A number of veterinarians are called upon by sales companies to evaluate the candidates before acceptance into the consignment. At sales time, the number of veterinarians involved grows to large numbers as the prospective buyers employ them to evaluate the animals to suit their individual needs. Professional ethics must be considered at all times when evaluating animals before auction. The findings must be kept confidential. The consignor allows veterinarians to examine his or her animals with the un...
McCarthy PF, Umphenour N.Often, there is an adversarial relationship between senior management and livestock managers. It is important that the veterinarian responsible for breeding management and health care maintain open communications with senior managers. Although the veterinarian may recognize livestock-management deficiencies that need changing, he or she must remain flexible within the constraints provided on the breeding farm. Years may be required to solidify this give-and-take relationship, and opinions on the value of many management procedures will change. The underpinnings of a successful stallion manager...
Wilkie DA.Although many ophthalmic procedures can be performed on the standing horse, the decision to perform a procedure under sedation rather than general anesthesia must be made on the basis of the temperament of the horse, severity of the injury, and skill of the veterinarian. For example, veterinarians who are not comfortable with small suture material may find accurate repair of an eyelid laceration easier after general anesthesia rather than attempting to handle this suture in a moving patient. Correct use of nerve blocks and topical anesthesia will greatly facilitate examination, diagnosis, and ...
Brown CM, Kaneene JB, Walker RD.A survey of 584 veterinarians in equine practice was performed to determine their intramuscular injection techniques and the influence of those techniques on the development of clostridial myositis or cellulitis. Usable responses were obtained from 439 veterinarians (75.2%). Of these, 414 used a new needle and syringe for each injection, 241 swabbed the site with a cleansing/disinfectant agent, and 242 swabbed the top of multidose injection bottles with a similar solution. Only 2 clipped the hair at the injection site. Twenty eight of the respondents reported that at least 1 horse developed a ...
Anderson GS, Belton P, Kleider N.Culicoides hypersensitivity is a chronic, recurrent, seasonal dermatitis of horses that has a worldwide distribution, but has only recently been reported in Canada. It is characterized by intense pruritus resulting in lesions associated with self-induced trauma.A survey of veterinarians and horse-owners in British Columbia showed no differences in susceptibility due to the sex, color, breed, or height of the horses. The prevalence of the disease in the 209 horses surveyed was 26%. Horses sharing the same pasture could be unaffected. The disease was reported primarily from southwestern British ...
Bayly WM.It is the purpose of this article to review much of the information that is available regarding the adjunctive use of clinicopathologic data in evaluations of performance horses by veterinarians. Wherever possible, distinctions are made between findings that pertain to racehorses and those that apply most specifically to horses involved in "submaximal" events like combined training and endurance races. It is hoped that the material presented will clarify some of the problems associated with the interpretation of this data, and possibly stimulate the dissemination of additional information that...
Davis LE.Adverse drug reactions occasionally occur in the horse. The majority can be anticipated and avoided. The practicing veterinarian should understand the various types of adverse reactions as well as their mechanisms so that should such a reaction occur, the practitioner can promptly recognize the problem and institute corrective measures.
Reif JS, Webb PA, Monath TP, Emerson JK, Poland JD, Kemp GE, Cholas G.In 1982-1983, an epizootic of vesicular stomatitis occurred in the western United States. Veterinarians, research workers, and regulatory personnel who were exposed to vesicular stomatitis virus were examined for patterns of human infection and prevalence of vesicular stomatitis New Jersey serotype neutralizing antibody. Insight into the mechanism of transmission was sought by comparing activities of antibody-positive and antibody-negative persons. A statistically significant risk factor was a history of infected animals sneezing in the face of serosurvey participants. Elevated odds ratios wer...
Hines LM.Excellent models exist for people-pet programs in institutions and in the community. Veterinarians should assess the needs of their local communities and adapt a model program to fit these needs.
Vrins A, Carlson G, Feldman B.Warfarin or dicoumarol prevents the production of functional clotting factors II, VII, IX and X. Navicular disease and thrombophlebitis are examples of equine thrombotic diseases in which warfarin has been used therapeutically. The initiation of anticoagulant therapy is relatively simple but attending veterinarians must be aware of the potential risks in order to minimize them. These risks include epistaxis, bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract and at the venipuncture site, and increased susceptibility to hematoma formation following local trauma. Vitamin K, especially vitamin K(1) is a sw...
van der Mey GJ.Horse-breeding in the Netherlands is briefly reviewed. Particular attention is paid to the number of foals of various breeds. Some effects of inbreeding in Friesian horses are discussed. As regards methods selection, attention is mainly paid to saddle horses. The role of veterinarians (from the point of view of selection for soundness) is described. Selection is based on the results of studies in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Utrecht. A number of these results are reviewed.
Macaire C, Hanne-Poujade S, De Azevedo E, Denoix JM, Coudry V, Jacquet S, Bertoni L, Tallaj A, Audigié F, Hatrisse C, Hébert C, Martin P, Marin F....The assessment of lameness in horses can be aided by objective gait analysis tools. Despite their key role of evaluating a horse at trot on a circle, asymmetry thresholds have not been determined for differentiating between sound and lame gait during this exercise. These thresholds are essential to distinguish physiological asymmetry linked to the circle from pathological asymmetry linked to lameness. This study aims to determine the Asymmetry Indices (AIs) with the highest power to discriminate between a group of sound horses and a group of horses with consistent unilateral lameness across bo...
Robins TJ, Bedenice D, Mazan M.(1) Background: Equine asthma (EA) is a pervasive and important cause of poor performance and respiratory morbidity in horses. Diagnosis of EA includes an owner complaint, clinical scoring, lung function testing, and cytological analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytology. There is a paucity of information about the longitudinal course of the disease using these outcome assessments; thus, this study sought to describe and quantify, in horses with more than one visit to a specialty pulmonary clinic in New England, the type and range of clinical presentations with an eventual diagnosis of ...
White N, Pelzel-McCluskey A.Horses are transported in the United States more than any other livestock species and co-mingle at various events; therefore, they are considered to be at an increased risk for infectious disease transmission. The fragmented movement of horses combined with numerous sites of co-mingling makes tracing the potential spread of a disease outbreak a necessary part of an infection control plan, both locally and nationally. The cross-movement of personnel with horses and the persistence of endemic diseases make biosecurity implementation an ongoing challenge. Although many of the risks for infection ...
Sterkenburgh TR, Villalba-Diez J, Ordieres-Meré J.There is a consensus that future medicine will benefit from a comprehensive analysis of harmonized, interconnected, and interoperable health data. These data can originate from a variety of sources. In particular, data from veterinary diagnostics and the monitoring of health-related life parameters using the Internet of Medical Things are considered here. To foster the usage of collected data in this way, not only do technical aspects need to be addressed but so do organizational ones, and to this end, a socio-technical matrix is first presented that complements the literature. It is used in a...
Martineau M, Kokabi E, Taiebi A, Lefebvre S, Pradier S, Jaÿ M, Tardy F, Leon A.Mycoplasmas are pathogens involved in respiratory disorders of various animal hosts. In horses, Mycoplasma (M.) equirhinis is the species most frequently detected in clinical respiratory specimens, with a prevalence of 12-16%, but its clinical implication in equine respiratory disorders remains unclear. Here we screened 1948 clinical specimens for the presence of M. equirhinis. The samples were both tracheal washes (TW) and bronchoalveolar lavages (BAL) collected by veterinarians in France in day-to-day work between 2020 and 2022. The samples were associated with a standardized form that serve...
Abbas G, Stevenson MA, Bauquier J, Beasley A, Jacobson C, El-Hage C, Wilkes EJA, Carrigan P, Cudmore L, Hurley J, Beveridge I, Nielsen MK, Hughes KJ....This study aimed to assess Australian veterinarians' knowledge, perceptions and treatment strategies for worm control in horses with an online questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised 64 questions covering various aspects of: (i) veterinary practice; (ii) the veterinarian's knowledge of gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) and the importance of parasites in different age groups of horses; (iii) the diagnosis and control of worms; (iv) anthelmintics and anthelmintic resistance (AR); (v) grazing management; and (vi) the means of communication and the discussion between veterinarians and their cli...
Gruber N, Gesell-May S, Scholler D, Zablotski Y, May A.Equine colic is an important condition associated with acute abdominal pain and one of the leading causes of death in horses. As such, objectively evaluating pain is of interest for attending veterinarians. Pain scales for assessment are present, but no single pain-specific biomarker has been reported. The aim of this study was to determine if substance P (SP) could be a reliable biomarker to reflect pain and serve as a parameter to predict outcome in equine colic. The hypothesis was that horses displaying severe colic signs present with higher values of SP in contrast to those with mild colic...
Hatrisse C, Macaire C, Hebert C, Hanne-Poujade S, De Azevedo E, Audigié F, Ben Mansour K, Marin F, Martin P, Mezghani N, Chateau H, Chèze L.Back mobility is a criterion of well-being in a horse. Veterinarians visually assess the mobility of a horse's back during a locomotor examination. Quantifying it with on-board technology could be a major breakthrough to help them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a method of quantifying the back mobility of horses from inertial measurement units (IMUs) compared to motion capture (MOCAP) as a gold standard. Reflective markers and IMUs were positioned on the withers, eighteenth thoracic vertebra, and pelvis of four sound horses. The horses performed a walk and trot in strai...
Lorello O, Rule E, Haughan J, Wang K, Niu M, Brown K, Navas de Solis C.Equine veterinarians performing chiropractic treatments are frequently asked to evaluate and treat sound horses to improve their performance and address pain associated with the axial skeleton. Studies describing the effects and mechanisms of chiropractic treatments in horses without overt lameness are scarce. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of chiropractic treatments on stride rate, length, symmetry, heart rate and rider-perceived quality of the ridden work in sport horses. Methods: A blind randomised controlled trial with crossover design. Methods: Thirty-eight horses ridd...
Esselman AM, Johnson SA, Frisbie DD, Barrett MF, Zhou T, Contino EK.Radiographs are a common diagnostic tool utilised during pre-purchase examinations, yet differences surround their interpretation among equine veterinarians. Objective: (1) To determine veterinarians' subjective impressions of a spectrum of radiographic abnormalities regarding suitability for purchase; (2) To determine how veterinarians' years in practice, primary discipline or board certification status influence their subjective impression of radiographic abnormalities, and (3) To determine how horses' discipline, current level of work (working at intended level vs. future prospect) and buye...
Melo UP, Ferreira C, Barreto SWM.Respiratory diseases considerably affect equine athletes, being the second most common cause of poor performance. Among these diseases, fungal pneumonia in horses, caused specifically by Aspergillus spp., is relatively rare but potentially fatal. Fungal pneumonia typically affects horses exposed to fungal elements due to environmental factors, immunosuppression, or previous debilitating illnesses. Treatment is complex, with minimal success due to late diagnosis and serious concomitant underlying diseases. The choice of medication depends on the site of infection, the fungal species involved, a...
Auer U, Kelemen Z, Vogl C, von Ritgen S, Haddad R, Torres Borda L, Gabmaier C, Breteler J, Jenner F.Musculoskeletal disease is a common cause of chronic pain that is often overlooked and inadequately treated, impacting the quality of life of humans and horses alike. Lameness due to musculoskeletal pain is prevalent in horses, but the perception of pain by owners is low compared with veterinary diagnosis. Therefore, this study aims to establish and validate a pain scale for chronic equine orthopaedic pain that is user-friendly for horse owners and veterinarians to facilitate the identification and monitoring of pain in horses. The newly developed musculoskeletal pain scale (MPS) was applied t...
Eerdekens A, Papas M, Damiaans B, Martens L, Govaere J, Joseph W, Deruyck M.To seek appropriate veterinary attention for horses with colic, owners must recognise early signs. Direct observation of horse behaviour has several drawbacks: it is time-consuming, hard to see subtle and common behavioural signs, and is based on intuition and subjective decisions. Due to recent advances in wearables and artificial intelligence, it may be possible to develop diagnostic software that can automatically detect colic signs. Objective: To develop a software algorithm to aid in the detection of colic signs and levels of pain. Methods: In vivo experiments. Methods: Transient colic wa...
Olivo G, Zakia LS, Ribeiro MG, da Cunha MLRS, Riboli DFM, Mello PL, Teixeira NB, de Araújo CET, Oliveira-Filho JP, Borges AS.Staphylococci are well-known opportunistic pathogens associated with suppurative diseases in humans and animals. Antimicrobial resistance is an emergent threat to humans and animals worldwide. This study investigated the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus spp. (MRS) in hospitalized horses and contacting personnel (veterinarians and staff), and assessed possible interspecies transmission in a teaching veterinary hospital. Nasal swabs from horses (n = 131) and humans (n = 35) were collected. The microorganisms were identified by traditional biochemical tests and genotypic methods...
van den Brom-Spierenburg AJ, Mureșan AN, Westermann CM.Equine asthma is considered a non-infectious respiratory disease characterized by inflammation and hypersensitivity. Given the importance of antimicrobial stewardship, an international survey was designed to investigate the use of antimicrobials in asthmatic horses and the factors influencing prescription behavior. An online survey was distributed in six languages by international mailing lists and social media from December 2020 to January 2022. Of the 434 responses recorded, 249 veterinarians working in 25 countries finished the survey. These included 79 ECEIM/ACVIM diplomats. A total of 204...
Kuroda T, Minamijima Y, Niwa H, Mita H, Tamura N, Fukuda K, Toutain PL, Ohta M.Fosfomycin (FOM) is an approved veterinary medicinal product for large animals in Japan, but Clinical breakpoint (CBP) for antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) is not defined for animals. This study aimed at conducting a pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) analysis to determine the PK/PD cutoff for the CBP in horses. Drug concentrations following single intravenous administration (IV) of 20 mg/kg body weight (BW) FOM in nine horses were measured using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The data were modelled using a nonlinear mixed-effects model, followed by Monte Carlo simulati...
Treß D, Lischer C, Merle R, Ehrle A.Overriding spinous processes, also known as 'kissing spines', are one of the most common causes of back pain in horses. The aim of this study was to investigate which options for diagnosis and treatment are preferred by equine orthopaedic specialists and assess which techniques are used for local injection. An online survey was distributed among members of the European/American College of Veterinary Surgeons, the European/American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, the International Society of Equine Locomotor Pathology and nationally recognised advanced equine orthopaed...
Pratt-Phillips SE, Liburt NR.In the United States, there is little clarity on the qualifications and availability of equine nutritionists. Currently, no regulatory body exists for formal credentialing outside of veterinary medicine. Most equine nutritionists are not veterinarians but do have advanced scientific degrees (Master of Science and/or Doctor of Philosophy) in the field of Animal Science. However, not all reporting to be equine nutritionists have formal education in the field of equine nutrition. To discuss this, a workshop was held at the 2023 Equine Science Society (ESS) meeting. The purpose of this discussion ...
Scharre A, Scholler D, Gesell-May S, Müller T, Zablotski Y, Ertel W, May A.The aim was to compare ophthalmic diagnoses made by veterinarians to a deep learning (artificial intelligence) software tool which was developed to aid in the diagnosis of equine ophthalmic diseases. As equine ophthalmology is a very specialised field in equine medicine, the tool may be able to help in diagnosing equine ophthalmic emergencies such as uveitis. Methods: In silico tool development and assessment of diagnostic performance. Methods: A deep learning tool which was developed and trained for classification of equine ophthalmic diseases was tested with 40 photographs displaying various...
Johnson PJ, Wiedmeyer CE, LaCarrubba A, Ganjam VK, Messer NT.Although much has been written about laminitis in the context of its association with inflammatory processes, recognition is growing that most cases of laminitis examined by veterinarians in private practice are those associated with pasture grazing, obesity, and insulin resistance (IR). The term 'endocrinopathic laminitis' has been adopted to classify the instances of laminitis in which the origin seems to be more strongly associated with an underlying endocrinopathy, such as either IR or the influence of corticosteroids. Results of a recent study suggest that obesity and IR represent the mos...
Hardwick JL, Ahern BJ, Franklin SH.To identify thoroughbred industry stakeholders' views on the yearling sales endoscopy in Australia. Methods: Semi-structured qualitative group interviews with equine veterinarians, thoroughbred breeders and yearling purchasers. Methods: Twenty-nine experienced thoroughbred industry stakeholders participated in online focus groups: (1) equine veterinarians involved in yearling endoscopy; (2) thoroughbred breeders; and (3) yearling buyers. The focus groups were audio and video recorded and digital whiteboards were available. Data was transcribed, live-coded and analysed thematically. Results: Th...
Felici M, Cogger N, Nanni Costa L, Riley CB, Padalino B.Studies on equine air transport practices and consequences are scarce. This prospective study aimed to describe horse and air journey details and practices, document how horse behavior and health changed during the air transport phases, quantify the occurrence of welfare issues, and identify possible associations between horse and journey details, air transport practices, and welfare issues. Results: Data were collected from before departure to five days after arrival on 118/597 horses traveling on 32 commercial air journeys on different routes, varying in duration and conditions. Most horses ...
Pimenta J, Prada J, Pires I, Cotovio M.Equine melanomas are a common neoplasm in gray horses. However, scientific knowledge about their progression over time is quite scarce. Some owners and veterinarians still believe that early intervention is not necessary, stating that tumors evolve very slowly and intervention could worsen the animal's condition. This work aims to identify clinical and histological differences that may exist between equine melanomas with different excision intervals (time between tumor detection and surgical excision). A total of 42 tumors (13 benign and 29 malignant) from 34 horses were included in this study...
Axt CW, Springer A, Strube C, Jung C, Naucke TJ, Müller E, Schäfer I.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is caused by (.) and/or (.) . The aim was to assess the percentage of positive test results for EP in horses in Europe and to identify risk factors for pathogen contact/infection. This study included results from PCR and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay testing requested by European veterinarians between 2008 and 2021. Binary bivariate logistic regression was used to analyze risk factors. A total of 4060 horses were included. PCR testing was positive in 9.7% (154/1589), serology for in 15.2% (393/2591) and for in 6.8% (175/2578). The odds of positive...
