Veterinary care in horses encompasses the medical and preventive measures taken to maintain and improve the health and well-being of equine patients. It includes a wide range of practices such as routine health examinations, vaccinations, dental care, parasite control, and management of injuries and diseases. Veterinary care also involves diagnostic procedures, surgical interventions, and therapeutic treatments tailored to the specific needs of horses. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of equine veterinary care, including advancements in diagnostic techniques, treatment protocols, and health management strategies to support the well-being and performance of horses.
Rothwell TL, Merritt GC, Middleton DJ, Rose RJ.The research article describes the possibility of a horse affected by pemphigus foliaceus, a type of uncommon skin disease that is normally observed in humans, characterized by shallow erosions, scales, […]
Thornton JR.In the athletic horse, an exercise test may be required to measure the adaptation of the animal to a specific training program; to modify the training program in response to the progress achieved; to investigate the reasons for failure to perform at the expected level; and to form part of an overall clinical examination of a horse with a specific disability. This article includes information on the scope and form of an exercise test, the parameters measured during the test and their interpretation, treadmill and track tests, and the clinical applications of exercise tests.
Paquette B.Equine infectious anemia in Canada was reviewed for the period January 1976 to December 1981. The human and ecological factors prevailing in Canada are deemed instrumental with respect to the evolution of the disease. The natural spread of the disease on a large scale has not been influenced by the Federal program. Reactors with signs of the disease are important for it's propagation. The author underlines the necessity of cooperation with private practising veterinarians to control it.
Dalin G, Jeffcott LB.Gait analysis can play an important role in exercise physiology, racetrack ergonomics, lameness prophylaxis, and assessment of performance potential in racehorses. This article concentrates on the methods used for gait analysis and considers some basic data on the different gaits of the horse.
Coyne CP, Hornof WJ, Kelly AB, O'Brien TR, DeNardo SJ.Equine fibrinogen was isolated and aliquots were stored frozen at -70 C before radiolabeling with 125I (half-life = 60.2 days; gamma = 35 keV, using monochloroiodine reagent. Radioiodination efficiencies were 49% to 53%, resulting in a labeled product with 98% protein-bound activity and 91% clottable radioactivity. In 6 equine in vivo investigations, plasma half-lives of 125I-labeled fibrinogen were from 4.1 to 5.2 days, corresponding to a mean daily plasma elimination rate of approximately 15%.
Nap RC, Wouda W, Firth EC, Dik K, von Dijk P.The case of a horse affected with frontal sinusitis, in which neurological complications occurred following trepanation, is reported. The previous history of the animal as well as the clinical, radiological and pathological findings are discussed.
Lovell DK.Through the study of equine exercise physiology, one can learn more about what happens to the body of the performance horse during all forms of exercise. Better understanding of skeletal, joint, tendon, and ligament adaptations to loading and stress may allow adjustments to be made in training techniques to reduce the incidence of injury. The information obtained from exercise research may also facilitate the investigation of questions such as the following: What makes one horse perform better than another? How can one bring out the optimal performance in each horse? How can one tell when a ho...
Garris GI, Scotland K.Cattle, sheep, goats and horses were examined for ticks. Over 95% of Holstein cross-breeds, 28% of sheep (local mixed breeds) and 18% of goats (local mixed breeds) examined from 18 August to 4 September 1983 were infested with the southern cattle tick, Boophilus microplus Canestrini. About 90 and 17% of the horses examined were infested with the tropical horse tick, Anocentor nitens Neumann, and the tropical bont tick, Amblyomma variegatum Fabricius, respectively. The tropical bont tick was found infesting 10% of cattle in the Gros Islet area of St. Lucia. The tropical bont tick was also found...
Hodgson DR.This article provides an overview of the characteristics of skeletal muscle, with an emphasis on equine skeletal muscle. A discussion of many of the adaptive processes that can occur in this tissue in response to altered states of physical activity is also included.
Bayly WM.A training program is designed with the aim of developing the specific physiologic capabilities required to perform a certain type of exercise. Such capabilities involve the psychologic familiarity with, and acceptance of, the required tasks, the development of the neuromuscular coordination to perform these tasks optimally, and the utilization of energy by the working muscles. This article presents some basic principles for the design of training programs and offers ideas on how these principles may be applied to the conditioning of horses.
Rose RJ, Allen JR.Hematology has been widely used in attempts to provide information about disease states, performance problems, and fitness in performance horses. However, owing to factors such as the temperament of the horse and time of collection and feeding, considerable variation in the hemograms can be found. This article reviews some of the hematologic responses to exercise and training.
Hyland JH, MacLean AA, Robertson-Smith GR, Jeffcott LB, Stewart GA.The removal of one of twin embryos was attempted by infusion of 24% (w/v) saline into the gestation sac in 2 mares by laparotomy. The treatment was successful in one mare (Case 1) and the untreated embryo remained viable. However, neither foetus survived in the second mare (Case 2). Plasma oestrone sulphate (E1S) concentrations fell immediately after treatment in both mares but recovered to approximately 50% of pretreatment levels in Case 1. In Case 2 plasma E1S concentrations declined steadily and were less than 1 ng/ml within 6 days of treatment. These preliminary results suggest that the me...
Herr S, Huchzermeyer HF, Te Brugge LA, Williamson CC, Roos JA, Schiele GJ.The same techniques may be used in the complement fixation test (CFT) for the serological diagnosis of bovine brucellosis, Johne's disease (paratuberculosis), dourine, equine piroplasmosis and Q fever (caused by Coxiella burnetii). The reproducibility of results is excellent, falling for the most part within the twofold range and never exceeding the fourfold range. Agreement with other laboratories is excellent (i.e. within twofold) in the case of brucellosis and equine piroplasmosis antibody titres. A good correlation between the occurrence of the disease and serological reactions is found on...
Maczulak AE, Dawson KA, Baker JP.A total of 114 bacterial isolates were obtained from the cecal contents of two mature cecally fistulated horses on a habitat-simulating medium containing 40% energy-depleted cecal fluid. Of these isolates, 108 were maintained in pure cultures and were tentatively grouped on the basis of cell morphology and physiological characteristics. Gram-negative rods (50.9%), gram-positive rods (22.8%), and gram-positive cocci (21.9%) represented the largest groups isolated from these animals. Fifty isolates were tested for their ability to grow in media containing urea, ammonia, peptones, or amino acids ...
Her GR, Watson JT.Sensitive and specific methodology based on capillary column gas chromatography-electron capture-negative chemical ionization-mass spectrometry has been developed for the quantitative analysis of corticosteroids from biological fluids. The feasibility of this method is demonstrated in the quantitative analysis of dexamethasone in horse urine following administration of the drug. A structurally similar compound, 6 alpha-methylprednisolone, is added to the urine as an internal standard. The free dexamethasone and the internal standard are extracted and oxidized to high-electron-affinity 1,4-andr...
Schneider JE, Adams OR, Easley KJ, Schneider RK, Bramlage LR, Peter J, Boero MJ.Supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscle paralysis with atrophy was treated by partial osteotomy of the scapula, deep to the suprascapular nerve. The horses had various gait abnormalities, which were corrected by the surgery, but regeneration of the muscles varied from partial to complete, depending on the duration of the condition and the degree of atrophy before surgery.
Collier MA, Rendano VT, Kallfelz FA.A delayed union metacarpal stress fracture was repaired in a horse, using lag-screw fixation in conjunction with dc electrical stimulation. Twelve weeks after surgery, radiographic and scintigraphic evaluations revealed that the fracture line was not discernible and that there was a decrease in radiopharmaceutic uptake, as compared with that in previous bone imaging studies. In this horse, DC stimulation of a delayed union stress fracture in a bone resulted in a healing pattern similar to that in human beings with delayed union fractures when treated with electrical stimulation.
Adams OR, Schneider RK, Bramlage LR, Easley KJ, Schneider JE.Suprascapular nerve decompression has proven to be a useful treatment for refractory neuropraxia in horses. The surgical procedure used to effect that decompression is described. The surgery can be undertaken when conservative treatment has failed, but the sooner the surgery is done, the more likely the muscle mass is to be cosmetically satisfactory.
Wilson DG, Peyton LC, Wolf G.Three horses with equine sarcoids were treated with radical surgical excision and immediate split-thickness skin grafts. Graft take ranged from 50 to 100%, and the epithelial coverage attained resulted in an early functional repair. In no instance was there a recurrence of the sarcoid.
Baxter GM, Allen D, Farrell RL.LARYNGEAL haemiplegia is common in horses and most often
involves the left haemilarynx (Baker 1983; Haynes 1984).
Although specific processes have been incriminated in the
pathogenesis of laryngeal haemiplegia, most cases involve an
idiopathic distal axonopathy of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. The
purpose of this report is to describe a case of laryngeal
haemiplegia associated with an anomalous respiratory cyst. A
description of the lesion, method of surgical repair of the
laryngeal collapse and a proposed term to describe the
abnormality based on pathological and functional consider...
Stewart RM, Lack AC, Telle MR, Ellis JK, Betbeze CM.To retrospectively evaluate the complication rate following dorsal placement of a commercially available 1-hole subpalpebral lavage system (SPL) at a veterinary teaching hospital. 102 client-owned horses with ophthalmic disease. Medical records of horses (2010 to 2020) with ophthalmic disease were reviewed to determine whether a commercially available SPL system was dorsally placed. Data collected from the medical record included signalment, presenting complaint(s), diagnosis, ophthalmic procedures performed, SPL laterality, hospital service that placed the SPL, anesthetic technique for placem...