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.
Schryver HF, Craig PH, Hintz HF.Calcium metabolism of young, growing ponies fed diets containing 1.5, 0.8 and 0.15% calcium was studied using combined balance and kinetic methods. Variations in calcium intake produced large differences in excretion and retention but had no effect on the level of plasma calcium or on the size of the exchangeable pool. Intestinal absorption, renal excretion and calcium removal from bone responded to the dietary level of calcium to maintain calcium homeostasis. The rates of intestinal absorption and the removal of calcium from the skeleton increased while renal excretion decreased in response t...
Kallfelz FA, Lowe JE.Three thyroid function tests were carried out on ten normal yearling horses. These were the T-4 test which allows the determination of total serum thyroxine and FBI, the labelled triiodothyronine resin sponge uptake test (T-3 test), and the chemical determination of FBI. The T-4 test appeared to be superior to the chemical determination of FBI in assessing thyroid function in the horse. The value of the T-3 test could not be assessed.--BMW.
Beroza GA, Perry RW, Cotter DM.Permanent implantation of nonabsorbable materials is appropriate in many surgical circumstances but is not commonly used to close equine celiotomies. This paper describes a simple method of continuous nonabsorbable implantation of polyamide suture used successfully to close 48 equine celiotomies. Forty-eight clean or clean-contaminated celiotomies were successfully performed over 5 years using this technique. The postsurgical survival observation period ranged from 1-6 years (median 3.5 years). There were 45 long-term survivors (93.75%). Only 2 minor implant complications (4.4%) were observed ...
Steward SKT, Hassel DM, Martin H, Doddman C, Stewart A, Elzer EJ, Southwood LL.Duodenitis-proximal jejunitis (DPJ) is an idiopathic and potentially fatal disease of horses characterized by abdominal pain, proximal intestinal inflammation, and subsequent gastric and small intestinal fluid accumulation. Although this disease is known to be costly and life threatening in the equine industry, the severity of clinical signs can vary widely, and an exact etiology has yet to be elucidated. This study looked to identify differences in clinical parameters of horses with DPJ between geographic regions in an effort to corroborate anecdotal reports and support theories of differing ...
Saulez MN, Slovis NM, Louden AT.Tracheal trauma with resultant rupture is uncommonly reported in veterinary literature. We report the case of a 16-year-old Thoroughbred gelding that sustained a 1 cm longitudinal perforation of the dorsal tracheal membrane in the proximal cervical region. The horse subsequently developed dyspnoea due to acute upper respiratory obstruction secondary to severe emphysema of the guttural pouches. A temporary tracheostomy caudal to the site of tracheal perforation was performed under local anaesthesia. This procedure helped relieve the upper airway obstruction and aided resolution of the injury by...
Littlewort MC.This paper outlines the major problems in evaluating and assessing prognosis in horses with minor cardiac abnormalities. It emphasises that progress will only be made if adequate data on the "natural history" of equine cardiac disease can be collected. This will necessitate a long-term study of suitable cases and will require the collaboration of specialist institutions and general practitioners if it is to be successful.
Onishi JC, Park JW, Prado J, Eades SC, Mirza MH, Fugaro MN, Häggblom MM, Reinemeyer CR.Carbohydrate overload models of equine acute laminitis are used to study the development of lameness. It is hypothesized that a diet-induced shift in cecal bacterial communities contributes to the development of the pro-inflammatory state that progresses to laminar failure. It is proposed that vasoactive amines, protease activators and endotoxin, all bacterial derived bioactive metabolites, play a role in disease development. Questions regarding the oral bioavailability of many of the bacterial derived bioactive metabolites remain. This study evaluates the possibility that a carbohydrate-induc...
Velloso Álvarez A, Sandow CB, Rodgerson DH, Spirito MA.To evaluate the short and long-term outcomes of foals treated surgically for fractured ribs and variables that may affect outcome. Methods: Retrospective. Methods: Seventy-three equine neonates with surgically repaired fractured ribs. Methods: Medical records were reviewed to include sex, breed, the side of thorax affected, number of ribs fractured, co-morbidities directly associated with rib fracture, and surgical technique used. Short-term outcome was defined as survival to discharge. Long-term outcome was whether or not they started a race. Race records of maternal siblings were obtained fo...
O'Callaghan MW.The problem of transitory cardiac arrhythmias in equidae is discussed particularly with regard to the referral of suspect cases to specialist institutions for second opinion. Recently developed electro-stimulation techniques designed to uncover problem arrythmias, are briefly described and their potential in the analysis of cardiac electrical function under varying conditions is reviewed. The author cautions on the too rapid evaluation of the techniques for this purpose while remaining optimistic of the potential of electro-stimulation in the objective analysis of cardiac electric parameters.
Hagedorn HW, Zuck S, Schulz R.An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect the beta 2-agonist clenbuterol in equine blood and urine. The antiserum was raised in rabbits, employing clenbuterol-diazo-BSA as antigen. Clenbuterol-diazo-horseradish peroxidase served as enzyme conjugate. The concentration of clenbuterol to decrease tracer binding by 50% (IC50 value) was found to be 27.50 +/- 4.20 pg/well (1.37 ng/ml). The antibody cross-reacted with salbutamol (30%), terbutaline (14%) and cimaterol (1%). Horse serum was used directly to screen for clenbuterol, while urine was employed diluted. Positive sc...
Feng YY, Yang H, Gu XT, Jiang HJ, Lu TH.In this paper, the interaction between Cu(II) ions and Fe-protoporphyrin in horse-heart myoglobin (FePP-Mb) was studied. As a result, some of the Fe(II) ions in FePP-Mb were found to be replaced by Cu(II) ions forming CuPP-Mb, by adding Cu(II) ions into the myoglobin solution. The interaction became stronger when adding more Cu(II) ions into the myoglobin solution. By studying the metal ions' interaction with myoglobin proteins as macromolecules and discussing the interaction mechanism, this work provides a theoretical basis for the further study of hazardous metal ions' interaction with the h...
Seeger K, Thurow H, Haede W, Knapp E.A simple enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the measurement of progesterone is described. Antibody against 11-OH-hemisuccinate-BSA is bound to polystyrene tubes. 11-OH-hemisuccinyl-beta-D-galactosidase is used as enzyme-coupled antigen and methylumbelliferyl-beta-D-galactoside as substrate. Concentrations down to 0.156 ng/ml plasm or amounts of 93 pg/tube are detectable. Probit analysis gave a linear relationship between log concentration and percentage of binding. A comparison of EIA and radioimmunoassay gave a correlation coefficient of 0.81. The assay is sufficiently sensitive to estimate progest...
Fitzgerald WE.Four cases of snakebite in horses are presented. Diagnosis was made on clinical signs in all, plus fang punctures in 2 cases. Tiger snake antivenene was used in the treatment of 2 patients and these recovered rapidly. Of the 2 in which antivenene was not used, 1 severely affected horse died. The clinical signs which were observed were those of progressive general paralysis and were entirely referable to the neurotoxic component of the venom.
Machin J, Brewer K, Morales-Briceno A, Fenger C, Maylin G, Tobin T.Zilpaterol is a β2-adrenergic agonist medication approved in certain countries as a cattle feed additive to improve carcass quality. Trace amounts of Zilpaterol can transfer to horse feed, yielding equine urinary "identifications" of Zilpaterol. These "identifications" occur because Zilpaterol is highly bioavailable in horses, resistant to biotransformation and excreted as unchanged Zilpaterol in urine, where it has a 5 day or so terminal half-life.In horses, urinary steady-state concentrations are reached 25 days (5 half-lives) after exposure to contaminated feed. Zilpaterol readily presen...
Carmalt JL, Borg H, Näslund H, Waldner C.Proximal palmar/plantar osteochondral fragmentation of the first phalanx is a frequent radiographic finding in Standardbred horses. These lesions are routinely removed prior to the onset of a racing career with no evidence to support the timing of this surgical intervention. Objective: To determine whether horses racing before surgery slowed as they approached surgery date and whether they speeded up after surgery. To investigate the factors affecting whether a horse raced after surgery and compare the performance of horses that did and did not race before surgery. Methods: A retrospective stu...
Hinrichs K, Love CC, Choi YH, Varner DD, Wiggins CN, Reinoehl C.Germinal vesicle (GV)-stage horse oocytes with diffuse chromatin are meiotically incompetent and degenerate in culture, whereas horse oocytes having condensed chromatin within the GV are meiotically competent. Degeneration of incompetent oocytes in culture may be related to premature GV breakdown, which could possibly be prevented by inhibition of m-phase protein activity. We examined the effects of 6-dimethylaminopurine (6-DMAP), butyrolactone and roscovitine on GV-stage horse oocytes. Culture in the presence of 2 mM 6-DMAP for 24 h suppressed meiosis (2% MI or MII compared with 38% for untre...
Rose PL, Schumacher J, Taylor TS.An extensive stricture of the left dorsal colon in a Thoroughbred colt was resected and the colon was anastomosed. In two horses, circumferential strictures at the pelvic flexure 2.5 to 3 cm long were corrected with a modified Heineke-Mikulicz pyloroplasty technique. The horses were reported to be doing well at 6, 8, and 45 months, respectively.
Beinlich CP, Nixon AJ.In this study, the radiographic and histologic appearance of lateral palmar intercarpal ligament (LPICL) avulsion in the horse was characterized. Thirty-seven horses with radiographic evidence of avulsion fragments originating from the medial palmar aspect of the ulnar carpal bone were examined. The dorsolateral to palmaromedial projection was useful for evaluating the size and shape of the avulsed bone fragment, and the dorsopalmar projection added information on the relative proximity of the fragment to its fracture bed. Radiographic features that differentiated LPICL avulsion from subchondr...
Wester PW, Franken P, Häni HJ.Both clinical and pathological features of seven horses suffering from a squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach are presented. The main complaints in the horses, aged six years or more, were loss both of weight and of condition. Metastases had often developed. The diagnostic difficulties and possibilities are discussed.
Cohen ND, Kahn SK, Cywes-Bentley C, Ramirez-Cortez S, Schuckert AE, Vinacur M, Bordin AI, Pier GB.Rhodococcus equi is a prevalent cause of pneumonia in foals worldwide. Our laboratory has demonstrated that vaccination against the surface polysaccharide β-1→6-poly-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG) protects foals against intrabronchial infection with R. equi when challenged at age 28 days. However, it is important that the efficacy of this vaccine be evaluated in foals when they are infected at an earlier age, because foals are naturally exposed to virulent R. equi in their environment from birth and because susceptibility is inversely related to age in foals. Using a randomized, blind experim...
Mirck MH.The use of trichlorfon as an anthelmintic in horses has increased since it was combined with mebendazole and febantel, and became commercially available as Telmin-trichlorfon and Rintal-plus respectively. Field studies showed that these combined preparations frequently gave rise to cases of poisoning. Mild to severe colic was observed up to six hours after treatment, diarrhoea and/or anorexia continuing to be present for one to six days after administration. The 'horse weight measurer' introduced by Janssen Pharmaceutica is not sufficiently accurate to prevent overdosage. It is advisable only ...
Gaughan EM.Dental surgery is most often directed at removal of diseased or injured teeth by the least invasive method possible. Some procedures available can preserve traumatized or infected teeth. Complications of dental surgery are well documented and often encountered by veterinary surgeons. Principles of debridement, curettage, lavage and ventral drainage combined with appropriate medicinal management can reduce complications and lead to successful outcome after dental surgery.
Yovich JV, LeCouteur RA, Stashak TS, Grandy JL, Whalen LR.Acute hemorrhagic myelopathy developed in the sixth cervical to the eighth thoracic spinal cord segments of a 1-year-old Quarter Horse colt that was castrated under general anesthesia while in dorsal recumbency. Clinical signs were consistent with severe transverse myelopathy caudal to the brachial enlargement and cranial to the lumbosacral enlargement of the spinal cord. Histologic examination of the spinal cord revealed hemorrhage in the gray matter, with multiple blood-filled clefts in otherwise normal neuropil. Hemodynamic changes in the spinal cord associated with anesthesia and dorsal re...
Halnan CR.From the standpoint that cytogenetic screening in mares is seldom necessary as an aid to diagnosis of the gonadal dysgenesis syndrome, a series of double-blind trials were conducted to test the proposal that present practice failed to explore the potential for cytogenetics in clinical practice. It was demonstrated that diagnoses of infertility might be made where mares were found to be of normal phenotype by clinical examination. Such mares were found to be gonosmic mosaics. One stallion had a polymorphism of the X chromosome and had poor conception rates. It was demonstrated that the true val...
Evans DR.In reporting the results of the medical examination for purchase, the veterinarian should not make an evaluation as to the animal's suitability for the purpose intended but should rather reveal all of the abnormal and undesirable findings and give his or her opinion as to the effect these findings will have on the performance of the horse for the purpose intended. A written report should be provided, and any factors that have had an influence on the opinion rendered should be a part of the report. A record of all procedures performed, the results of these procedures, the names and addresses of...
Campos-Chillon LF, Martin J, Altermatt JL.Recently, the demand for invitro embryo production in the horse has increased worldwide. Most clinical transvaginal ultrasound-guided ovum pick-up (OPU) procedures are performed in non-pregnant donor mares, and few experimental studies have described invitro embryo production from oocytes of pregnant donors 21-150 days in gestation. This report discusses OPU, follicular growth and invitro embryo production in a pregnant mare during late gestation.
Zeeb K.Ethological reflections concerning animal management and handling because of efficiency have to consider different factors of influence as for example animal/man-relationship, economy of labor and working conditions for men. Definitions of ethological methods were given, and the complexity between animal behavior and animal management were described. The quantification of men's ability to handle animals is treated. The evaluation of a cattle-keeping facility by the ethological concept of 'meeting of requirements and avoiding of damage' is reviewed.
Barr AR, Denny HR.Three horses with non-displaced fractures of the radius were examined. The affected animals showed a sudden onset of severe forelimb lameness with swelling of the antebrachium. Two cases had associated wounds on the medial aspect of the distal radius. The diagnoses were confirmed on radiographic examination. All three cases were treated conservatively by box rest. In one case slight further displacement of the fracture occurred three weeks after the initial injury but all the fractures went on to heal. The three horses returned to work but two were limited to light ridden exercise.
Waelchli RO, Lutz H, Hermann M, Rüegg C, Eggenberger E.Hematologic reference values were established in 18 healthy foals in the first two months of life. Blood samples were collected prior to colostrum consumption and at 30 hours, 1 week, 3, 5, 7 and 9 weeks of age. PCV, Hb and RBC decreased during the first week and RBC, but not PCV and Hb, increased toward the end of the second month. With the exception of the sample at 1 week, the foals had mean RBC values significantly higher than those of controls. Mean MCV and MCH did not change during the first week, but decreased slightly thereafter; all means were smaller than in controls. The numbers of ...
Hiepe T, Nickel S, Siebeke F.The eggs of Strongyloides westeri were found in the faeces of the foals from the 16th day of their life, with a peak in their numbers between the 30th and 40th day of life. Egg release ceased in all foals irrespective of their date of birth in the months July-August. Parallel examinations of the mares were negative. Recommendations for the control of strongyloidosis in foals are given.
Bülow A, Bülow T, Mill J, Dietz O.Painful interventions can be performed on horse in standing position by means of sedative analgesia, also called standing-position anaesthesia. Combinations of anaesthetics are quite often used, in that context, for the purpose of producing analgetic effects stronger and more reliable than those that would be obtainable from one anaesthetic alone. The following combinations were comparatively tested for their analgetic and sedative effects and their effects upon the organism: Chloralhydrate with Ursonarkon (oxazolidone), Chloralhydrate with Rompun (xylazine), Chloralhydrate with morphine hydro...
Olsen SN.Five horses with squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach are described. The clinical findings included anorexia, weight loss, abdominal distension, abnormal chewing and swallowing behaviour and abdominal masses palpable per rectum in four cases. Haematological studies revealed a normocytic anaemia in three horses, and neutrophilia and hypoalbuminaemia in two. Analysis of peritoneal fluid revealed abnormal effusions in all five horses and neoplastic cells were identified in three of them. The tumours originated in the cardia and metastases were present in all the horses. Three of them had many s...
