Veterinary medicine for horses encompasses the study and application of medical practices to diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases in equine species. This field involves a comprehensive understanding of equine anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Veterinary practitioners employ a range of diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions to address health issues in horses, including lameness, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory conditions, and infectious diseases. Preventative care, such as vaccination and deworming programs, is also a significant aspect of equine veterinary medicine. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of veterinary medicine as it pertains to horses, including advancements in diagnostic techniques, treatment protocols, and preventive health strategies.
Harrington R.During 2 years (fiscal years 1973 and 1974), microscopic agglutination tests were performed on 12,565 serums from cattle, swine, horses, deer, sheep, and goats for the detection of leptospiral antibodies. The most frequent presumptive infecting serogroups were Hebdomadis, Pomona, Autumnalis, Ballum, Australis, and Canicola.
Calisher CH, Maness KS.During the summer and fall of 1971, epizootic and epidemic Venezuelan equine encephalitis was detected in Texas. Isolates of epizootic (IB) and vaccine (TC-83) strains were distinguished by virulence of the former for guinea pigs. Vaccine virus was isolated from 1 to 14 days after vaccination and neutralization tests demonstrated the appearance of antibody about a week after vaccination. Viremia titers of subtype IB in horses ranged from 2.2 to 8.3 log10 suckling mouse intracranial 50% lethal doses per ml. Of 101 equines from which Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (IB or TC-83) strains wer...
Garel JM, Martin-Rosset W, Barlet JP.Plasma calcium and calcitonin levels were measured periodically during the two last months of pregnancy and at the time of parturition in 9 pregnant mares and their foals. In pregnant animals, there was an increase in plasma calcitonin levels in the days before parturition, which was not due to any change in plasma calcium. This result indicates that in the mare, as in the cow, in the days before parturition CT secretion escapes from its control by plasma calcium. In 0-day and 7-day-old foals plasma calcium levels were significantly higher than in their mothers, but plasma calcitonin levels we...
Anwer MS, Gronwall RR, Engelking LR, Klentz RD.Bile acid pool size and synthesis rate were determined by both isotope-dilution and washout methods in ponies with chronic external biliary fistulas. Bile acid pool size (10.9 mumol/kg) and synthesis rate (11.2 mumol/day per kg) estimated by the isotope-dilution method did not differ significantly from pool size (9.4 mumol/kg) and synthesis rate (9.5 mumol/day per kg) estimated by washout method. Bile acid-dependent and -independent fractions of bile flow, determined by a method that circumvents any inevitable correlation of flow to bile acid secretion due to common factors in both parameters,...
Stashak TS, Adams OR.Autogenous bone grafts were obtained from the tuber coxae of 9 horses. The method used involved an oblique incision to expose the lateral aspect of the tuber coxae. The periosteum was incised and reflected in order to make a 5- by 2.5-cm opening in the lateral cortex for graft retrieval. The method provided good visualization, ample grafting material, and freedom from postsurgical complications.
Plotka ED, Foley CW, Witherspoon DM, Schmoller GC, Goetsch DD.Concentrations of progesterone and estrogen were measured in peripheral blood plasma samples from mares around the time of ovulation. Samples were collected every 2 hours from 36 hours before, to 26 hours after, ovulation and assayed by radioimmunoassay. Progesterone concentrations were between 60 and 100 pg/ml for the period 24 hours before ovulation through 8 hours after ovulation. By 10 hours after ovulation, concentrations increased to 140 pg/ml and, by 26 hours after ovulation, reached 346 pg/ml. Plasma estrogen concentrations did not change significantly throughout the same period.
Thomas RJ.An antigen for the gel diffusion test for equine infectious anaemia (EIA) was prepared from the spleen of a horse experimentally infected with the CQ strain of the virus. The antigen produced a single, distinct line of precipitation when tested against a range of known positive serums, and did not react with pre-inoculation and known negative serums. Extracts prepared from uninfected spleens displayed no reaction when similarly tested. Serum from 34 of 451 Queensland horses contained detectable levels of antibody to EIA virus. The positive serums were from horses in widely separated areas of t...
The Journal of physiologySeptember 1, 1975
Volume 250, Issue 3 633-649 doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1975.sp011074
Johnson KG.1. A technique for perfusion of skin has been used to investigate a possible neurochemical basis for the different patterns of sweating in domestic animals. Evaporative water loss was measured from excised trunk skin, ears or tails perfused with a nutrient Krebs solution, to which drugs were added as required. Perfused skin was observed to sweat in response to administration of sudorific drugs, and some features of the patterns of sweating were similar to those which could be induced by heating or by drugs in conscious animals. 2. In sheep and goat skin, injections of adrenaline, and to a less...
Nishi S, Watabe H, Hirai H.Alpha-Fetoproteins of several animals were purified and their molecular weights, amino acid compositions and peptide maps were compared, demonstrating the close similarities. These data indicated that the alpha-fetoproteins of mammalian species have closely related antigenical and chemical structures. Rabbits and horses were immunized with human alpha-fetoprotein, and it was observed that the animals produced antibodies reaction not only with human alpha-fetoprotein but with their homologous alpha-fetoproteins. The results were interpreted as the breakdown of the tolerance to their own alpha-f...
Sack WO.The nerve distribution to the digit of the horse was studied with the compound microscope in serial transverse sections of fetal limbs and plotted on life-size outlines of the horse's foot. It was learned that there is much variation in the topography of the branches of the principal nerves. There is no mirror-image nerve distribution on the 2 sides of the foot. The dorsal branch of the ulnar nerve does not extend below the fetlock. The communication between the palmar metacarpal nerves and branches of the dorsal branch of the digital nerves is only a crossing of nerves without exchange of fib...
Watson ED.The ability of equine endometrium to release prostaglandin (PG) F, PGE2, and leukotriene (LT) B4 was studied in vitro, using endometrial tissue from diestrous mares. Because of the high cross-reactivity of the PGF antiserum with PGF1 alpha and with PGF2 alpha, results were quoted as total immunoreactive PGF. Significant concentrations of these arachidonate metabolites were released into tissue culture medium between 1 and 24 hours of incubation. Significantly higher concentrations of PGE, but not of PGE2 or LTB4, were released from endometria of mares with chronic endometritis than from genita...
Wilkins PA, Vaala WE, Zivotofsky D, Twitchell ED.Equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM) affected 6 of 10 pleasure horses in adjacent paddocks at a boarding facility. Four of the 6 affected horses died or were euthanized. Two of 3 horses presented for treatment survived with complete resolution of clinical signs. Treatment was primarily supportive. Dimethyl sulfoxide, dexamethasone, flunixin meglumine and thiamine were administered as anti-inflammatory agents and to decrease or prevent cerebral edema. Fusarium monileforme was cultured from ear corn fed the affected horses. Fumonisin B1, B2 and B3 were isolated.
Péterfy F, Varró R, Fatrai Z, Barna I, Kiss I.Horse immune sera do not give satisfactory results in immunochemical techniques based on electrophoresis of antigens through antibody-containing agarose gel. As the majority of precipitating horse antibodies belongs to the beta globulins, they migrate in the gel during electrophoresis. After enzymatic treatment the pepsin fragments work well in all electroimmunodiffusion methods.
Van Der Vekens N, Hunter I, Timm A, Decloedt A, De Clercq D, Deprez P, Goetze JP, van Loon G.Equine atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) plasma concentrations are correlated with left atrial size. However, species-specific assays are lacking and the results from human assays are poorly reproducible. A new methodology called processing independent analysis (PIA) that measures the total proANP product in plasma has proven to be successful in human medicine, but has never been used in horses. The aims were to establish an equine proANP reference interval by measurement of the total proANP product using PIA and to examine the proANP concentrations in horses with atrial dilatation. Sample stab...
Fritsch R, Hausmann R.In 26 horses measurings of blood pressure, using the Dinamap 1255 research monitor, were performed and compared for accuracy with blood pressure values obtained by direct measurement in the arteria carotis. It was found that oscillometrically ascertained initial blood values in standing horses have a sufficient correlation to initial blood pressure values obtained by direct measurement. But every blood pressure change is registered too late, when using the oscillometric blood pressure apparatus. This temporal delay becomes unacceptable, when a considerable increase in blood pressure occurs. A ...
Auer DE, Ng JC, Seawright AA.Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) were isolated from an inflammatory exudate induced in the intercarpal joints of horses by an administration of carrageenin. Their superoxide production at rest and following stimulation with either serum-treated zymosan (STZ) or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) was measured by cytochrome-c reduction. Stimulation of the cells increased the cytochrome-c reduction 10-15 times that of resting cells. The maxima were 20 nmol of reduced cytochrome-c per 10(6) cells per ml at 120 min (STZ) and 35 nmol of reduced cytochrome-c per 10(6) cells per ml at 60 min (PMA). T...
Plotka ED, Vevea DN, Eagle TC, Tester JR, Siniff DB.Homogeneous Silastic rods containing ethinylestradiol (EE) (1.5 or 4 g), estradiol-17 beta (E) (4 g) or progesterone (P) (6 g) were implanted into feral mares (Equus caballus) between 4- and 10-yr-old. Six treatment groups (greater than or equal to 10 mares/group) of non-pregnant mares received 36 g P and 12 g E (P+E), 36 g P and 8 g EE (P+HEE), 1.5 g EE (LEE), 3 g EE (MEE, 8 g EE (HEE) or control-implanted mares (CI). CI received implants containing no steroid. Two groups of pregnant mares received P+HEE or HEE. Stallions were placed with the mares 15 to 26 mo after implanting. Blood was coll...
May-Davis S, Doveren A, Sweere R, Smak J, Vermeulen Z.Hereditary multiple exostoses (HME) is a condition rarely diagnosed in horses, which has not been previously reported in Dutch Warmblood horses. Its presentation resembles that diagnosed in humans, and it is predominantly active during periods of skeletal maturation. This case study reports a link between a granddam with no obvious HME lesions and its first and second generations presenting with HME, albeit with different sires. The severity in affected horses (n = 5) varied from one foreleg to the other with extensive multiple lesions of 123 of 205 bones in a half sibling in the first genera...
Hisey EA, Ross PJ, Meyers S.As standard in vitro fertilization is not a viable technique in horses yet, many different techniques have been used to create equine embryos for research purposes. One such method is parthenogenesis in which an oocyte is induced to mature into an embryo-like state without the introduction of a spermatozoon, and thus they are not considered true embryos. Another method is somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), in which a somatic cell nucleus from an extant horse is inserted into an enucleated oocyte, creating a genetic clone of the donor horse. Due to limited availability of equine oocytes in t...
Tsuzuki N, Seo JP, Haneda S, Yamada K, Furuoka H, Tabata Y, Sasaki N.A 13-month-old Thoroughbred filly was diagnosed with osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) of the medial tibial malleolus. A sponge impregnated with platelet-rich plasma, bone morphogenetic protein-2, mesenchymal stem cells and gelatin β-tricalcium phosphate was applied to the OCD site following arthroscopy and debridement. Postoperative radiography (every week for 16 weeks), computed tomography (CT) (16 weeks postoperatively), arthroscopy (16 weeks postoperatively) and biopsy of the regenerated tissue (16 weeks postoperatively) were performed to evaluate the outcome. Radiographically, the defect b...
King N, Suleiman MS.Exercise induces significant changes in the free intracellular amino acid pool in skeletal muscle but little is known of whether such changes also occur in cardiac muscle. In this study the effect of regular exercise on the size and the constituents of the free amino acid pool in the hearts and in the plasma of thoroughbred horses was investigated. The total free intracellular amino acid pool in the hearts of control horses was 30.9 +/- 1.2 mumol/g wet weight (n = 6). Glutamine but not taurine was present at the highest concentration (13.5 +/- 0.9 and 7.7 +/- 0.69 mumol/g wet weight for glutam...
van den Hoven R, Meijer AE, Wensing T, Breukink HJ.Gluteal muscle specimens were taken from 4 horses. From 1 of the 4 gluteal muscles, serial sections were prepared. Individual muscle fibers were identified and studied, using photomicrographs of sections stained by different enzyme histochemical methods. In specimens in which cytoplasmic soluble enzymes were studied, use was made of the semi-permeable membrane technique to hamper enzyme diffusion into reaction fluids. Enzymes involved in glycogenolysis, glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, synthesis of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, the pentose phosphate cycle, the a...
Ludwig EK, Hallowell K, Womble M, O'Neil E.A 2-day-old Cleveland Bay colt was referred to the Equine Emergency Service of the Farm Animal and Equine Veterinary Medical Center at North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine for evaluation of decreased nursing behaviour and right hindlimb lameness of 2 days' duration. When assisted to stand, the foal was unable to extend either hindlimb or bear weight on the hindlimbs, the right patella was luxated laterally and unable to be reduced, and the foal assumed a crouched position. Stifle radiographs revealed minimal, heterogeneous, ill-defined ossification of both patellae....
Cavasin JP, Miller AD, Duhamel GE.An 8-year-old Anglo-European gelding with progressive neurological signs was humanely destroyed and submitted for necropsy examination. The right parietal cortex was disrupted by a well-demarcated, intraparenchymal, 1.5 cm diameter, tan, homogeneous, dense mass. Microscopical examination was consistent with an astrocytoma, which was confirmed on the basis of strong immunohistochemical labelling for glial fibrillary acidic protein. The neoplastic population lacked immunolabelling for oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2. Labelling for ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 highlighted la...
