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.
Sievers H, Hiebl B, Hünigen H, Hirschberg RM.Blood supply is an important factor for the normal function of the equine hoof, but earlier studies present conflicting data on functional characteristics of its angioarchitecture. Objective: Emphasis was laid on demonstration of the microvascularisation in the different hoof wall regions, aiming at assessment of specialised vascular structures, e.g. vascular sphincter mechanisms and arteriovenous anastomoses. Methods: The angioarchitecture of the adult pododerma in the equine hoof wall was examined by scanning electron microscopy of micro-corrosion casts assisted by exemplary histological and...
Patan-Zugaj B, Egerbacher M, Licka TF.Angiogenesis and sepsis-related equine laminitis have several features in common. Both events can be induced by endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide- LPS) and both are associated with increased expression of the enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX), of which two isoforms (COX-1 and COX-2) exist. To examine the causal relationship between LPS exposure and COX expression and to investigate the tissue distribution of COX in the LPS-exposed tissue, the technique of extracorporeal haemoperfusion of isolated equine forelimbs was utilized. Perfusion was performed for 10Â hr under physiological conditions (control-pe...
Fowler AL, Pyles MB, Bill VT, Hayes SH, Harris PA, Lawrence LM.Equine obesity is increasing in prevalence, and weight loss diets are frequently recommended for these horses. However, there are also management situations in which horses are deemed to be too thin. To monitor the efficacy of weight change programs, estimates of body fat are often made. There are several systems available to estimate body fat, and there are benefits and challenges to using each method. The objective of this study was to compare four different methods of estimating body fat in Thoroughbred horses. In 14 mature Thoroughbred horses, relationships among body condition score (BCS)...
Fingerhut L, Ohnesorge B, von Borstel M, Schumski A, Strutzberg-Minder K, Mörgelin M, Deeg CA, Haagsman HP, Beineke A, von Köckritz-Blickwede M....Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is considered one of the most important eye diseases in horses and typically appears with relapsing inflammatory episodes without systemic effects. Various disorders have been described as an initial trigger, including infections. Independent of the initiating cause, there are numerous indications that ERU is an immune-mediated disease. We investigated whether neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are part of the ERU pathogenesis. Therefore, vitreous body fluids (VBF), sera, and histological sections of the eye from ERU-diseased horses were analyzed for the prese...
Recent advances in tendinopathy research have focused on tendon vascularization detected with Color Doppler (CD) ultrasound. The use of CD has also been described in horses in a study on chronic lesions of superficial digital flexor tendon and suspensory ligament. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and distribution of power Doppler (PD) signal in horses with superficial digital flexor tendinopathy. Twenty-five horses with tendinopathy were included and 10 healthy horses with no lameness and no ultrasonographic abnormalities were used for comparison. In all horses with tend...
Kinoshita Y, Niwa H, Uchida-Fujii E, Nukada T.Here, we describe the complete genome assembly of subsp. strain JP-H-1, collected from an equine abortion case in Japan. JP-H-1 has a 5,491,452-bp circular chromosome and 3 plasmids.
Pringle J, Storm E, Waller A, Riihimäki M.Antibiotic treatment of horses with strangles is reported to impair the development of immunity to subsequent exposure to Streptococcus equi ssp equi (S. equi). However, apart from a single clinical report, evidence-based studies for this hypothesis are lacking. Objective: To determine whether penicillin treatment during clinical strangles influences the development or persistence of seropositivity to S. equi-specific antibodies. Methods: A natural outbreak of strangles with 100% morbidity in 41 unvaccinated mature Icelandic horses. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study of acute clinical s...
Liu X, Mawolo JB, Du X, Zhou Y, Wang H, Liu F, He Z, Marela HA.The Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) is a critically endangered species, and there has been limited success in restoring the population by captive breeding. This study assessed the biochemical and physiological parameters of newborn Saiga antelope to provide reference information that can be used to evaluate their health. Comparisons have been made with parameters for horses and closely related members of the Bovidae family but there are no reference values for the newborn Saiga antelope. Biochemical and physiological parameters were measured in 61 animals. An automatic analyzer (Hitachi Ltd. 7...
Smyth TT, Allen AL, Carmalt JL.To describe histologic changes in the temporomandibular joints (TMJs) of horses of various ages. Methods: 22 TMJs from cadavers of 11 horses. Methods: Horses were categorized into 3 age groups (group 1, 2 to 10 years old [n = 3]; group 2, 11 to 20 years old [3]; and group 3, > 20 years old [5]). Each TMJ was sectioned into 5-mm slices, preserved in formalin, decalcified in formic acid, and routinely processed for histologic analysis. Joints were systematically assessed by use of previously described methods. Multilevel mixed-effects models were used to examine the data. Results: The number of ...
Snowden RT, Schumacher J, Blackford JT, Cypher EE, Cox SK, Sun X, Whitlock BK.To determine whether therapeutic concentrations (> 0.5 to 1.0 μg/mL) of polymyxin B (PB) were achieved in the tarsocrural joint of horses when the drug was administered by IV regional limb perfusion (IV-RLP) via a saphenous vein at doses of 25, 50, and 300 mg and to describe any adverse systemic or local effects associated with such administration. Methods: 9 healthy adult horses. Methods: In the first of 2 experiments, 6 horses each received 25 and 50 mg of PB by IV-RLP via a saphenous vein with at least 2 weeks between treatments. For each treatment, a tourniquet was placed at the midmetata...
Tucker ML, Sumner D, Reinink SK, Wilson DG, Carmalt JL.To compare laryngeal impedance, in terms of air flow and pressure, following arytenoid corniculectomy (COR) versus 3 other airway interventions (left-sided laryngoplasty with ipsilateral ventriculocordectomy [LLP], LLP combined with COR [LLPCOR], and partial arytenoidectomy [PA]) performed on cadaveric equine larynges with simulated left recurrent laryngeal neuropathy (RLN) and to determine whether relative laryngeal collapse correlated with the interventions performed. Methods: 28 cadaveric equine larynges. Methods: Each larynx in states of simulated left RLN alone and with airway interventio...
Equine assisted interventions (EAIs) include all therapeutic interventions aimed at improving human wellbeing through the involvement of horses. Due to the prominent emotional involvement traditionally characterizing their relation with humans, horses developed sophisticated communicative skills, which fostered their ability to respond to human emotional states. In this review, we hypothesize that the proximate causation of successful interventions could be human-animal mutual coordination, through which the subjects bodily and, most importantly, emotionally come into contact. We propose that ...
Hensel M, Meason-Smith C, Plumlee QD, Myers AN, Coleman MC, Lawhon S, Rodrigues Hoffmann A, Rech RR.Pulmonary mycosis secondary to enterocolitis is an uncommon diagnosis in equine medicine, but is thought to result from mucosal compromise and translocation of enteric fungi. The aetiological agent associated with translocation is often identified based on fungal culture or hyphal features in histological sections. In order to understand better the aetiological agents involved, six horses diagnosed with Salmonella enteritis and concurrent pulmonary mycosis were identified retrospectively through a database search of veterinary teaching hospital records. Samples from these cases were subjected ...
Egerton JR.Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, there were no domestic animals other than pigs, dogs and poultry in the island of New Guinea. From 1889 onwards, occupying authorities, missionaries and settlers from Germany, the UK, Japan and Australia imported ruminants, pigs and horses. Some of these importations were from Asia. This paper describes some outcomes of those importations and the potential hazards for Australia entailed in them.
Markell R, Saviola G, Barker EA, Conway JD, Dujardin C.There has recently been some controversy over the use of bisphosphonates in horses and some confusion regarding the different classes of bisphosphonates and the differences between the mechanism of actions and effects of each class. This review article explores the different bisphosphonate classes and their different effects and mechanisms of action based on research from both the human and equine veterinary fields. This collaborative review between veterinary surgeons and medical doctors describes the latest use of bisphosphonates in humans and horses, including safety aspects, and allows com...
Allnoch L, Peters M, Wiemer F, Wohlsein P.Severe bilateral mydriasis and bilaterally decreased vision were observed in a 23-year-old crossbred warmblood gelding with a history of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction. Ten years after the onset of clinical signs, it was killed humanely because of worsening of clinical signs and loss of therapeutic responsiveness. Postmortem examination of the head was performed to confirm the suspected pituitary neoplasm and to investigate secondary oculomotor lesions. Pathomorphologic examination revealed an expansile space-occupying pituitary adenoma and degenerative changes in the preganglionic ocul...
Campbell TE, Doughty H, Harris PA, de Laat MA, Sillence MN.The rapid intake of high-cereal, low-roughage meals may cause gastrointestinal and behavioral disorders. We investigated some of the factors that can affect the rate of intake (ROI) in four separate studies. Study 1 investigated the effect of chaff length and addition rate on the ROI of oats. The ROI decreased as more chaff was added to the diet, attaining significance (P < .05, n = 6) at levels above 15% addition and reaching a plateau at ∼50%. This was independent of stalk length (1.4 cm vs. 4.1 cm). Study 2 showed that meal size (varying from 0.5 to 4 g/kg BW) did not affect the RO...
Malone SR, Davies HMS.This crossover study tested the hypothesis that hoof shape would differ after a seven-week period of horses ( = 11) wearing shoes versus barefoot. An ANOVA appropriate to a crossover design was used to assess the differences in the change in hoof shape over the seven-week period and significance was set at < 0.05. Results are displayed as the mean difference for horses when shod versus barefoot ± the SEM for the left (L) and right (R) front hooves. Proximal hoof circumference (PHC) decreased when horses were shod and barefoot, but this decrease was greater when horses were shod (L -0.65 Â...
Kirchmeier A, van Herwaarden AE, van der Kolk JH, Sauer FJ, Gerber V.This study describes steroid profiles in equine plasma before and after ACTH stimulation. In human medicine, other steroids have been shown to have a more pronounced reaction to an ACTH stimulation test than cortisol. This study aimed to determine if the same was true for the horse. A total of 11 clinically healthy horses were selected for this study. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid plasma samples were taken before and 60 min after stimulation with 1 μg/kg BW of synthetic ACTH administered intravenously. The samples were analyzed for cortisol, 11-deoxycortisol, 21-deoxycortisol, cortisone, ...
Ikhuoso OA, Monroy JC, Rivas-Caceres RR, Cipriano-Salazar M, Barbabosa Pliego A.Although the strangles disease of Streptococcus equi was discovered many decades ago in 1,251 by Jordanus Ruffus, it has still remained a major frequently diagnosed infection in horses all over the world. The S. equi subspecies pathogen is known to be often resistant to antibiotic treatment, and it makes the antibiotics inefficient; hence, this review was conducted to study how the disease can be managed. The age-long sign of this infection is the oozing of pus through the mucous and skin membranes. Affected horses lose appetite, develop fever, and become depressed, which result in them losin...
Schumacher SA, Toribio RE, Lakritz J, Bertone AL.The objective of this study was to characterize the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intravenous administration of magnesium sulfate to horses using a novel radio-telemetry system for physiologic signal capture. Five Horses were surgically implanted with a radio-telemetric carotid catheter. Implants were paired with a non-invasive telemetric unit which acquired a six lead ECG and 3-axis acceleration to assess activity acquired wirelessly in real-time for future analysis. Horses were exposed to a new stall environment before (baseline) and after 60 mg/kg (30 mL) of magnesium sulfate (Mg...
Vermedal H, Strand E.To report dynamic laryngeal collapse (DLC) associated with poll flexion as a potential complication of the laryngeal tie-forward procedure (LTFP) in harness racehorses. Methods: Short case series. Methods: Three harness racehorses. Methods: Preoperative and postoperative medical records of all harness racehorses that underwent the LTFP were reviewed, as were high-speed treadmill videoendoscopy recordings of 35 horses that returned for upper airway evaluation postoperatively. Results: One standardbred and two Norwegian coldblooded trotters in which dorsal displacement of the soft palate had bee...
Cvitas I, Galichet A, Ling SC, Müller EJ, Marti E.Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) plays a key role in the development of allergic inflammation. Little is known about possible triggers of equine TSLP expression. Objective: To investigate TSLP expression in equine insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) skin lesions. The capacity of TLR 1-8 ligands (L) and of atopic cytokine milieu as potential triggers of TSLP and of interleukin (IL)-6 as a downstream effector molecule of TLR signalling, were examined in primary equine keratinocyte cultures. Methods: Lesional skin from IBH-affected and healthy skin from control-horses (n = 9 each group) was s...
Yoshimura S, Barber SM, Tucker ML, Bracamonte JL, Mund SJK, Thomas KL.To describe a new technique to repair a sinocutaneous fistula with a masseter muscle transposition flap. Methods: Case report. Methods: One 13-year-old thoroughbred stallion. Methods: One 13-year-old stallion with a 3.5 × 6-cm sinocutaneous fistula over the right caudal maxillary sinus was treated with a transpositional masseter muscle flap. This repair consisted of a commercial wound matrix dressing placed directly over the hole in the maxilla and secured with suture material; a cancellous bone graft collected from the right tuber coxa placed on the dressing; and a portion of the superfi...
Pan X, Wu Y, Wang W, Zhang L, Xiao G.Argentine haemorrhagic fever (AHF) is a rodent-borne disease with a lethality as high as ~30%, which is caused by the New World arenavirus, JunÃn virus (JUNV). It was once a major epidemic in South America and puts millions of people in Argentina at risk. Here, we aimed to develop horse antibodies or antibody fragments against JUNV. Before preparing the horse antibodies, a strategy to efficiently generate horse antisera was established based on comparisons among immunogens and immunization methods in both mice and horses. Antisera against JUNV were finally obtained by vaccinating horses with ...
Asa N, Newton A, Sullivan L, Shi J, Wheeler K, Smith GA, Yang J.Despite inherit dangers of horseback riding (HBR), research on HBR-related injuries is sparse. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to (1) examine HBR-related injuries treated in emergency departments (EDs) and associated risk factors and (2) explore HBR-related injury experiences and recommendations for prevention strategies from the perspective of riders. We retrospectively analyzed data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), identifying HBR-related ED visits between 2010 and 2014. Additionally, we conducted 10 phone interviews with active horseback ride...
Li J, Li Y, Moumouni PFA, Lee SH, Galon EM, Tumwebaze MA, Yang H, Huercha , Liu M, Guo H, Gao Y, Benedicto B, Zhang W, Fan X, Chahan B, Xuan X.Q fever, spotted fever rickettsioses and equine piroplasmosis, are some of the most serious equine tick-borne diseases caused by Coxiella burnetii, Rickettsia spp., Babesia caballi and/or Theileria equi. This study surveyed and molecularly characterized these pathogens infecting horses in ten ranches from XUAR, China using molecular technology. Among 200 horse blood samples, 163 (81.5%) were infected with at least one of the pathogens. Rickettsia spp. was the most prevalent pathogen (n = 114, 57.0%), followed by C. burnetii (n = 79, 39.5%), T. equi (n = 79, 39.5%) and B. caballi (n = 4...
Vera L, De Clercq D, Paulussen E, Van Steenkiste G, Decloedt A, Chiers K, van Loon G.In human medicine, local and regional arterial wall stiffness (AWS) parameters are routinely used to assess the vascular health. In horses, information regarding reproducibility of ultrasonographically derived AWS parameters is lacking. Objective: To evaluate the inter-day and inter-observer and intra-observer measurement variability of both local and regional AWS parameters in horses. Methods: Experimental study. Methods: In 10 healthy, adult Warmblood horses, B-, M-mode and pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasound images were collected on two different days from aorta, cranial and caudal common caroti...
Kamm JL, Parlane NA, Riley CB, Gee EK, Dittmer KE, McIlwraith CW.As the search for an immune privileged allogeneic donor mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) line continues in equine medicine, the characterization of the cells between different sources becomes important. Our research seeks to more clearly define the MSC marker expression of different equine MSC donors. The bone marrow-derived MSCs from two equine breeds and different blood donor-types were compared over successive culture passages to determine the differential expression of important antigens. Eighteen Thoroughbreds and 18 Standardbreds, including 8 blood donor (erythrocyte Aa, Ca, and Qa antigen ne...
Wagner B, Stokol T, Ainsworth DM.Transfer of maternal IgE antibodies to the neonate with the colostrum has been described in different mammalian species. Previous work in horses has shown that IgE bound to the surface of neonatal basophils is solely of maternal origin. However, the functional role of the maternal IgE transfer remained unclear. We hypothesized that maternal IgE mediates the onset of innate IL-4 production in equine neonatal basophils. Intracellular IL-4 production was measured in PBMC of newborn and older foals by flow cytometric analysis. A small population of IL-4(+) cells was observed in the peripheral bloo...
Fukunaga Y, Matsumura T, Sugiura T, Wada R, Imagawa H, Kanemaru T, Kamada M.Serum cross neutralisation tests were conducted with a recent American isolate (84KY-A1) and a European isolate, (Wroclaw-2) and compared with the prototype and modified viruses of the Bucyrus strain of equine arteritis virus by using virus specific immune horse sera. The modified Bucyrus strain was neutralised and showed high neutralisation titres with all the immune sera. The prototype Bucyrus strain was also substantially neutralised, followed by the 84KY-A1 strain. As a result of the tests with the modified Bucyrus strain as the antigen, 20 seropositive horses were discovered among home-br...
Watkins AR, Parente EJ.Guttural pouch mycosis (GPM) is a cause of nasal discharge, dysphagia and fatal haemorrhage in the horse. Objective: To report the complications and success of salpingopharyngeal fistulation in horses with GPM. We hypothesised that creating a direct static opening into the guttural pouch from the pharynx would cause a regression of fungal plaques due to a change in the guttural pouch environment and that this treatment would result in resolution of infection prior to secondary complications. Methods: Retrospective case series. Methods: The medical records of all horses diagnosed with GPM that ...
Ginther OJ, Bergfelt DR, Leith GS, Scraba ST.Pregnancy was determined by ultrasound on Days 11, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 in 154 ponies and 27 horses. In ponies, the embryonic loss rate for Days 11 to 15 (28 154 , 18.2%) was greater (P<0.01) than for any of the subsequent five-day intervals (0% to 3.3%). There were no losses during Days 11 to 15 in horses (0 27 ), and the difference between ponies and horses was significant. The loss rates for the seven periods encompassing Days 15 to 50 were not significantly different among periods. Pseudopregnancy occurred more frequently (P<0.01) following embryonic loss after Day 20 (...
Silver M, Fowden AL.The present study was carried out on 19 chronically catheterized mares and fetuses in late gestation (term > 320 days). In six animals which were monitored up to the time of delivery of a live foal, plasma and amniotic fluid cortisol concentrations remained low until 4-5 days before parturition when there was a rapid, significant rise (P < 0.05) which was not accompanied by any corresponding changes in maternal plasma cortisol. Circulating fetal ACTH concentrations became more variable close to delivery and ANOVA revealed no significant increases during this critical period, although a n...
MacÃas-GarcÃa B, González-Fernández L, Loux SC, Rocha AM, Guimarães T, Peña FJ, Varner DD, Hinrichs K.Repeatable methods for IVF have not been established in the horse, reflecting the failure of standard capacitating media to induce changes required for fertilization capacity in equine sperm. One important step in capacitation is membrane cholesterol efflux, which in other species is triggered by cholesterol oxidation and is typically enhanced using albumin as a sterol acceptor. We incubated equine sperm in the presence of calcium, BSA, and bicarbonate, alone or in combination. Bicarbonate induced an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) that was abolished by the addition of calcium or BSA...
Greene SA, Thurmon JC, Tranquilli WJ, Benson GJ.Eight ponies were anesthetized with a solution containing 50 mg of guaifenesin, 1 mg of ketamine, and 0.5 mg of xylazine X ml-1 of 5% dextrose in water. Anesthesia was induced by IV injection (1.1 ml X kg-1), followed by continuous IV infusion at 2.75 ml X kg-1 X hr-1. Heart rate, rate-pressure product, mean pulmonary artery pressure, and standard bicarbonate were not significantly changed throughout the study. Systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressures and left ventricular stroke work index were significantly decreased at 5 and 15 minutes after a bolus of the anesthetic solution was inj...
Ho EN, Leung DK, Leung GN, Wan TS, Wong AS, Wong CH, Soma LR, Rudy JA, Uboh C, Sams R.Administration studies of levamisole in horses were carried out using two different levamisole preparations, namely, levamisole hydrochloride oral bolus and levamisole phosphate injectable solution. These preparations were analysed in detail for the presence of aminorex-like impurities. Both levamisole preparations were found to contain 1-(2-mercaptoethyl)-4-phenyl-2-imidazolidinone (I) and 4-phenyl-2-imidazolidinone (II) as degradation impurities, but neither aminorex nor rexamino was detected in these preparations. After the administration of these preparations to horses, aminorex, rexamino,...
D'Arcy-Moskwa E, Noble GK, Weston LA, Boston R, Raidal SL.Newer NSAIDs that more selectively target the induced isoform of the cyclooxygenase enzyme (COX2) activity might reduce adverse effects while preserving therapeutic benefits of these drugs. Objective: To compare the effect of oral administration of multiple dose rates of meloxicam and phenylbutazone (PBZ) on gastric mucosal integrity in horses. Methods: Twenty-five light breed horses. Methods: In vivo toxicity study. Horses were randomly assigned to 5 treatment groups, receiving placebo, PBZ (4.4 mg/kg PO q12h day 1, 2.2 mg/kg PO q12h for 4 days, 2.2 mg/kg PO q24h for 9 days), or 3 dose rates ...
Greenwood S, Chow-Lockerbie B, Epp T, Knight C, Wachoski-Dark G, MacDonald-Dickinson V, Wobeser B.Equus caballus papillomavirus type-2 (EcPV-2) has been proposed as a causal factor in equine genital squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This study had 2 objectives: first, calculate the frequency of papillomavirus (PV) and EcPV-2 infection in papillomas, carcinomas in situ (CIS), and SCCs in Western Canadian horses; and second, determine if EcPV-2 status of equine SCCs is associated with overall survival (OS). EcPV-2 status of 115 archived tissue samples, spanning 6 years, was determined using broad spectrum (MY09/11) and EcPV-2-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, EcPV-2-E6/E7 chromog...
Chan GH, Ho EN, Leung DK, Wong KS, Wan TS.The use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) is prohibited in both human and equine sports. The conventional approach in doping control testing for AAS (as well as other prohibited substances) is accomplished by the direct detection of target AAS or their characteristic metabolites in biological samples using hyphenated techniques such as gas chromatography or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Such an approach, however, falls short when dealing with unknown designer steroids where reference materials and their pharmacokinetics are not available. In addition, AASs with fast...
Crawford KL, Finnane A, Phillips CJC, Greer RM, Woldeyohannes SM, Perkins NR, Kidd LJ, Ahern BJ.Musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) continue to affect Thoroughbred racehorses internationally. There is a strong interest in developing training and management strategies to reduce their impact, however, studies of risk factors report inconsistent findings. Furthermore, many injuries and fatalities occur during training rather than during racing, yet most studies report racing data only. By combining racing and training data a larger exposure to risk factors and a larger number of musculoskeletal injuries are captured and the true effect of risk factors may be more accurately represented. Furtherm...
Yngvesson J, Rey Torres JC, Lindholm J, Pättiniemi A, Andersson P, Sassner H.We compared welfare measures of horses among Swedish riding schools (RS) during winter where horses were kept either in group housing ( = 8) or in tie-stalls/boxes ( = 8), Health data for six previous months were obtained for all horses at each RS from their records. Ten horses per RS were examined, with the exception of one where only 8 horses were examined. Health conditions and body condition score (BCS) using the Henneke scale were recorded and management factors were quantified (health check routines, feeding, housing-related risk factors, time outside). RS-recorded health data (for 327 h...
Steffey EP, Mama KR, Galey FD, Puschner B, Woliner MJ.To quantitate effects of dose of sevoflurane and mode of ventilation on cardiovascular and respiratory function in horses and identify changes in serum biochemical values associated with sevoflurane anesthesia. Methods: 6 healthy adult horses. Methods: Horses were anesthetized twice: first, to determine the minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of sevoflurane and second, to characterize cardiopulmonary and serum biochemical responses of horses to 1.0, 1.5, and 1.75 MAC multiples of sevoflurane during controlled and spontaneous ventilation. Results-Mean (+/- SEM) MAC of sevoflurane was 2.84 +/- ...
Restrepo G, Varela E, Duque JE, Gómez JE, Rojas M.Maintaining the integrity of equine sperm subjected to preservation protocols is essential for the successful development of assisted reproduction procedures. The aim of this study was to assess the mitochondrial membrane potential, lipid peroxidation, and DNA integrity of equine sperm subjected to freezing, vitrification, and freeze-drying. Eight ejaculates obtained from four Colombian Creole horses were subjected to programmable freezing, vitrification, and freeze-drying. After thawing or rehydration, sperm motility and kinetics were assessed through a CASA system. The mitochondrial membrane...
Lyons ET, Tolliver SC, Kuzmina TA, Collins SS.The activity of three anthelmintics (fenbendazole-FBZ; oxibendazole-OBZ; and pyrantel pamoate-PRT) was ascertained against the ascarid Parascaris equorum in horse foals on eight farms in Central Kentucky (2009-2010) in field tests. A total of 316 foals were treated, and 168 (53.2%) were passing ascarid eggs on the day of treatment. Evaluation of drug efficacy was determined qualitatively by comparing the number of foals passing ascarid eggs in their feces before and after treatment. The main purpose was to obtain data on current activity of these compounds against ascarids. Additionally, the o...
Savage VL, Marr CM, Bailey M, Smith S.Hospital-acquired acute kidney injury (AKI) in humans and dogs increases morbidity and nonsurvival. Azotemia at presentation has been associated with a poor outcome in horses; however, prevalence and consequences of hospital-acquired AKI are unreported. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of AKI in hospitalized horses, risk factors associated with AKI, and the effect of AKI on short-term survival. We hypothesized that the prevalence of AKI in horses is similar to that reported in other domestic mammalian species and would be associated with nonsurvival. Methods: Adult horses hospitalized for...
Takasu M, Hiramatsu N, Tozaki T, Kakoi H, Hasegawa T, Maeda M, Kusuda S, Doi O, Murase T, Mukoyama H.The objective of this study was to clarify the current status of endangered Kiso horse, population statistics and biological traits, in order to take a step for the conservation by scientific approach. We surveyed 125 Kiso horses (86.2% of the whole breed), analyzed the construction of the population, and calculated the coefficient of inbreeding and effective population size. Moreover, we confirmed coat color variations and the traditional traits of the Kiso horse, and measured their height at the withers and chest circumference to clarify their physical characteristics. The population pyramid...
Maria WS, Cambuy MO, Costa JO, Velarde DT, Chávez-Olórtegui C.The correlation coefficients between in vivo neutralization of lethal toxicity (ED50), neutralization of the hemolytic activity (PLA2) and levels of antibodies measured by ELISA, was investigated to test the potency of horse anti-bothropic antivenom. Twenty six horses were hyperimmunized with Bothrops venoms (B. alternatus, B. jararaca, B. jararacussu, B. neuwiedii and B. moojeni). To set up an indirect ELISA, for neutralization of PLA2 activity and for determination of ED50 in Swiss mice, the whole Bothrops jararaca venom (reference venom for assessing the bothropic antivenom potency in Brazi...
Renaudin CD, Gillis CL, Tarantal AF, Coleman DA.Transrectal and transabdominal ultrasonography were performed on normal pregnant mares (n=10) at 2 week intervals from day 100 of gestation to parturition to evaluate fetal growth. Several fetal anatomical regions (head, eye, aorta, abdomen, rib, gonad, kidney and femur) were imaged and measured using standardized scan plans. The results of these analyses indicate that all of the biometric parameters correlate strongly with the day of gestation. Growth charts were developed, which demonstrate that the following variables have linear relationships with the day of gestation on which they were me...
Franck T, Kohnen S, Grulke S, Neven P, Goutman Y, Peters F, Pirotte B, Deby-Dupont G, Serteyn D.In the horse, the inflammation response to various pathologies (intestinal strangulations, laminitis, etc.) involves an excessive stimulation of the polymorphonuclear neutrophils releasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and myeloperoxidase (MPO). The aim of the present work was to study the effect of natural polyphenols, curcuminoids and tetrahydrocurcuminoids (THC) on isolated stimulated equine neutrophils and on the activity of purified MPO. The ROS production and the release of MPO by activated neutrophils were measured by chemiluminescence and ELISA techniques, respectively. The activity of...
Arensburg L, Wilderjans H, Simon O, Dewulf J, Boussauw B.Longitudinal tears (LTs) of the digital flexor tendons are an important cause of chronic tenosynovitis of the digital flexor tendon sheath (DFTS). The origin of those marginal tears is not yet fully understood. The long-term outcome after medical and surgical treatment is guarded. Objective: To determine the prevalence of LTs of the digital flexor tendons in a large population of horses undergoing diagnostic tenoscopy of the DFTS and to assess the outcome of surgical treatment and the factors influencing the outcome. Methods: Medical records of 130 horses with chronic tenosynovitis of the DFTS...
Hurcombe SD, Toribio RE, Slovis NM, Saville WJ, Mudge MC, Macgillivray K, Frazer ML.Disorders of calcium regulation are frequently found in humans with critical illness, yet limited information exists in foals with similar conditions including septicemia. The purpose of this study was to determine whether disorders of calcium exist in septic foals, and to determine any association with survival. Objective: Blood concentrations of ionized calcium (Ca(2+)) and magnesium (Mg(2+)) will be lower in septic foals with concomitant increases in parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcitonin (CT), and parathyroid-related peptide (PTHrP) compared with healthy foals. The magnitude of these differ...
van Heule M, Monteiro HF, Bazzazan A, Scoggin K, Rolston M, El-Sheikh Ali H, Weimer BC, Ball B, Daels P, Dini P.In spite of controversy, recent studies present evidence that a microbiome is present in the human placenta. However, there is limited information about a potential equine placental microbiome. In the present study, we characterized the microbial population in the equine placenta (chorioallantois) of healthy prepartum (280 days of gestation, n = 6) and postpartum (immediately after foaling, 351 days of gestation, n = 11) mares, using 16S rDNA sequencing (rDNA-seq). In both groups, the majority of bacteria belonged to the phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidota. T...
Gazzerro DM, Southwood LL, Lindborg S.To compare in geriatric and mature horses the occurrence of short-term complications and short-term outcome associated with complications after colic surgery. Methods: Retrospective case-control study. Methods: Horses aged ≥20 years (geriatric, n = 78) and 4-15 years (mature non-geriatric, n = 156) that had exploratory celiotomy for colic and survived recovery from general anesthesia. Methods: Medical records (2000-2010) of horses that recovered from general anesthesia after colic surgery were reviewed. Postoperative complications evaluated included postoperative reflux (POR), diarrh...
Garrett D, Montesso F, Fougerolle S, Lopez-Alvarez MR, Birand I, De Bock M, Huang CM, Legrand L, Pronost S, Paillot R.Equine Influenza (EI) is an important respiratory disease of horses caused by H3N8 equine influenza viruses (EIV). Vaccination is a key strategy to prevent or control this disease. However, EIV undergoes continuous antigenic drift and whilst numerous EI vaccines are commercially available worldwide, an accurate evaluation of their efficacy is frequently required through clinical trials conducted in the natural host. Room nebulisation is one of the chosen methods to challenge horses during EI vaccine studies. A potential decreased pathogenicity observed with recent Florida Clade 2 (FC2) EIV iso...
