Veterinary research in horses encompasses the study of diseases, health management, and medical treatments specific to equine species. This field investigates various aspects of horse health, including infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and musculoskeletal conditions. Researchers focus on understanding the pathophysiology of equine ailments, developing diagnostic tools, and evaluating therapeutic interventions. The study of horse health also involves examining preventive measures such as vaccination protocols and nutritional management to promote overall well-being. This page collects peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse areas of veterinary science related to horses, providing insights into disease mechanisms, treatment strategies, and advancements in equine healthcare.
Bang FB.The titration curve for the virus of Eastern equine encephalomyelitis inoculated into the 10 day old chick embryo shows that the maximum increase in virus content continues until shortly before the generalized destruction of the embryo is apparent. This is followed by a stationary phase. Histological studies of infected embryos fail to demonstrate selective tissue destruction, and titrations show the virus to be distributed throughout the egg, although concentrated in the embryo. The chorioallantoic membrane gradually becomes increasingly resistant with age to both the Eastern and Western viru...
Tenbroeck C, Hurst EW, Traub E.Equine encephalomyelitis of the eastern type is a disease of the late summer and fall and cases are found in greatest numbers near salt marshes. The epidemiological findings are against its transmission by contact and favor the view that it is insect borne. Although virus can be demonstrated in the blood of infected horses it is present for a relatively short time, and the possibility that the disease is not primarily an infection of horses but that it is transmitted to them from another host is considered.
Hurst EW.The virus of equine encephalomyelitis (eastern strain) evokes in the horse, calf, sheep and dog an unusually intense encephalomyelitis characterized by acute primary degeneration of nerve cells, the appearance in neurons of the brain stem and elsewhere of nuclear inclusions resembling those in Borna disease and poliomyelitis, polymorphonuclear infiltration in the nervous tissues with early microglial proliferation, and perivascular cuffing with mononuclears and polymorphonuclears in varying proportions. The grey matter is affected more than the white. Lesions may be less marked in the striatum...
Olitsky PK, Cox HR, Syverton JT.We have studied certain properties, additional to those previously described (3), of the virus of vesicular stomatitis of horses, and of the characteristic biological reactions of the virus of equine encephalomyelitis. It has been found that the virus of stomatitis, ordinarily dermotropic, can acquire neurotropism and the neurotropic encephalomyelitis virus can, in turn, be rendered dermotropic in its action. The neurotropism in both instances is associated with definite, although not pronounced, viscerotropism. Both viruses can bring about a similar infection in the white mouse, rat, guinea p...
Fennouh C, Mokrani D, Dahmani H, Salhi O, Ouchetati I, Nabi M, Aouina K, Chettih I, Ouchene N, Khelifi Touhami NA.Fasciolosis, a parasitic disease of ruminants, poses significant economic and animal-health challenges in Algeria. This study aimed to assess spatial, temporal, and species-specific patterns of fasciolosis prevalence across diverse agro-climatic zones and to estimate associated economic losses. Between 2013 and 2023, eight wilayas El-Tarf, Skikda, Jijel (Region I), Blida, Mila (Region II), and M'Sila, Medea, Laghouat (Region III) were surveyed. Systematic postmortem inspections of 1,569,392 animals (349,176 cattle; 982,669 sheep; 235,639 goats; 1,882 camels; 26 horses) were performed by qualif...
Murase H, Wachi S, Matsuyama R, Makita K, Sato F.Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) is an age-related disease considered to have a negative impact on fertility. To understand the true impact of PPID on fertility, the influence of age must be considered. Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of PPID on fertility while accounting for the effect of aging. Methods: A total of 332 Thoroughbred mares aged 10-20 years and managed across 137 private farms in Hidaka, Hokkaido, Japan were classified as PPID, equivocal, or non-PPID based on plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone concentration in 2019 and 2020. The prevalence of PPID an...
Reemtsma FP, Giers J, Horstmann S, Stoeckle SD, Gehlen H.Plasma amino acid (PAA) concentration in horses vary according to the exercise type. This study evaluated the changes in PAA levels and the associated metabolites, urea and ammonia, following short-duration, high-intensity cross-country exercise in eventing horses. Twenty eventing horses participated in 55 rides at 14 international competitions (2* to 4* levels) across five venues in Germany and Poland. Blood samples were collected at four timepoints: before exercise (TP0), at 10 min (TP1), and at 30 min (TP2) post-exercise, as well as in the morning on the day after the competition (TP3). A t...
Ryan CA, Berry DP, Bugno-Poniewierska M, Burke MK, Raudsepp T, Egan S, Doyle JL.Autosomal trisomy, a genetic disorder characterized by the presence of an extra autosome, is a rare but important chromosomal abnormality in horses, often associated with infertility, developmental abnormalities, and reduced life expectancy. This study represents the largest population-level screening for autosomal trisomy in horses; the analysis used single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel genotype intensity data from 17,078 horses, 6601 of which were juveniles (i.e., ≤12 months of age) when genotyped. Using methodologies adapted from similar screening studies in cattle, the only aneuplo...
Pimenta J, Cotovio M.This study explores equine veterinarians' clinical practices regarding mucocutaneous tumors, based on a survey conducted among members of the Portuguese Association of Equine Veterinarians, and examines their perceptions of owner and buyer concerns regarding these tumors. Veterinarians expressed significantly greater concern about squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) during routine examinations ( < 0.001) compared to sarcoids and melanomas. Concern over sarcoids was significantly greater during pre-purchase evaluations compared to routine clinical exams ( = 0.03). For melanomas, a trend toward increa...
Boocock H, Flyps J, Escobar A, Redondo JI, Taylor PM, Gozalo-Marcilla M, Johnston GM, Bettschart-Wolfensberger R, Sullivan R.Equid anaesthetic mortality is of interest to practitioners. Data for donkey and hybrid mortality have not been specifically described. The main aim of this worldwide observational, prospective, multicentre cohort study was to report on mortality in the 7 days following a general anaesthetic or standing sedation in donkeys and hybrids. This study hypothesised that donkeys and hybrids would have higher mortalities compared to horses. Data were collected as part of the fourth Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Equine Fatalities (CEPEF4). A total of 825 cases were included, with 757 donkeys ...
Al-Kass Z, Morrell JM, Ntallaris T.Sperm quality is adversely affected by cryopreservation due to the increased production of reactive oxygen species, which affects the integrity of sperm membranes, motility, and DNA fragmentation. Three methods for removing seminal plasma, washing (centrifuging extended semen at 800× for 10 min) and Single Layer Centrifugation with high or low density Equicoll, were used to prepare 29 ejaculates from ten stallions for freezing. Sperm quality parameters (kinematics, plasma membrane integrity, superoxide and hydrogen peroxide production, mitochondrial membrane potential, and DNA fragmentation)...
Bugno-Poniewierska M, Bielecka M, Pietras N, Kij-Mitka B, Podstawski Z, Długosz B.The Hucul horse is a Polish primitive breed with a small population size, which highlights the importance of preserving the genetic resources. The cryopreservation of semen is essential for creating gene banks, but its effect on the acrosome reaction in Hucul stallions has not yet been investigated. The acrosome reaction is one of the most important physiological events associated with the fertilization process. Therefore, our goal was to determine the level of acrosome reaction in chilled and frozen/thawed Hucul stallion semen using the FluoAcro test and the SCA semen analysis system. We foun...
MacKechnie-Guire R, Clayton H, Byström A, Marlin D, Haussler K, Latif S, Blum N, le Jeune SS, Wanless M, Egenvall A.Laterality or sidedness in the horse is commonly addressed as part of the horse's training. An international online survey regarding horse and rider sidedness and asymmetry was conducted, with 2304 useable responses. Confidence intervals (95%) were used to evaluate if some response options were chosen more frequently. Discounting answers of 'not sure' or 'not applicable', the right fore hoof was more often perceived to be more upright (22%) than the left (15%), and the left shoulder was more prominent (24%) more often than the right (17%), whilst most respondents reported no difference. Both l...
Cortez JV, Hardwicke K, Méndez-Calderón CE, Grupen CG.The asynchrony of cytoplasmic and nuclear maturation in cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) due to prematurely declining concentrations of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) has been shown to result in reduced oocyte developmental competence. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of pre-IVM treatment with cAMP modulators for different durations on the developmental potential of equine oocytes used for cloned embryo production. Collected COCs were transferred to cryovials filled with transport medium at 20-22 °C. Within the cryovials, the COCs were either untreated (Control) fo...
Schneider MJ, Piotrowski IL, Junge HK, van Steenkiste G, Vernemmen I, van Loon G, Schwarzwald CC.Left atrial mechanical dysfunction is common in horses following the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). This study aimed to evaluate the use of an acoustic cardiography monitor (Audicor) in quantifying cardiac mechanical and hemodynamic function in horses with AF before and after treatment and to correlate these findings with echocardiographic measures. Twenty-eight horses with AF and successful transvenous electrical cardioversion were included. Audicor recordings with concomitant echocardiographic examinations were performed one day before, one day after, and two to seven days after card...
Blanton A, Glass KG, Bayer J, Baetge C, Watanabe R, Sampson SN, Lépiz M, Moreno K, Ida KK.Pregabalin reduces excitatory neurotransmitter release and is used for anxiolysis in humans, cats, and horses. The effects of pregabalin on equine recovery following isoflurane anaesthesia are unknown. Objective: To determine if pre-anaesthetic oral pregabalin influences recovery time and/or quality from isoflurane anaesthesia in horses undergoing elective magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the appendicular skeleton. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. Methods: Anaesthetic and recovery data from 52 healthy horses in which pregabalin (PG) was administered and 76 control horses (CG) undergoing...
Wermer K, Korbacska-Kutasi O, Berkecz R, Csupor D, Ágh N, Sztojkov-Ivanov A, Cserhalmi D.Cannabidiol (CBD) has shown potential therapeutic benefits in veterinary medicine, but further investigations are needed to establish its pharmacokinetics and therapeutic dosing in horses and ponies. The present study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetic properties of CBD in Connemara ponies following oral administration of CBD oil. Unassigned: Ten healthy ponies received a single oral dose of CBD oil at 2 mg/kg. Blood samples were collected before dosing and up to 16 days post-administration, with physical examinations conducted at baseline and at 8, 12, and 24 h post-dose. Addition...
Fielding CL.To describe the signalment, diagnosis, treatment, and laboratory characteristics of horses with hyperchloremia and identify factors associated with the magnitude of the increased chloride concentration. Unassigned: Horses with a chloride concentration greater than 108 mEq/L were included in this retrospective study. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis were used to identify associations between diagnosis, treatment, and laboratory variables and the magnitude of hyperchloremia. Unassigned: 134 horses met the inclusion criteria for this study. Creatinine was a significa...
Buschmann E, Easton-Jones C, Van Steenkiste G, De Wilde H, Roberts V, Durando M, Decloedt A, Marr C, van Loon G.Accessory pathways (APs) are muscular bundles directly connecting the atria and ventricles, bypassing the atrioventricular (AV) node-His-Purkinje system. Anterograde conduction along the AP results in ventricular preexcitation. A retrograde conducting AP allows ventriculo-atrial (VA) conduction, creating a reentry circuit that mediates orthodromic atrioventricular reentry tachycardia (OAVRT). This condition is well described in humans and small animals, but has not been reported previously in horses. Objective: Describe clinical and electrocardiographic findings of horses with retrograde AP co...
Mountessou BYG, Mouafon IL, Maharjan R, Tchamgoue J, Tiani GLM, Dibouloul P, Choudhary MI, Kouam SF.Four previously undescribed phenazine-derived pigments (1-4), along with seventeen known compounds, were isolated from a strain cultured on solid rice medium. Structural elucidation of the new compounds was achieved through extensive spectroscopic analysis, while known compounds were identified by comparison with literature data. The antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of the isolated compounds were assessed. Compounds 2, 5, and 11 exhibited weak antifungal activity against at 200 μM, while compounds 5, 6, 11, 12, 15, and 20 demonstrated moderate antibacterial effects against at the sam...
Gong W, Ding W, Bou T, Shi L, Lin Y, Shi X, Wu H, Li Z, Dugarjaviin M, Bai D.Ferulic acid (FA), a natural antioxidant and major active component in Angelica sinensis, has beneficial effects on skeletal muscle health; however, its role in modulating muscle fiber type composition Mongolian horse remains unclear. In this study, we found that FA promotes the proliferation of Mongolian horse skeletal muscle satellite cell (MuSCs), upregulates the expression of fast-twitch muscle marker genes (e.g., MYH2), and downregulates the expression of slow-twitch markers (e.g., MYH7). RNA-seq revealed that FA activates the HIF-1 signaling pathway, significantly increasing PDK1 express...
Hildebrandt D, Venner M, Hart KA, Berghaus L.Early and specific diagnosis of bronchopneumonia in foals is important to prevent severe disease. In human medicine, C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) are important diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in neonatal pneumonia in other species. Evaluation of these markers in foals with naturally occurring respiratory diseases is lacking. Objective: To determine if CRP and IL-6 were useful predictors of respiratory disease in foals from birth to weaning. Methods: Prospective cohort study. Methods: Periodic blood samples from 200 initially healthy foals were collected from birth to ...
McGlennon AA, Verheyen KL, Newton JR, van Tonder A, Wilson H, Parkhill J, de Brauwere N, Frosth S, Waller AS.Strangles (Streptococcus equi infection) remains endemic in the UK, with ~300 laboratory diagnoses annually. Sub-clinically infected long-term carriers are considered a key driver of endemicity. Analysing genomes of circulating strains could provide valuable transmission insights of this pathogen. Objective: To determine the population structure and diversity of UK S. equi isolates and to model transmission using epidemiological and whole genome sequencing data. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional epidemiological and genomic surveillance. Methods: A dated phylogenetic tree derived from 511...
Gomes C, Coheur L, Tilley P.Equine asthma is a prevalent respiratory disease that negatively impacts horses' health and athletic performance. Traditional diagnostic methods are invasive and require specialised equipment. There is a need for a non-invasive, cost-effective screening tool that can be used by veterinarians and horse handlers in ambulatory settings. Objective: To assess the willingness of veterinarians and horse handlers to adopt such a tool (Questionnaire 1) and the challenges associated with visually recognising equine asthma (Questionnaire 2) and to develop EquiBreathe, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powe...
Miles S, McCauley C, Carossino M, Del Piero F, Liu CC, Gaschen L.Manica flexoria tears are increasingly recognized as a cause of lameness in horses resulting in a need for improved pre-operative diagnosis. Partial tears are difficult to pre-operatively diagnose and thus research for diagnostics of manica flexoria tears has been seen in increasing frequency over the past decade, though a deficit of information exists for the features of this structure on MRI, which is best suited for evaluation of soft tissues. The goal is to perform an observational study on the morphometry of the normal manica flexoria prospectively and describe it retrospectively on MRI. ...
Hopkins E, Whitrod S, Marlin D, Blake R.Noseband tightness has received increasing attention within equitation science, however, there is little research into how this effects equine behaviour or performance. Objective: 1) determine the peak pressures under noseband in vivo at three different tightness; 2) assess limb and back kinematics at different noseband tightness. Methods: Noseband tightness (n = 8 horses) was set using an International Society for Equine Science (ISES) taper gauge with the three settings being; "two fingers (2F)", "one finger (1F)" and "zero fingers (0F)". Peak pressure under noseband was determined using pre...
Golen GS, Erganiş O, Balevi A. is an important bacterial pathogen and causes severe chronic granulomatous pneumonia in foals below 6 months of age. It has also become an opportunistic and emerging pathogen in immunocompromised humans. Vaccination is the most cost-effective strategy for controlling and preventing this infection. Although several potential virulence genes and candidate immunogens have been identified over the years, no effective vaccine is currently available to prevent disease in horses. Recently, bacterial vector vaccines have been shown to be promising for In this study, the gene of was cloned into P...
Gozalo-Marcilla M, Redondo JI, Bettschart-Wolfensberger R, Domenech L, Doménech J, Johnston GM, Taylor PM.To report on the Confidential Enquiry into Perioperative Equine Fatalities 4 (CEPEF4). Methods: Confidential, observational, prospective, multicentre, cohort study. Methods: 47,396 horses/ponies undergoing general anaesthesia (GA). Methods: Characteristics of each GA (249 variables) were collected. Outcomes after seven days were ALIVE (or discharged), EUTHANASIA or DEAD. Logistic regression analysed patient demographics and the anaesthetic drugs (p < 0.05). Results: Data were collected from 47,396 GAs in 93 centres in 28 countries. Death rates were 1.2% overall, 0.6% for cases classified as NO...
Wen X, Bou G, He Q, Liu Q, Yi M, Ren H.The reproductive ability of equine species is a critical component of equine breeding programs, with sperm quality serving as a primary determinant of reproductive success. In this study, we perform an integrative analysis of proteomics and metabolomics in seminal plasma to identify proteins and metabolites associated with sperm quality and reproductive ability in equine species. Methods: We utilized the CEROS instrument to assess the morphology and motility of sperm samples from three horses and three donkeys. Additionally, we statistically analyzed the mating frequency and pregnancy rates in...
Bertone AL, Reinemeyer C, Tsaprailis G, Ragland D, Leise B.The use of micro-particulate allografts is rising, but knowledge about the protein characterization and biocompatibility of umbilical cord-derived allografts (UC) in vivo is limited. Methods: Proteomic analyses using mass spectrometry (MS) determined equine UC protein relative quantification and functions using total spectral counts (TSC). UC cytokines were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Three in vivo studies assessed recipient clinical and tissue biocompatibility in joints and ligaments. Results: Proteomics revealed 2645 annotated TSCs. Proteins of > 89 TSC we...
Schild CO, Nyaoke A, Asin J, Henderson EE, Blea JA, Stover SM, Uzal FA.Radial fractures are relatively uncommon (0-1%) injuries in postmortem studies of racehorses, and few cases have been published. We describe here a series of 42 cases of radial fractures observed in California racehorses. Autopsy findings from all racehorses submitted for postmortem examination between 2006 July 1 and 2022 June 30 that had a recorded radial fracture were evaluated. We included 42 horses (30 Thoroughbreds, 12 Quarter Horses), most of which were 3-5-y-old. Catastrophic radial fracture was observed in 30 (71%) horses; in the remaining 12 (29%) horses, the fracture of the radius w...
Legg KA, Gibson MJ, Gee EK, Rogers CW.Injury modelling based on changes in speed and stride characteristics of racehorses has become a primary industry focus for the Thoroughbred racing industry. However, speed and stride characteristics are strongly associated with track condition; therefore, reliable quantification of surface variables for use in future models is imperative. Objective: This study aimed to understand the interaction of objective turf track condition score (TCS) measurement with racing speed and injury in flat racing Thoroughbred horses. Methods: Retrospective time series analysis. Methods: Race-day data from 16 f...
Drespling J, Berwanger L, Kühn H, Schwarz B, Doherr M, Mundhenk L.Mucus parameters are hallmark diagnostic features of equine asthma (EA). Objective: To investigate the relationship between mucus quantity score and mucus viscosity score with signalment, history, clinical findings and cytological parameters. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study. Methods: Mucus quantity and viscosity scores, signalment, history and clinical findings recorded for diagnostic purposes from up to 1599 samples, and cytological values of the corresponding bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and tracheobronchial secretions were analysed. The cut-off value of a mucus quantity ...
Chabronova A, Walters M, Regårdh S, Jacobsen S, Bundgaard L, Anderson JR, Peffers MJ.Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that greatly contributes to equine morbidity and poor welfare. Changes in cellular protein expression programs fuel the development and progression of OA. Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are emerging as important regulators of OA (patho)biology. SnoRNAs are short non-coding RNAs that guide post-transcriptional modifications (PTMs) of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) nucleotides, which impact ribosome function and thus cellular protein expression programs. There is only very limited data on snoRNAs in equine OA. Unassigned: In this study, we induced OA in ...
