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.
SAVARD K.The urinary ketonic estrogens were studied at monthly intervals in five pregnant mares. Estrone and equilin appear to be the principal components and equilenin a minor constituent of the mares’ estrogens. The levels of equilin rise from the 4–5th months to equal and in some instances exceed those of estrone in the late months of pregnancy. A partition chromatographic method for the separation of the ketonic phenolic steroids of pregnant mares’ urine is described.
Yuen BP, Wong KS, So YM, Kwok WH, Cheung HW, Wan TSM, Ho EN, Wong WT.The development of gene therapy techniques introduces a potential risk of gene doping, which threatens the integrity of sport. In response to this challenge, we have developed a novel analytical method that employs a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in conjunction with liquid chromatography high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS) for the simultaneous identification of multiple transgenes in equine plasma within a single reaction. The method targets three potential doping transgenes: equine growth hormone 1 (eGH1), equine growth hormone-releasing hormone (eGHRH), and equi...
Midon M, Clark-Price SC, Lin HC, Lascola KM, Boone L.To determine if serum iron concentrations decrease acutely during and after general anesthesia in healthy horses. Methods: Prospective experimental study. Methods: A convenience sample of 24 healthy adult horses (eight females, 16 geldings), weighing 545 ± 33 kg (mean ± standard deviation). Methods: Horses were anesthetized for 120 minutes with isoflurane, after premedication with intravenous (IV) xylazine (0.8 mg kg-1) and induction with IV midazolam (0.1 mg kg-1) and ketamine (2.2 mg kg-1). Blood samples for serum iron analysis were obtained just before premedication (baseline), after 60 m...
Mendes RP, Lima AE, da Cunha R, Bittar MJ, Vasconcelos CC, Piñeros DDV, Corrêa RR.Radiographic examination of the skull is a well-established and indispensable procedure for the diagnostic evaluation of dental and paranasal sinus disorders in horses. Complementary projections make significant contributions to radiographic diagnosis in nasal conchae disorders. This article describes a complementary radiographic projection designed for the evaluation of the conchal sinuses and bullae in horses. Six equine cadaveric heads were used. Specimens were dissected, and openings were created in the ventral and dorsal nasal conchae for the introduction of radiopaque material. The new r...
Kodama S, Maeda T, Mita H, Tamura N, Chiba K, Matsukawa M.Despite the prevalence of lower limb disease in racehorses, outdoor bone evaluation equipment is lacking. Consequently, a secure and cost-effective field screening system for bones is required to identify early-stage leg illness. Elastic stiffness cannot be measured using x-ray techniques and is closely associated with bone quality, which is recognized as a significant determinant of fracture risk. Quantitative ultrasound has garnered attention as a viable option, offering insights into elastic stiffness. Understanding the characteristic behaviors of ultrasonic wave properties (velocity, atten...
Birkmann K, Waldern N, Jucker S, Balaschitsch K, Zablotski Y, Fettelschoss-Gabriel A.Recurrent urticaria is common in horses. The pathophysiology is poorly understood and treatment options are limited. Often, only glucocorticoids are effective for controlling clinical signs, albeit with potential adverse effects. Studies investigating new treatments need a validated objective scoring system for the grading of skin lesions to assess response. Objective: The aims were to investigate inter- and intraobserver reliability of the Equine Urticaria Activity Score (EqUAS) for the grading of skin lesions in horses with recurrent urticaria, and to examine agreement between experienced an...
Ho HSM, Mizzi JX, Ho ENM, Wong WT.Ranitidine is a histamine H-receptor antagonist commonly used to treat gastric ulceration in horses. The author's laboratory conducted a study some years ago in the early 2000s on its metabolism as well as its urinary elimination profile in two geldings. With the technology advancement as well as popularity of blood for doping control testing, the laboratory has recently conducted another administration trials of the substance in six horses to study the in vivo metabolism of ranitidine, aiming to identify and reinvestigate the appropriate target(s) for controlling misuse of ranitidine in hors...
Pluim M, Frippiat T.Polyacrylamide gel is increasingly used in equine veterinary medicine for osteoarthritis and other joint disorders. This study aimed to document the indications, treatment protocols, rehabilitation plans, outcomes, and satisfaction with intra-articular polyacrylamide gel in horses, as reported by equine veterinarians. An online questionnaire was distributed to practitioners through the European and American Colleges of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation mailing lists, social media, and direct contact. Of 197 respondents, 160 completed the survey, forming the basis for the descriptiv...
Golamgouse NN.Mauritius hosts a population of approximately 900 equids, but no investigations have delved into issues such as the prevalence of equine helminths, anthelmintic usage, and resistance emergence. This study aimed to devise a qualitative and quantitative profile of common helminthic intestinal parasites in equines at eight out of twenty-eight stables (272 horses, 29Â % of local population) and to determine whether helminthic intestinal parasites in equines at one stable have developed resistance to Fenbendazole by quantitatively assessing pre-treatment faecal egg counts, post-treatment faecal egg...
Jardat P, Yamamoto S, Ringhofer M, Tanguy-Guillo N, Parias C, Reigner F, Calandreau L, Lansade L.Emotional contagion, the emotional state-matching of two individuals, has been documented in various species. Recent findings suggest emotional contagion could also take place between humans and domestic mammals. However, the range of targeted animal species and human emotions that have been studied is still limited, and the methodology to investigate emotional contagion in this context is not fully established. This study examined emotional contagion of fear and joy from humans to horses by measuring physiological (heart rate, infrared thermography) and behavioral responses (posture, laterali...
Mizuguchi Y, Niwa H, Inoue H, Iwano H.Hypoproteinaemia/hypoalbuminaemia is a typical clinical feature of Lawsonia intracellularis infection in horses, but amino acid perturbations in these horses have not been investigated. Objective: Clarifying blood amino acid levels in horses suffering from Lawsonia intracellularis infection to identify novel aspects of the disease. Methods: Retrospective observational study. Methods: A total of 135 serum samples collected from horses from 59 farms were used in this study. Horses diagnosed with the clinical form of equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE) were enrolled as a clinical group (n =â...
Bandera L, Guerri G, Straticò P, Pincelli MC, Celani G, Varasano V, Vignoli M, Petrizzi L.Although lens diseases are uncommon in horses, they can be disabling in advanced stages. The B-mode ultrasound is useful for diagnosing and monitoring the progression of ocular diseases such as cataracts. Elastography is an ultrasonographic technique that allows the detection and measurement of tissue stiffness. This observational cohort prospective study aimed to determine the feasibility, reproducibility, and repeatability of 2D-shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) of lenses in horses. Forty-six eyes of 23 horses with no evidence of ocular disease were included in this study. The horses underwen...
El-Ghaly W, El Kamli T, Gongbe AMA, Zaari Lambarki L, El Hamdani M, Lahkak FE, Al Idrissi N, Benmoussa A, Balouch L, Bakkali F, Saffaj T, Jhilal F.The quantification of banned substances in equine antidoping control, especially in racehorse urine, necessitates robust analytical methods with high detection levels due to the extremely low concentrations of the target substances and the significant impact of minor variations on doping test results. Reliable quantification is important for substances near regulatory thresholds, which, if exceeded, are prohibited. This study presents the development and validation of a bioanalytical UHPLC-HRMS method for quantifying doping substances in equine urine, including diazepam and acepromazine with a...
Lin H, Deng D, Yan Z, Zou G, Shen Y.Staphylococcus aureus can transfer from animals to humans. Lichuan horse is an isolated breed living in a high-altitude area with limited use of antibiotics and is bred for use in tourism. To evaluate the risk of human-animal cross-transmission, the S. aureus was isolated from three horse farms in Lichuan, including healthy horses and horses with skin infections, farm workers and environment. From a collection of 111 samples, 18Â S. aureus isolates were obtained. All the isolates were genome sequenced and their biological characteristics including antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence and bi...
Rodrigues APDC, Pozzobon R, De Bastiani G, De La Côrte FD, Azevedo MDS.Lameness, which arises from functional or structural changes in the limbs or axial skeleton, causes asymmetry in the movement of the equine head and/or pelvis. This study aimed to investigate the lameness patterns of horses that underwent lameness examination or monitoring during the years 2016 to 2020. This retrospective study used data from the lameness examination, evaluated using an objective assessment with body-mounted wireless inertial sensors. The lameness examination comprised clinical history, static inspection, palpation, gait evaluation (for which the animals were equipped with a w...
B B, G M, L G, G A, B B, T F, A G, D B, A K, G T, G S, A B, M F, L R.Equine penile tumors are common in horses and are often related to infection with equine papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2). This study investigated the immune cell infiltrate (ICI) of these tumors in horses, focusing on the role of EcPV2. Using multiplex immunohistochemistry (mIHC) for CD3, CD20, and IBA-1 and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for FoxP3, 27 horses with papillomas (5/27), in situ carcinomas (CISs) (3/27), and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) (19/27) were evaluated. Eighteen cases tested positive for EcPV2 by either or both in situ hybridization (ISH) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (18...
Sayler B, Manship AJ, Davis J, Taylor J, Gilliam L.Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in equine practice. It is known to produce adverse effects of hyporexia/anorexia after oral administration. Administration per rectum (PR) could mitigate the appetite suppression seen with oral administration and allow its use in horses unable to receive oral medications. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the relative bioavailability of chloramphenicol administered PR or via nasogastric tube (NGT) and determine relevant pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic parameters and metabolic ratios. Ten healthy, adult horses were administered chl...
Quam V.Inflammation plays a role in acute and chronic equine tendon/ligament injury; anti-inflammatories are often indicated. Local corticosteroids provide consistent and profound short-term effects on pain and inflammation across species. However, there is no demonstrated benefit in the long term, and complications can occur. Alternative biologic anti-inflammatory treatments are available and should be used in horses at risk of complications. Nonetheless, corticosteroids remain an affordable and effective anti-inflammatory that, with continued research, may be indicated on a case-by-case basis as pa...
Sun YF, Han ZX, Yao XK, Meng J, Ren WL, Wang CK, Yuan XX, Zeng YQ, Wang YF, Sun ZW, Wang JW.: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different stages of training on the intestinal microbial abundance of Yili horses. : Ten Yili horses, all aged 2 years old and weighing 305 ± 20 kg, were selected and divided into a training group and an untrained group. The training group performed riding training 6 days a week, and the untrained group moved freely in the activity circle every day. Fecal samples were collected on days 30 and 60, and the intestinal microorganisms were detected and analyzed using metagenomics. : Compared with the 30-day untrained group, the relative abu...
Pádua GT, Tavares MA, de Lima NJ, Paula WVF, Dos Santos GC, Neves LC, Bittencourt RBM, Paludo RLDR, Cardoso ERN, da Silva BBF, Pádua BR....This study sought to investigate the presence of anti- spp. antibodies in georeferenced serum samples from equids across all regions of the state of Goiás, while also presenting variables that indicate risk factors for the circulation of rickettsiae, and evaluating the presence of rickettsial DNA in ticks collected from equids and the surrounding environment in the municipalities of Uruaçu and Porangatu, located in the northern region of the state. A total of 1156 equid serum samples provided by the Goiás Agricultural Defense Agency (Agrodefesa) were analyzed for antibodies against 4 antig...
Bianchi D, Santos RRD, Peleja PL, de Sousa ABB, da Silva Evangelista M, de Almeida Júnior JS, Barata LES, Moraes WP, Minervino AHH. (tropical horse tick) is a tick species commonly found parasitizing horses and other equids in the Amazon region, causing economic losses. Currently, tick control is based on chemical acaricides, usually in a power formulation for topical use. However, its indiscriminate use results in the emergence of resistant tick lineages. Several plant compounds have been tested for their acaricide activity. In the Amazon, several plants are used for oil extraction, resulting in the production of solid residue (waste) that may contain chemical molecules with biological activities. Thus, we aimed to test ...
Domino M, Borowska M, Stefanik E, Domańska-Kruppa N, Skibniewski M, Turek B.In equine surface electromyography (sEMG), challenges related to the reliability and interpretability of data arise, among other factors, from methodological differences, including signal processing and analysis. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the filtering-induced changes in basic signal features in relation to the balance between signal loss and noise attenuation. Raw sEMG signals were collected from the quadriceps muscle of six horses during walk, trot, and canter and then filtered using eight filtering methods with varying cut-off frequencies (low-pass at 10 Hz, high-pass at 20 Hz...
Death studiesMay 28, 2025
1-11 doi: 10.1080/07481187.2025.2510477
Kaufman SVA, Nieforth LO.For practitioners involved in equine-assisted services (EAS), the death of a horse can be a significant life disruption. This study aims to understand the communicative resilience processes that equine-assisted service practitioners express following the death of an equine in their program. This study analyzed secondary qualitative data from a cross-sectional online survey completed by 84 participants. Analysis revealed practitioners engaged in all five communicative resilience processes following the death of an equine in their program. This research extends current resilience research by exa...
Bazzano M, Laus F, Cerquetella M, Spaterna A, Marchegiani A.Phytocannabinoids have the potential to lower intraocular pressure in both normal and glaucomatous eyes and they have been tested in different animal species, but not in the horse. The present paper describes the tonometric curve of healthy adult Italian Saddle horses after oral administration of cannabidiol oil (CBD). Methods: CBD 20% was administered orally (oily solution) at the dose of 1 mg/kg to 8 adult horses and intraocular pressure (IOP) was evaluated by tonometric curve. Data were then compared to those of the same horses obtained the day before (blank) CBD administration. Results: ...
Sobhy A, Nomir AG, Hamed MA, Abumandour MMA, El-Kammar M.The current study was prepared to compare the efficacy of xylazine-lidocaine HCl and detomidine-lidocaine HCl following caudal epidural injection in horses, evaluating sedation, analgesia, physiological parameters, and hemato-biochemical values. This study was applied to six healthy adult horses (300-350 kg, > 4 years of age). The horses were randomly divided into two equal groups. Group 1 (seven horses) received xylazine (0.17 mg/kg bwt) + lidocaine HCl (0.06 mg/kg bwt), while Group 2 received detomidine (0.03 mg/kg bwt) + lidocaine HCl (0.06 mg/kg bwt) via caudal epidural inje...
Bosman LM, Ambele MA, Pepper MS.Regenerative medicine is a relatively new branch of therapeutics in equine medicine, which aims to restore and reconstitute tissue function and structure via cellular and/or noncellular approaches. Biological constituents such as mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are potent therapeutics, which can aid in damaged tissue regeneration due to their differentiation capacity into many different cell types such as adipose tissue, bone, and cartilage. MSCs can be successfully and conveniently isolated from equine subcutaneous adipose tissue (adipose-derived stromal cells, ASCs). In horses, there a...
Parra-Moyano LA, Cedeño A, Darby S, Johnson JP, Gomez DE.The effectiveness of the peritoneal fluid L-lactate-to-total solids ratio (PFL:PFTS) as a diagnostic marker for strangulating lesions of the small intestine (SI) and large colon (LC) has not been investigated. Objective: Describe and compare the PFL:PTFS and blood lactate (BL), peritoneal fluid lactate (PFL) and PFL:BL difference and PFL:BL ratio of horses with SI and LC strangulating (SO) and non-strangulating (NSO) obstructions and determine sensitivity and specificity to predict SO. Methods: A total of 282 horses, 117 with SI lesions (59 classified as SINSO and 58 as SISO), and 165 with LC ...
Araújo IRDS, de Brito EL, de Melo UP, Mariz ALB, Cavalheiro MT, Ferreira C, de Morais LF, de Souza RF.This study aimed to evaluate the use of antimicrobials in horses, focusing on administration practices, adherence to veterinary prescriptions, and the impact on the development of antimicrobial resistance. The research was based on a questionnaire completed by 220 horse owners in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The data collected covered aspects including antibiotic use, prescription sources, the performance of culture and susceptibility tests, and the disposal of veterinary drug waste. The results indicated that 98.63% of horse owners administered antibiotics mainly to treat respira...
Gómez-Torres F, Ballesteros-Acuña L, RuÃz-Sauri A.Arrhythmic sudden cardiac death in dogs and horses often results from ventricular arrhythmia secondary to myocardial damage. Despite this, limited data exist on the histomorphometric changes in cardiac conduction fibers (CCFs) and cardiac conduction cells (CCCs) following spontaneous myocardial infarction (MI). This study aimed to characterize morphometric and histological alterations in conduction fibers and their junctions with cardiomyocytes in infarcted hearts of horses and dogs. Unassigned: Ten hearts from horses and 10 from dogs that had died suddenly were examined. Histological and immu...
Horan K, Pfau T.Racehorses and jockeys can incur injuries, not only during gallops, but also during routine trotting exercise to access gallop tracks or warm-up. Understanding how jockey position affects racehorse movement may influence safety, and this may vary across different surface conditions. This study used inertial sensing technology (XSens MTw sensors) and linear mixed models to quantify and determine the significance (p ≤ 0.05) of jockey riding position ('rising' versus 'two-point seat') and surface type (artificial, grass and tarmac) on: 1) time offsets between stance and flight phases; 2) ho...
Medica A, Aitken RJ, Swegen A, Gibb Z.Context Equine reproductive technologies are crucial for overcoming challenges in natural fertilisation, particularly in sub-fertile stallions and breeding programs focused on genetic conservation and performance enhancement. Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), such as artificial insemination (AI), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and in vitro fertilisation (IVF), improve fertility outcomes and enable breeding across geographical distances. Aims This review examines sperm isolation techniques used in ART, evaluating their efficacy, limitations, and potential to enhance reproduct...
