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.
Biewener AA, Thomason J, Goodship A, Lanyon LE.Longitudinal stresses acting in the cranial and caudal cortices of the radius and the dorsal and palmar cortices of the metacarpus in the horse were determined using two independent methods simultaneously. One approach involved the use of rosette strain gauges to record in vivo bone strain; the other involved filming the position of the horse's forelimb as it passed over a force plate. Agreement between the two analyses was better for the radius than for the metacarpus. Both methods showed the radius to be loaded primarily in sagittal bending, acting to place the caudal cortex in compression a...
Bailey E.The linkage group formed by the ELA and A blood group system in horses was studied in American Standardbred horses. The distance between the ELA locus and the A blood group locus was measured as 1.61 centimorgans, observing only the haplotypes contributed by the sires. Strong linkage disequilibrium was found in pacing Standardbred horses for ELA-W1 with Aa, ELA-W5 with Ab and ELA-W10 with Ab. Linkage disequilibrium was apparent at both the population and family level. Among trotting Standardbred horses, linkage disequilibrium was found for ELA-W1 with Aa and for ELA-W10 with Ab. It was not pos...
Svalastoga E, Nielsen K.The histopathological changes in the synovial membrane of bursa podotrochlearis are described in horses with navicular disease. The changes are compared to the histopathological findings in synovial membrane of arthrotic pastern joints in horses and of arthrotic hips in man. A high degree of concordance is demonstrated and this suggests that navicular disease is an arthrotic disease.
Jantosovicová J, Jantosovic J.To study the vascularization of the testis of stallions we used 96 testes. We examined its topography and anatomy by roentgenography, stereoroentgenography, by the corosive method, and by means of gel and China ink injections. To make the roentgeno-arteriograms we used minimum emulsified in glycerine as contrast medium. The branching off of the Aa. testiculares from the Aorta abdominalis is variable in stallions. We observed also a peculiar age-dependent arrangement of the loops of the convolution. In the adult stallion, the shape of the convolution is either cylindrical or conical, spindle-sh...
Orr JA, Wagerle LC, Kiorpes AL, Shirer HW, Friesen BS.This study determined whether blood flow through the internal carotid artery (ICA) could be used to sample total cerebral blood flow in the pony. To answer this question we considered both the anatomic arrangement of the ICA in cadavers and the relative distribution of ICA blood flow to cerebral and extracerebral tissue using radioactive microspheres. Acrylic corrosion casts of the ICA indicated that this vessel traveled directly to the base of the brain, contributing to the formation of the circle of Willis, and did not send any significant branches to other tissues. Two vessels (internal eth...
Svalastoga E, Smith M.The subchondral bone pressure in the navicular bone of horses with navicular disease is compared with corresponding pressures in normal horses. An increased intraosseous pressure and a lengthened pressure drop time was demonstrated in patients with navicular disease, which indicates the existence of a venous stasis. Compared with similar investigations in humans with arthrosis it is concluded that navicular disease is a condition resembling arthrosis. The classical clinical symptoms are explained as an expression of resting pains. Treatments are suggested which theoretically can render the pat...
Ostlund C, Pero RW, Olsson B.1. The reproducibility of blood pressure determinations on 103 male horses gave an average coefficient of variation of 5.0%. 2. Different parameters affecting the methodology of blood pressure measurements were separately analysed; i.e. size of specimen, size of cuff in relationship to tail circumference and temperature of the environment. 3. A strong positive linear correlation between age and blood pressure in the horse was established for two breeds with widely varying genetic background--Swedish Warmbloods and Arabians.
Pascoe RR.Within a group of 130 mares which, in the event, carried twin pregnancies, 29 (22.3 per cent) produced their twins following diagnosis of a single palpable follicle at service and a single pregnancy 42 days later. The whole group of 130 twin-pregnant mares gave birth to only 17 live foals (13 per cent). Breeding results for the following season were available for 102 of these mares, when 38 (37 per cent) produced live foals. Thus over the two seasons an average 23 per cent of this group produced live foals. In a second group, comprising 70 mares, twin pregnancy had been diagnosed in all of the...
Bull RW.Six equine lymphocyte alloantigen (ELA) specificities were defined by an international antiserum comparison test and workshop held in 1981. Twelve laboratories from four countries submitted 195 antisera for analysis. The antisera were exchanged among the 12 laboratories and tested in a standard lymphocyte microcytoxicity assay against the isolated lymphocytes at 1009 horses of several breeds. The data was pooled and analysed by a single computer analysis. The calculated chi 2 values of all cells with all antisera provided comparisons between antisera. Fifteen antisera clusters were formed by t...
Leach D, Oliphant L.Incidental to studies of keratinization of the equine hoof wall, annular gap junctions were found in the stratum spinosum of the intertubular horn of the stratum medium. Adjacent cells of the stratum spinosum showed extensive gap junctions, and often local invaginations of one cell into another were bound by gap junctions. It is proposed that these invaginations become detached from the cell surface to form the annular gap junctions. Formation of annular gap junctions may be a means of disposing of plasma membrane in response to changes in cell volume or shape occurring in keratinization. Inte...
Timoney PJ, Dillon PB, Geraghty VP, McArdle JF.Aspects of experimental transmission of the causal bacterium of contagious equine metritis (CEM) to albino Swiss mice were investigated. Whereas infection was established in the majority of female mice, the organism was recovered from only a limited number of male mice after challenge. No clinical evidence of infection was observed in the experimental mice. There was only one instance of presumptive venereal transmission of the CEM bacterium. One third of infected females conceived and had normal litters.
Peters GJ, Oosterhof A, Veerkamp JH.1. Activity of uridine kinase was very low in ovine lymphocytes and in those of some pigs. Lymphocytes of other pigs showed a significantly higher activity of this enzyme. Activity of uridine kinase in lymphocytes of man, horse and cattle was intermediate. 2. Activity of uridine phosphorylase was higher than that of uridine kinase with lymphocytes of all species. 3. Activity of uridine kinase in equine lymphocytes increases at PHA-stimulation and also in porcine lymphocytes with a low activity at the start of the culture. Activity of uridine kinase decreased in porcine lymphocytes with a high ...
Campbell TM, Studdert MJ, Blackney MH.Some kinetic data on the inactivation of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV1) and equine rhinovirus type 1 (ERhV1) by betapropiolactone (BPL) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation are reported. 0.25% BPL at 37 degrees C for 1 h reduced the titre of EHV1 by greater than 10(3 . 4) and of ERhV1 by greater than 10(4 . 1) TCID50/ml. UV irradiation (334 microW/cm2) produced similar reductions in titre after 2 min. These data were used as a basis for inactivating EHV1 and ERhV1 by the combined action of BPL and UV irradiation. Viruses were exposed to 0.1% BPL for 1 h at 4 degrees C with constant stirring, fol...
Littlejohn A, Bowles F, Maluleka W.The percentage venous admixture was calculated in 21 clinically normal horses and ponies and in 13 horses and ponies with chronic obstructure pulmonary disease (COPD). The oxygen contents of pulmonary end-capillary blood, arterial and mixed venous blood were calculated from blood and respiratory gas values and substituted in the shunt equation. The mean percentage venous admixture of the COPD subjects was significantly greater than that of the normal subjects. It was concluded that a larger proportion of alveoli in the lungs of COPD subjects were hypoventilated than that of alveoli of the norm...
Rubin CT, Lanyon LE.Rosette strain gauges were attached to the midshaft of the radius and tibia of two horses and two dogs, which ran on a treadmill through their entire range of speed and gait. The relative magnitudes of the principal strains on the opposite cortices of each bone remained constant through the stance phase of the stride, and their orientation varied by a maximum of only 14 degrees through the entire speed range. The maximum strain rate increased linearly with speed, but the peak strain magnitude was also dependent upon the gait used, increasing incrementally by up to 59% at the transition from wa...
Skarda RT, Muir WW.A new technique for producing segmental subarachnoid analgesia in adult horses without causing complete loss of locomotor control is described. A 17-gauge Huber point (Tuohy) needle was used to place a catheter with a stylet into the subarachnoid space at the lumbosacral intervertebral space in 13 adult horses (weighing 500 +/- 60 kg, representing both sexes) and to advance the catheter craniad to the thoracolumbar area. The position of the catheter was confirmed radiographically. A 2% mepivacaine hydrochloride solution (1.5 ml, 30 mg) was injected through the catheter at a rate of 0.5 ml/60 s...
Heizmann CW, Berchtold MW, Rowlerson AM.The physiological role of the Ca2+-binding protein parvalbumin in skeletal muscle has been investigated by measuring the parvalbumin content by HPLC in a variety of mammalian muscles, including man, and comparing the results with the respective muscle relaxation properties and fiber type compositions. The parvalbumin concentrations were highest in the skeletal muscles of the smallest animal investigated (mouse, gastrocnemius: 4.9 g/kg), which has the highest relaxation speed, and lowest in the larger animals (horse, deep gluteal muscle: less than or equal to 0.001 g/kg) and man (vastus, tricep...
Meyers K, Reed S, Keck M, Clem M, Bayly W.Twenty-three horses with clinical signs of gastrointestinal disease were evaluated once or serially during the course of the disease for the presence or absence of circulating endotoxin-like substances (ET+ or ET-) and whether the horses were negative, positive, or very positive for serum fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP-, FDP+, or FDP++). In addition, platelet count, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and 1-stage prothrombin time (OSPT) were measured. When examined initially, 5 horses were ET-/FDP-, 8 were ET-/FDP+, 7 were ET+/FDP-, 3 were ET+/FDP+, and none was ET+/FDP+...
Timoney PJ, Powell DG.Between January 1978 and August 1982 the streptomycin resistant strain of the contagious equine metritis organism (CEMO) was isolated from 15 colts and two fillies in the United Kingdom and Ireland. A first season stallion was also suspected of having initiated an outbreak of contagious equine metritis (CEM) at the beginning of the 1982 breeding season. A detailed investigation of the breeding history of the dams and sires of each positive individual indicated that in a number of cases the CEMO was acquired either in utero or following transmission at the time of parturition. In several other ...
Wilkie BN.Effective resistance to respiratory tract infection depends principally on specific immunity on mucosal surfaces of the upper or lower respiratory tract. Respiratory tract immune response comprises antibody and cell-mediated systems and may be induced most readily by surface presentation of replicating agents but can result from parenteral or local presentation of highly immunogenic antigens. Upper and lower respiratory tract systems differ in immunologic competence, with the lungs having a greater inventory of protective mechanisms than the trachea or nose. Several effective vaccines have bee...
Antczak DF.The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a genetic region that has been intensively studied for the past 2 decades. Interest in the MHC has been high because of (i) the particular involvement of the MHC in transplantation reactions, including organ allograft rejection in human beings; and (ii) the more general role of MHC gene products in the genetic control of immune responses in all mammals. The MHC has several remarkable properties that include a distinctive genetic structure which has been well-preserved through evolution, and the extreme plasticity of form of the principal MHC genes,...
Stormont CJ.The membrane of RBC is literally peppered with a great variety of antigenic determinants (blood factors). Some are fixed genetically, ie, they occur on the RBC of all members of the species under study. Others segregate genetically, ie, they occur on the RBC of some but not all members of the species under study. It is these segregrating determinants that form the blood groups proper, the classic example being blood factors A and B of the ABO system of human blood groups. The number of blood group determinants varies considerably between species (eg, greater than 80 in domestic cattle to only ...
Campbell TM, Studdert MJ.An inactivated equine adenovirus type 1 (EAdV1) vaccine was administered to 4 horses. The horses had virus-neutralizing (VN) antibody titers before they were vaccinated, but developed higher VN antibody titers in response to vaccination. Nonvaccinated control horses did not show increases in VN antibody during the study, indicating that any increase in antibody titer in vaccinated horses was a result of vaccination and not due to an EAdV1 epizootic during the study. Specific EAdV1 in vitro lymphocyte blastogenesis (LB) was evaluated, using lymphocytes from 4 vaccinated and 2 control horses. Ho...
Stanley SD, Moffitt K, Wiebe V.Equine practitioners should follow these recommendations when using compounded medications: (1) the decision must be veterinary driven, based on a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship and on evidence-based medicine; (2) compliance with the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act of 1994; and (3) use limited to (a) horses for which no other method or route of drug delivery is practical; (b) those drugs for which safety, efficacy, and stability have been demonstrated; or (c) disease conditions for which a quantifiable response to therapy or drug concentration can be monitored.
Fey K, Weiss R, Sasse HH.Both, the oral and intravenous application of two trimethoprim-potentiated sulfonamides induced measurable antibacterial activities in the feces of horses. With regard to the risk of antibiotic-induced alterations of the gastrointestinal flora, the route of application of potentiated sulfonamides seems to be of minor importance. The antibiotics used were Sulfadimethoxine/Trimethoprim (Trafigal 30% ad us. vet.) for oral and Sulfadoxine/Trimethoprim (Borgal 24% ad us. vet., both Hoechst AG, Frankfurt) for intravenous application. As recommended, both drugs were given in a dose of 20 mg per kg bo...
Greeves PR, Witherington DH.The difficulties that arise in filling out marking certificates for thoroughbreds are described. The description given on the certificate has to be both written and graphic. A general guide to whorl location is given.
van der Mey GJ, Bos H.The study of the literature on a preliminary performance test for saddle horses (stallions) is concerned with European countries. Interest is found to be increasing in the various countries. Performance of the test in the Netherlands (since 1966) is described and the various criteria of evaluation are discussed in detail. The intensity of selection based on this test is referred to. In 1974, it was 78 per cent in the Netherlands. Part of studies on the relationship between some results of testing are reviewed. The traction test shows a very low coefficient of correlation with the other parts o...
Scheidegger E, Geissbühlerl U, Doherr MG, Lang J.Bone scintigraphy is a very sensitive diagnostic tool to detect elevated bone metabolism. In cases of fractures and fissure fractures, the radiopharmaceutical uptake in the bone is said to be increased within a few hours after the injury. In this retrospective study, the scintigraphic uptake characteristics at the fracture site of 36 horses with radiographically confirmed fractures or fissure fractures were evaluated. Uptake ratios between the fracture region and adjacent normal bone or soft tissue activity respectively were calculated and compared to different anamnestic and radiographic data...
Kaji Y, Taniyama H, Matsukawa K, Okada H, Tsunoda S, Tagami M, Akita H.Nodular hepatic lesions caused by larval Echinococcus multilocularis were found in a four-year-old female thoroughbred race horse born and raised in Hokkaido. Before detection of the infection, the infected animal was transported around Honshu for racing. The present disclosure of hydatidosis in a race horse raises concern over the potential danger of spreading the infection throughout Japan by horses possibly infected in Hokkaido.
Kudrnáčová M, Langrová I, Maršálek M, Jankovská I, Scháňková S, Brožová A, Truněčková J.The occurrence of Hypoderma diana (Diptera: Hypodermatidae) in a herd of 15 horses was observed during a 4-year period (2010-2013) in northwest Bohemia. During this period, infestation by the warble fly H. diana increased from 12.5% in 2010 to 53.3% in 2013. Nodules were observed on the neck, back, stomach, legs, and head. The incidence of H. diana was probably influenced by the presence of a specific host mouflon (Ovis orientalis musimon).
Sarasola P, Horspool LJ, McKellar QA.The effect of urine pH on plasma disposition of ampicillin sodium was evaluated. A single dose of 10 mg/kg of body weight was administered IV to Thoroughbreds with alkaline (pH greater than 8.0) or acidic (pH less than 4.5) urine. Urine alkalinity was achieved and maintained by oral administration of up to 400 mg of sodium bicarbonate/kg/d, and acidity was achieved and maintained by oral administration of up to 400 mg of ammonium chloride/kg/d. Ampicillin sodium was measured in the plasma of horses by use of an agar diffusion microbiological assay with Bacillus subtilis as the test organism. T...
Kirschvink N, Reinhold P.In veterinary medicine, upper airway resistance deserves a particular attention in equines athletes and brachycephalic dogs. Due to the anatomical peculiarities of the upper airway and/or pathological conditions, significant alterations of performance and/or well being might occur in horses and dogs. Physiological specificities and pathological changes of the lower respiratory tract deserve a major attention in other species.