Veterinary science and horses encompass the study and application of medical, surgical, and therapeutic practices to maintain and improve the health and welfare of equines. This field addresses a wide range of topics, including disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as nutrition, reproduction, and behavior. Research in veterinary science for horses often involves understanding the pathophysiology of equine-specific diseases, developing advanced diagnostic techniques, and improving treatment protocols. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of veterinary science related to horses, providing insights into the latest advancements and methodologies in equine healthcare.
West J, Gill WW.Genome editing in large animals has tremendous practical applications, from more accurate models for medical research through improved animal welfare and production efficiency. Although genetic modification in large animals has a 30 year history, until recently technical issues limited its utility. The original methods - pronuclear injection and integrating viruses - were plagued with problems associated with low efficiency, silencing, poor regulation of gene expression, and variability associated with random integration. With the advent of site specific nucleases such as TALEN and CRISPR/Cas9...
Kang OD, Yun YM.The present study aims to confirm the influence of a horse-riding lesson program (HRLP) on the stress level of horses and riders by respectively analyzing their salivary cortisol concentration. Twenty-four healthy horses and 23 riders participated in this study. The horses were randomly classified into two groups for the horse riding lesson program: Class 1 (for the beginner lesson) and Class 2 (for the intermediate lesson). The Class 1 group consisted of 12 horses and 12 riders, while the Class 2 group consisted of 12 horses and 11 riders. Salivettes cotton wool swabs were used for saliva col...
Mochizuki M, Hayakawa N, Minowa F, Saito A, Ishioka K, Ueda F, Okubo K, Tazaki H.In this study, iodine and thyroxin (T4) concentrations in the serum of 69 horses were investigated. Higher iodine concentrations were obtained from the horses housed in Chiba Prefecture. In contrast, T4 concentrations of horses at Shizuoka Prefecture were higher than those of horses at Chiba Prefecture. There was a significant correlation (r = 0.643, P < 0.001) between the iodine and T4 concentrations of horses at Saitama and Shizuoka prefectures. Although a significant correlation (r = 0.794, P < 0.001) was also observed in the investigation of all horses at Chiba Prefec...
Sinclair J.Veterinary students with a particular interest in equine medicine and surgery gathered at Nottingham vet school recently to further their knowledge and skills in these areas. Jordan Sinclair, editor of the Journal of the Association of Veterinary Students, reports.
Field HE.Hendra virus causes acute and highly fatal infection in horses and humans. Pteropid bats (flying-foxes) are the natural host of the virus, with age and species being risk factors for infection. Urine is the primary route of excretion in flying-foxes, with viral RNA more frequently detected in Pteropus alecto and P. conspicillatus than other species. Infection prevalence in flying-foxes can vary between and within years, with a winter peak of excretion occurring in some regions. Vertical transmission and recrudescing infection has been reported in flying-foxes, but horizontal transmission is ev...
Wylie CE, Shaw DJ, Verheyen KL, Newton JR.The objective of this cross-sectional study was to compare the prevalence of selected clinical signs in laminitis cases and non-laminitic but lame controls to evaluate their capability to discriminate laminitis from other causes of lameness. Participating veterinary practitioners completed a checklist of laminitis-associated clinical signs identified by literature review. Cases were defined as horses/ponies with veterinary-diagnosed, clinically apparent laminitis; controls were horses/ponies with any lameness other than laminitis. Associations were tested by logistic regression with adjusted o...
Tangtrongsup S, Kisiday JD.Dexamethasone is known to support mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) chondrogenesis, although the effects of dose and timing of exposure are not well understood. The objective of this study was to investigate these variables using a laboratory model of MSC chondrogenesis. Methods: Equine MSCs were encapsulated in agarose and cultured in chondrogenic medium with 1 or 100 nM dexamethasone, or without dexamethasone, for 15 days. Samples were analyzed for extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation, prostaglandin E2 and alkaline phosphatase secretion, and gene expression of selected collagens and catabolic e...
Gronqvist G, Rogers C, Gee E.Within popular press there has been much coverage of the negative effects associated with firework and horses. The effect of fireworks has been documented in companion animals, yet no studies have investigated the negative effects, or otherwise, of fireworks on horses. This study aims to document horse responses and current management strategies to fireworks via an online survey. Of the total number of horses, 39% (1987/4765) were rated as "anxious", 40% (1816/4765) "very anxious" and only 21% (965/4765) rated as "not anxious" around fireworks. Running (82%, 912/1107) was the most common behav...
Qi M, Wang R, Wang H, Jian F, Li J, Zhao J, Dong H, Zhu H, Ning C, Zhang L.In present study, 262 fecal specimens were collected from 12 groups of grazing horses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The specimens were subjected to PCR and sequencing analyses of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS). The overall prevalence of E. bieneusi in horses was 30.9% (81/262). No significant differences in prevalence were observed between horses of different ages or sexes. Nineteen genotypes were identified: 15 known genotypes (BEB6, CHG19, CM6, CM7, CM8, CS-1, CS-4, D, EpbA, EbpC, G, horse1, horse2, O, and Peru8) and four new genotypes (XJH1-XJH4). Six ...
Okabe K, Mukai K, Ohmura H, Takahashi T, Miyata H.We examined the effect of transient hypoxic exposure during high-intensity exercise on satellite cell activation and angiogenesis in Thoroughbred skeletal muscle. Methods: Six Thoroughbreds horses (6.3±0.8 years old) ran on a treadmill in normoxia (N; FIO2=21%) and hypoxia (H; FIO2=16%) at the same speed for the same duration, and oxygen consumption and plasma lactate and hemoglobin concentrations were measured. In addition, muscle biopsy samples were obtained from gluteus medius muscle before exercise and immediately, 4 hours, 24 hours, 3 days and 7 days after exercise, and immunohistochemic...
Williams LB, Russell KA, Koenig JB, Koch TG.Recently, equine multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have received significant attention as therapy for various conditions due to their proposed regenerative and immune-modulating capacity. MSC are commonly administered to the patient through a hypodermic needle. Currently, little information is available on the effect of such injection has on equine MSC immediate and delayed viability. We hypothesize that viability of equine MSC is not correlated with needle diameter during aspiration and injection. Results: Using a 3 mL syringe, manual injection of equine cord blood (CB) or bone ma...
This year's Association of Veterinary Students' congress was held at the University of Liverpool, and included a varied programme, with subjects ranging from the role of large-scale production systems in dairy farming and fertility practices in horses to the importance of recognising and talking about mental health problems within the veterinary profession. Jordan Sinclair, editor of the Journal of the Association of Veterinary Students, reports.
Smyth GB, Dagley K.To obtain information on the types of Australian horses, how they are kept and their activities. Methods: An invitation to participate in an opt-in, internet-based survey was sent to 7000 people who had registered an email address to receive information from the Australian Horse Industry Council Inc. Results: There were 3377 (48%) useable responses from owners of 26,548 horses. Most horses were kept on small properties (usually 2-8 ha) in paddocks in rural areas of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. Most horses were female or geldings and the most common of 54 different activities was...
Lee SH, Yun SH, Choi E, Park YS, Lee SE, Cho GJ, Kwon OD, Kwak D.Lyme disease is a tick-borne zoonotic infectious disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. The present study assessed the infection status of B. burgdorferi among horses reared in Korea using ELISA and PCR. Between 2009 and 2013, blood samples were collected from 727 horses throughout Korea. Data for each animal including age, gender, breed, and region of sample collection were used for epidemiological analysis. Overall, 38 (5.2%; true prevalence: 5.5%) of 727 horses were seropositive by ELISA. There were statistically significant differences according to breed and region (P<0.001) whose diff...
Rose N, Toews L, Pang DS.Clinical audit is a quality improvement process with the goal of continuously improving quality of patient care as assessed by explicit criteria. In human medicine clinical audit has become an integral and required component of the standard of care. In contrast, in veterinary medicine there appear to have been a limited number of clinical audits published, indicating that while clinical audit is recognised, its adoption in veterinary medicine is still in its infancy. A systematic review was designed to report and evaluate the veterinary literature on clinical audit in companion animal species ...
Starling M, McLean A, McGreevy P.Equitation science is an evidence-based approach to horse training and riding that focuses on a thorough understanding of both equine ethology and learning theory. This combination leads to more effective horse training, but also plays a role in keeping horse riders and trainers safe around horses. Equitation science underpins ethical equitation, and recognises the limits of the horse's cognitive and physical abilities. Equitation is an ancient practice that has benefited from a rich tradition that sees it flourishing in contemporary sporting pursuits. Despite its history, horse-riding is an a...
Sung SE, Hwang M, Kim AY, Lee EM, Lee EJ, Hwang SK, Kim SY, Kim HK, Jeong KS.Mesenchymal stem cells could potentially be used in the clinical treatment of muscle disorders and muscle regeneration. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) can be easily isolated from adipose tissue, as opposed to stem cells of other tissues. We believe that cell therapy using ADSCs could be applied to muscle disorders in horses and other species. We sought to improve the myogenic differentiation potential of equine ADSCs (eqADSCs) using a MyoD lentiviral vector. MyoD lentiviruses were transduced into eqADSCs and selected using puromycin. Cells were cultured in differentiation media containing ...
The Journal of heredityFebruary 16, 2016
Volume 107, Issue 3 214-219 doi: 10.1093/jhered/esw007
Jacobs LN, Staiger EA, Albright JD, Brooks SA.Shared signaling pathways utilized by melanocytes and neurons result in pleiotropic traits of coat color and behavior in many mammalian species. For example, in humans polymorphisms at MC1R cause red hair, increased heat sensitivity, and lower pain tolerance. In deer mice, rats, and foxes, ASIP polymorphisms causing black coat color lead to more docile demeanors and reduced activity. Horse (Equus caballus) base coat color is primarily determined by polymorphisms at the Melanocortin-1 Receptor (MC1R) and Agouti Signaling Protein (ASIP) loci, creating a black, bay, or chestnut coat. Our goal was...
Martin P, Cheze L, Pourcelot P, Desquilbet L, Duray L, Chateau H.Knowledge about the horse-saddle-rider interaction remains limited. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of the rider׳s position at rising trot on the pressure distribution, spine movements, stirrups forces and locomotion of the horse. The horse׳s back movements were measured using IMUs fixed at the levels of thoracic (T6, T12, T16) and lumbar (L2, L5) vertebrae, the pressure distribution using a pressure mat and stirrups forces using force sensors. The horse׳s and rider׳s approximated centres of mass (COM) were calculated using 2D reflective markers. To compare both trot phases...
Smith AV, Proops L, Grounds K, Wathan J, McComb K.Whether non-human animals can recognize human signals, including emotions, has both scientific and applied importance, and is particularly relevant for domesticated species. This study presents the first evidence of horses' abilities to spontaneously discriminate between positive (happy) and negative (angry) human facial expressions in photographs. Our results showed that the angry faces induced responses indicative of a functional understanding of the stimuli: horses displayed a left-gaze bias (a lateralization generally associated with stimuli perceived as negative) and a quicker increase in...
Heuer C, Scheel C, Tetens J, Kühn C, Thaller G.Categorical traits without ordinal representation of classes do not qualify for threshold models. Alternatively, the multinomial problem can be assessed by a sequence of independent binary contrasts using schemes such as one-vs-all or one-vs-one. Class probabilities can be arrived at by normalization or pair-wise coupling strategies. We assessed the predictive ability of whole-genome regression models and support vector machines for the classification of horses into four German Warmblood breeds. Results: Prediction accuracies of leave-one-out cross-validation were high and ranged from 0.75 to ...
Matta C, Zhang X, Liddell S, Smith JR, Mobasheri A.There is insufficient knowledge about the chondrocyte membranome and its molecular composition. Objective: To develop a Triton X-114 based separation technique using nanoLC-MS/MS combined with shotgun proteomics to identify chondrocyte membrane proteins. Methods: Articular chondrocytes from equine metacarpophalangeal joints were separated into hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions; trypsin-digested proteins were analysed by nanoLC-MS/MS. Results: A total of 315 proteins were identified. The phase extraction method yielded a high proportion of membrane proteins (56%) including CD276, S100-A6 an...
Frischknecht M, Flury C, Leeb T, Rieder S, Neuditschko M.Shetland ponies were selected for numerous traits including small stature, strength, hardiness and longevity. Despite the different selection criteria, Shetland ponies are well known for their small stature. We performed a selection signature analysis including genome-wide SNPs of 75 Shetland ponies and 76 large-sized horses. Based upon this dataset, we identified a selection signature on equine chromosome (ECA) 1 between 103.8 Mb and 108.5 Mb. A total of 33 annotated genes are located within this interval including the IGF1R gene at 104.2 Mb and the ADAMTS17 gene at 105.4 Mb. These two ge...
Struchen R, Hadorn D, Wohlfender F, Balmer S, Süptitz S, Zinsstag J, Vial F.Clinical observations made by practitioners and reported using web- and mobile-based technologies may benefit disease surveillance by improving the timeliness of outbreak detection. Equinella is a voluntary electronic reporting and information system established for the early detection of infectious equine diseases in Switzerland. Sentinel veterinary practitioners have been able to report cases of non-notifiable diseases and clinical symptoms to an internet-based platform since November 2013. Telephone interviews were carried out during the first year to understand the motivating and constrain...
McKeever KH, McNally BA, Hinchcliff KW, Lehnhard RA, Poole DC.To test the hypotheses that erythropoietin (rhuEPO) treatment increases systemic hematocrit, maximal O2 uptake (VO2max, by elevated perfusive and diffusive O2 conductances) and performance five female horses (4-13 years) received 15 IU/kg rhuEPO (erythropoietin) three times per week for three weeks. These horses had been splenectomized over 1 year previously to avoid confounding effects from the mobilization of splenic red blood cell reserves. Each horse performed three maximal exercise tests (one per month) on an inclined (4°) treadmill to the limit of tolerance; two control trials and one f...
Haenni M, Saras E, Ponsin C, Dahmen S, Petitjean M, Hocquet D, Madec JY.The objective of this study was to characterize ESBL-producing Enterobacter cloacae isolated from animals and to compare their clonal distribution with that of human-related isolates. Among 635 clinical E. cloacae from horses, dogs and cats collected in France between 2010 and 2013, 36 were resistant to ceftiofur as determined by disc diffusion. ESBL genes were identified by sequencing. Plasmids carrying ESBL-encoding genes were characterized by PCR-based replicon typing, S1-PFGE and Southern blotting. IncHI2 plasmids were subtyped using the plasmid double-locus sequence typing scheme and mult...
Galuppi R, Piva S, Castagnetti C, Sarli G, Iacono E, Fioravanti ML, Caffara M.This paper describes the transmission of a zoonotic subtype of Cryptosporidium parvum between two foals hospitalized in an Equine Perinatology Unit (EPU) linked to an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in veterinary students. Fecal specimens of 36 mares (105 samples) and 28 foals (122 samples) were subjected to Ziehl-Neelsen staining, nested PCR of 18S rDNA. Two foals tested positive for Cryptosporidium; PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and subtyping by nested PCR of the 60kDa glycoprotein (gp60) gene revealed C. parvum subtype IIdA23G1. The introduction of Cryptospo...
Zakari FO, Ayo JO, Rekwot PI, Kawu MU.The present experiment was performed with the aim of investigating the effect of season on behavioral activities of donkeys during the rainy and harmattan seasons in the Northern Guinea zone of Nigeria. Sixteen apparently healthy donkeys were used as subjects and divided into four groups based on age. During each season, behavioral activities of each donkey were evaluated for three weeks using the focal animal sampling technique. The dry-bulb temperature (DBT), relative humidity (RH), and temperature-humidity index (THI) were obtained three times each day during the experimental period using s...
Rosanowski SM, Scott I, Sells PD, Rogers CW, Bolwell CF.There is growing concern worldwide regarding anthelmintic resistance in equine parasites. In order to improve parasite control practices and reduce the selection for resistant parasites, baseline data are required. Objective: To describe the current parasite management and control practices used for racehorses. Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: Thoroughbred and Standardbred trainers were surveyed online regarding demographics, parasite control methods, grazing management and quarantine, and the use of faecal egg counts (FEC), with questions stratified by horse type, i.e. racehorses (ho...
Struchen R, Hadorn D, Wohlfender F, Balmer S, Süptitz S, Zinsstag J, Vial F.Clinical observations made by practitioners and reported using web- and mobile-based technologies may benefit disease surveillance by improving the timeliness of outbreak detection. Equinella is a voluntary electronic reporting and information system established for the early detection of infectious equine diseases in Switzerland. Sentinel veterinary practitioners have been able to report cases of non-notifiable diseases and clinical symptoms to an internet-based platform since November 2013. Telephone interviews were carried out during the first year to understand the motivating and constrain...
Bosco-Lauth AM, Bowen RA.West Nile virus (WNV) (Flaviviridae: Flavivirus) was discovered in Africa more than 80 yr ago and became recognized as an avian pathogen and a cause of neurologic disease in horses largely during periodic incursions into Europe. Introduction of WNV into North America stimulated great anxiety, particularly in the equine industry, but also for pet owners and livestock producers concerned about the effect of WNV on other domestic animals. Numerous subsequent studies of naturally occurring and experimentally induced disease greatly expanded our understanding of the host range and clinical conseque...
Blackmore TL, Foster TM, Sumpter CE, Temple W.The ability of four horses (Equus caballus) to discriminate coloured (three shades of blue, green, red, and yellow) from grey (neutral density) stimuli, produced by back projected lighting filters, was investigated in a two response forced-choice procedure. Pushes of the lever in front of a coloured screen were occasionally reinforced, pushes of the lever in front of a grey screen were never reinforced. Each colour shade was randomly paired with a grey that was brighter, one that was dimmer, and one that approximately matched the colour in terms of brightness. Each horse experienced the colour...
You Y, Uboh CE, Soma LR, Guan F, Li X, Liu Y, Rudy JA, Chen J, Tsang D.The potential for using testosterone and nandrolone esters in racehorses to boost the biological concentrations of these steroids and enhance athletic performance is very compelling and should be seriously considered in formulating regulatory policies for doping control. In order to regulate the use of these esters in racehorses, a sensitive and validated method is needed. In this paper, we report such a method for simultaneous separation, screening, quantification and confirmation of 16 testosterone and nandrolone esters in equine plasma by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem ...
Schoonover MJ, Moser DK, Young JM, Payton ME, Holbrook TC.To determine the influence of a dual tourniquet technique and limb exsanguination on amikacin concentrations in the synovial fluid of the radiocarpal joint (RCJ) and distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) after low volume, cephalic intravenous regional limb perfusion (IVRLP). Methods: Randomized cross-over design. Methods: Six healthy adult horses. Methods: One gram of amikacin in 6 mL of 0.9% NaCl was infused via cephalic IVRLP in 6 standing, sedated horses using 4 techniques: proximal pneumatic tourniquet (P), proximal pneumatic tourniquet with exsanguination (PE), proximal pneumatic and distal...
Gomes RG, Andrade ER, Lisboa LA, Ciquini A, Barreiros TR, Fonseca NA, Seneda MM.The objective was to evaluate the efficiency of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and Minimum Essential Medium (MEM) during the transport of equine preantral and antral follicles at various temperatures and incubation interval. Equine ovaries (n = 10) from an abattoir were cut into 19 fragments; one was immediately fixed in Bouin's solution (control) and the other fragments were placed in PBS or MEM solution at 4, 20, or 39 °C for 4, 12, or 24 h. After the respective incubation periods, all fragments were fixed in Bouin's solution for 24 h and then submitted to standard histologic analysis. In ...
Wichmann U, Wichmann G, Krause W.Blood levels of testosterone precursors, i.e. pregnenolone, progesterone, 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone, androstendione, DHEA, and delta 5-androstendiol as well as testosterone and estradiol are measured in 10 animals each of 10 different species. The determination is done by radioimmunoassay with steroidspecific antibodies. Precursors of the delta 5-pathway (DHEA, androstendiol) are low in the red deer, dog, cat, rat and guinea pig. Precursors of the delta 4-pathway (progesterone, 17-hydroxprogesterone, androstendione) are lower in the bull, boar, ram, stallion and rabbit thus indicating a pre...
Bonenberger TE, Ihrke PJ, Naydan DK, Affolter VK.Immunostaining with polyclonal anti-Mycobacterium bovis (BCG) was evaluated as a single screening method for the histological identification of micro-organisms in skin biopsy specimens from various veterinary species. Confirmed archival cases infected with Mycobacteria, Nocardia, Actinobacillus, Actinomyces, Streptococcus/Staphylococcus, Dermatophilus, spirochetes, Blastomyces, Coccidioides, Cryptococcus, Histoplasma, dermatophytes, Malassezia, Sporothrix, Leishmania, Pythium, phaeohyphomycetes and Prototheca organisms were selected. A total of 70 skin biopsy specimens from the dog, cat, horse...
Nansen P, Grønvold J, Henriksen SA, Wolstrup J.Interactions between the predacious hyphomycete Arthrobotrys oligospora and third-stage larvae of nine animal-parasitic nematodes were tested in vitro. The trap-inducing capabilities of the ruminant trichostrongylus Cooperia oncophora, C. curticei, Haemonchus contortus and Ostertagia ostertagi and of equine cyathostomes were almost comparable to those of free-living soil nematodes, and significantly higher than those of the porcine Oesophagostomum dentatum and Oe. quadrispinulatum and of the murine Nematospiroides dubius. The trap-forming potential of Dictyocaulus viviparus was poor. All anima...
Matta C, Zhang X, Liddell S, Smith JR, Mobasheri A.There is insufficient knowledge about the chondrocyte membranome and its molecular composition. Objective: To develop a Triton X-114 based separation technique using nanoLC-MS/MS combined with shotgun proteomics to identify chondrocyte membrane proteins. Methods: Articular chondrocytes from equine metacarpophalangeal joints were separated into hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions; trypsin-digested proteins were analysed by nanoLC-MS/MS. Results: A total of 315 proteins were identified. The phase extraction method yielded a high proportion of membrane proteins (56%) including CD276, S100-A6 an...
Abrahams S, Greenwald L, Stetson DL.In mammals, the length of the loops of Henle increases with increasing body size without a concomitant rise in urinary concentrating ability. Because mass-specific metabolic rate falls with increasing body mass, this study sought to determine the extent to which this decline in metabolic rate could explain the low urinary concentrating ability of large mammals with long loops of Henle. Mitochondrial ultrastructural parameters were measured in the medullary thick ascending limbs (mTALs) of a series of nine mammalian genera ranging in body mass from 0.011 kg (bats) to approximately 400 kg (horse...
Tanase M, Ambe Y, Aoi S, Matsuno F.Among quadrupedal gaits, the galloping gait has specific characteristics in terms of locomotor behavior. In particular, it shows a left-right asymmetry in gait parameters such as touchdown angle and the relative phase of limb movements. In addition, asymmetric gait parameters show a characteristic dependence on locomotion speed. There are two types of galloping gaits in quadruped animals: the transverse gallop, often observed in horses; and the rotary gallop, often observed in dogs and cheetahs. These two gaits have different footfall sequences. Although these specific characteristics in quadr...
Corona A, Cherchi R.Bacteriological surveillance is little applied in management of equine frozen semen but it is quite important to verify the microbial contamination in order to find out the chance of transmission of pathology to the mare in AI. Authors describe a qualitative and quantitative analysis for bacterial contamination on long time (3-17 years) equine frozen semen stored in liquid nitrogen. The semen checked, produced in Italy and in another Europe country, was cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen inside sealed plastic straws. One hundred and ten straws were checked out for pathogenic and no pathogenic ba...
Wild I, Gedge A, Burridge J, Burford J.The COVID-19 pandemic was declared on 11 March 2020. The working equid community includes some of the world's most marginalised people, who rely on animals for their daily lives and livelihoods. A cross-sectional study investigated the effects of COVID-19 on working equid communities, with the intention of developing methods for replication in future unprecedented events. A multi-language survey was developed, involving 38 predominantly closed questions, and carried out face-to-face, over telephone, or online. There were 1530 respondents from a population of individuals who received support fr...
Liehrmann O, Cosnard C, Riihonen V, Viitanen A, Alander E, Jardat P, Koski SE, Lummaa V, Lansade L.Cues such as the human pointing gesture, gaze or proximity to an object are widely used in behavioural studies to evaluate animals' abilities to follow human-given cues. Many domestic mammals, such as horses, can follow human cues; however, factors influencing their responses are still unclear. We assessed the performance of 57 horses at a two-way choice task testing their ability to follow cues of either a familiar (N = 28) or an unfamiliar informant (N = 29). We investigated the effects of the length of the relationship between the horse and a familiar person (main caregiver), their ...
Slocombe JO, Valenzuela J, Lake MC.The transmission of strongyles among 54 Shetland-cross mature ponies was examined from May 30 to November 22, 1983 when the ponies were on pasture and over the ensuing winter when they were in loose housing. Fecal and pasture herbage samples were taken fortnightly through the pasture season and periodically thereafter. Three foals born and reared on pasture were weaned and removed from pasture, two in early August and one in mid-September, and housed for a period before necropsy. Daily maximum and minimum air temperature and total precipitation were recorded. The mean fecal strongyle egg count...
Weller R, Pfau T, May SA, Wilson AM.Assessment of conformation is commonly used in the selection of horses for performance purposes. Little information is available on the normal range of conformational traits within the Thoroughbred population. Objective: To describe variations in conformation in a cohort of racing Thoroughbreds in order to provide a set of baseline standards within which conformational traits can be considered normal. Methods: Ninety-eight conformational parameters were measured in a cohort of 108 National Hunt racehorses using a digital motion analysis system. The measurements consisted of segment lengths, jo...
Biau S, Couve O, Lemaire S, Barrey E.The equestrian literature and reports of experienced riders indicated that attitude of a horse's head and neck is related to the equine locomotion characteristics. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of 3 types of reins on locomotion at walk and trot. Eight saddle horses were tested in an automatic walker without reins, with rubber bands, Chambons and Back lift, using the same procedure. The rubber bands closed the head-neck angle, whereas the Chambons and the Back lift opened it. The gait characteristics were measured with the Equimetrix gait analysis system. Two acceleromet...
Hiraga A, Sugano S.After publication of the epic report on equine exercise physiology by Matsuba and Shimamura in 1933, papers on exercise physiology of the racehorse in Japan began appearing in scientific journals and increased in number. In 1944, respiration during exercise at a walk, trot, and canter was measured by recording expiratory sounds with a microphone attached near the nostril. Respiratory frequency during cantering was synchronized with stride frequency, and expiratory sounds were found to occur during the stance phase of the trailing forelimb. Development of a radiotelemetry system in 1964 for ele...
Scopel e Silva D, de Castro CC, da Silva e Silva F, Sant'anna V, Vargas GD, de Lima M, Fischer G, Brandelli A, da Motta Ade S, Hübner Sde O.P34 is an antimicrobial peptide produced by a Bacillus sp. strain isolated from the intestinal contents of a fish in the Brazilian Amazon basin with reported antibacterial activity. The aim of this work was to evaluate the peptide P34 for its in vitro antiviral properties against canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2), canine coronavirus (CCoV), canine distemper virus (CDV), canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2), equine arteritis virus (EAV), equine influenza virus (EIV), feline calicivirus (FCV) and feline herpesvirus type 1 (FHV-1). The results showed that the peptide P34 exhibited antiviral activity a...
Earle-Richardson GB, Jenkins PL, Scott EE, May JJ.Agriculture ranks as one of the most hazardous industries in the nation. Ongoing injury surveillance is key to identifying and preventing major sources of injury. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the total number and types of injuries identified from community reporting versus two newly available medical data systems. These new systems are important because they are less time consuming and expensive to maintain. Methods: Farm injury case records from 2007 were collected for 10 NY counties from the following sources: ambulance reports, hospital data, and community surveilla...
Cheng FP, Gadella BM, Voorhout WF, Fazeli A, Bevers MM, Colenbrander B.The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the induction of stallion sperm acrosome reaction (AR) by progesterone is mediated by binding of progesterone to a receptor on the sperm plasma membrane or to an intracellular progesterone receptor. Progesterone-BSA conjugate labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (P-BSA-FITC) in combination with a vital stain, ethidium homodimer, was applied to visualize the presence of the progesterone receptor on living spermatozoa. Alternatively, an indirect immunofluorescence technique employing a monoclonal antibody (C-262) against human intracellu...
Lindquist CD, Evans JJ, Wictum EJ.Accurate DNA quantification is essential for optimizing DNA testing and minimizing sample consumption. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays have been published for human and canine nuclear DNA, and the need for quantifying other forensically important species was evident. Following the strategy employed for the canine qPCR assay, we developed individual assays to accurately quantify feline, bovine, equine, and cervid nuclear DNA. Each TaqMan-based assay incorporates a genus-specific probe targeting the Melanocortin-1 Receptor gene and includes a piece of synthetic DNA...
Gaitskell-Phillips G, Martín-Cano FE, Ortiz-Rodríguez JM, da Silva-Álvarez E, Masot J, Redondo E, Gil MC, Ortega-Ferrusola C, Peña FJ.Seminal plasma proteins have important roles in sperm functionality, and different mechanisms including micro-vesicle transport of proteins are involved in the regulation of sperm biology. Due to the role of seminal plasma, we hypothesized that specific proteins present in seminal plasma may be used as discriminant variables with potential to identify stallions producing different quality ejaculates; 10 fertile stallions, with different motility and velocity values (although within normal ranges) were used in this study. Motilities and velocities were studied using computer assisted sperm anal...
The National Reference Center for equine infectious anemia (EIA) validated a commercial ELISA (Eradikit EIAV Indirect ELISA, In3diagnostic, Turin, Italy) employing a chimeric recombinant gag and env peptide for the detection of EIA virus antibodies, following the guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health. The validation parameters evaluated were: analytical sensitivity (Se) and specificity (Sp); diagnostic Se and Sp; precision, based on repeatability and reproducibility through the estimation of the standard deviation (SD) and the coefficient of variation (CV); accuracy, estimated...
Musilova P, Kubickova S, Horin P, Vodicka R, Rubes J.Cross-species chromosome painting has been applied to most of the species making up the numerically small family Equidae. However, comparative mapping data were still lacking in Asiatic asses kulan (Equus hemionus kulan) and kiang (E. kiang). The set of horse arm-specific probes generated by laser microdissection was hybridized onto kulan (E. hemionus kulan) and kiang (E. kiang) chromosomes in order to establish a genome-wide chromosomal correspondence between these Asiatic asses and the horse. Moreover, region-specific probes were generated to determine fusion configuration and orientation of...
Odoi A, Carter CN, Riley JW, Smith JL, Dwyer RM.To develop an early-warning automated surveillance-data-analysis system for early outbreak detection and reporting and to assess its performance on an abortion outbreak in mares in Kentucky. Methods: 426 data sets of abortions in mares in Kentucky during December 2000 to July 2001. Methods: A custom software system was developed to automatically extract and analyze data from a Laboratory Information Management System database. The software system was tested on data on abortions in mares in Kentucky reported between December 1, 2000, and July 31, 2001. The prospective space-time permutations sc...
Guyard KC, Montavon S, Bertolaccini J, Deriaz M.Quantitative information on how well a horse clears a jump has great potential to support the rider in improving the horse's jumping performance. This study investigated the validation of a GPS-based inertial measurement unit, namely Alogo Move Pro, compared with a traditional optical motion capture system. Accuracy and precision of the three jumping characteristics of maximum height (Zmax), stride/jump length (lhorz), and mean horizontal speed (vhorz) were compared. Eleven horse-rider pairs repeated two identical jumps (an upright and an oxer fence) several times ( = 6 to 10) at different hei...
Graham H, van Kalsbeek P, van der Goot J, Koene MGJ.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a tick-borne disease affecting horses, donkeys, mules and zebras, caused by the intracellular apicomplexan protozoa and . The geographical distribution of EP is closely related to the distribution of its vector tick species belonging to the genera of and . Since the discovery of ticks in 2007 and the first reported autochthonous cases in the South of the Netherlands in 2012, no data on the (sero)prevalence of EP in horses in the Netherlands have been reported and it remains unclear whether and have been able to establish themselves in the Netherlands. This stu...
Spence KL, Rosanowski SM, Slater J, Cardwell JM.Exotic diseases pose a significant risk to horse health and welfare. Several stakeholder groups, including primary care veterinarians, share responsibility for maintaining freedom from pathogens that cause exotic diseases. However, little is known about the current state of exotic disease preparedness within the British horse industry. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore equine veterinarians' experiences of, and attitudes towards, exotic disease preparedness in Great Britain. Methods: This is a qualitative interview-based study. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted wit...
