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.
Taylor CR.This paper develops three simple ideas about force development during sustained locomotion which provide some insights into the mechanisms that determine why animals change gait, how fast they can run, and how much metabolic energy they consume. The first idea is that the alternate stretch-shorten pattern of activity of the muscles involved in locomotion allows muscle-tendon units to function as springs, affecting the amount of force a given cross-sectional area of muscle develops, and the metabolic requirements of the muscles for force development. Animals select speeds and stride frequencies...
McMahon TA.The running gaits used by both bipedal and quadrupedal animals are reviewed and contrasted. At high speeds, bipeds use both ordinary running, in which the legs move opposite one another, and hopping. Quadrupeds generally use the trot or its variations at moderate speeds, and first the canter and then the gallop as speed increases. Running in both bipeds and quadrupeds generally involves at least one aerial phase per stride cycle, but certain perturbations to running including running in circles, running under enhanced gravity, running on compliant surfaces and running with increased knee flexi...
Mitchell CJ, Darsie RF, Monath TP, Sabattini MS, Daffner J.A large net trap was used to sample mosquito populations attracted to horses at three sites each in Santa Fe and Rio Negro Provinces, Argentina, during the austral summer of 1984. These provinces, as well as others in Argentina, were affected by a severe epizootic of western equine encephalitis (WEE) during 1982-83. Totals of 2,752 and 6,929 mosquitoes were collected in Santa Fe and Rio Negro Provinces during five and three trap nights, respectively. Culex mosquitoes of the subgenus Culex were predominant (45.8% of total) in the Santa Fe collections, although Aedes albifasciatus also was preva...
Sweeting MP, Houpt CE, Houpt KA.Eight pairs of pony mares were observed. Members of a pair were housed in adjacent stalls and fed hay ad libitum. The behavior of both ponies was recorded simultaneously in the morning (1000 to 1200 h) and afternoon (1400 to 1600 h) for a total of 117 h. The time budget was: 70.1 +/- 8.6% eating; 17.8 +/- 7.4% standing (including stand rest, stand alert and stand nonalert); 5.2 +/- 7.0% pushing hay; 2.9 +/- 1.2% walking; 1.9 +/- 2.9% drinking; 1.3 +/- 1.1% self-grooming; .2 +/- .3% defecating; .06 +/- .1% chewing nonfood items; .06 +/- .03% urination; .06 +/- .1% licking salt; .07 +/- .1% pawi...
McKenzie HA, Shaw DC.The amino acid sequence of equine milk lysozyme has been elucidated. The study involves the determination of the sequence of the N-terminal region of the whole protein, cyanogen bromide fragments, tryptic and chymotryptic peptides and fragments produced by chemical cleavage after tryptophan residues. The protein consists of a single chain of 129 amino acid residues and has a Mr of 14647. While equine milk lysozyme has the essential features of a c(chick)-type lysozyme, there is only 51% sequence homology with human milk lysozyme and 50% with domestic hen egg white lysozyme. Some of the implica...
Draeger J, Köhler L, Winter R.The larger the corneal graft, the more difficult is the excision of the button and especially suturing of the graft. The instruments and microsurgical unit are adapted to size and dimensions of animal surgery. The mathematical correlation between the diameter of the graft, the thickness of the cornea, and the length of the wound edges and suturing material can be calculated.
Magnuson NS, Perryman LE, Mason PH, Marta KM.A microassay requiring as few as 2 X 10(5) cells per assay was developed for systematic analysis of 9 purine enzymes in lymphocytes from equine peripheral blood, spleen, lymph node, thymus and bone marrow. The activities of adenosine deaminase (ADA), purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), adenosine kinase (AK), deoxyadenosine kinase (dAK), deoxycytidine kinase (dCK), 5'-nucleotidase (5'-N), AMP deaminase, hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT or HPRT), and adenine phosphoribosyl transferase (APRT) were measured by this microassay in lymphocytes from peripheral blood from four ...
Trommershausen Bowling A, Clark RS.Gene frequencies at 20 blood group and protein polymorphism loci (A, C, D, K, P, Q, U, Al, Tf, Pi, Xk, Es, Gc, PGD, CA, Cat, PGM, AP, Hb and PHI) are given for seven horse breeds in the United States (Thoroughbred, Arabian, Standardbred, Morgan, Quarter Horse, Paso Fino and Peruvian Paso). These data are used to calculate that the battery of tests is at least 96% effective for recognizing incorrect paternity in these breeds. In addition to paternity testing, these tests can be applied to studies of breed relationships.
Tschudi P.The physiological and technical basis of the electrocardiography are shortly explained. The electrodes used for the recording of bipolare thoracal leads, their fixation on the horse, the practical procedure of a ECG-recording, its appearance and variation are described and illustrated. A recommendation for a systematic evaluation and interpretation is being proposed.
Varewyck H, Bouquet Y, Lazary S, Guérin G, Van de Weghe A, Van Zeveren A.158 Belgian Saddlebreds, 130 Belgian Trotters, 108 Belgian Draft horses and 92 Shetland ponies have been typed for serologically defined antigens at the ELA and ELY systems. Gene frequencies were estimated in each breed for the internationally established ELA, ELY-1 and ELY-2 alleles as well as for locally assigned additional ELA markers and for subtypes of ELA-W3, W9 and W11. The distribution of ELA alleles was in agreement with the expected Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for the 4 horse breeds described here. Differences in gene frequencies between these main Belgian horse populations were obser...
Hawkes J, Hedges M, Daniluk P, Hintz HF, Schryver HF.Preference trials were conducted with mature ponies. In Trial 1, oats were compared with oats plus sucrose. Four of six pony geldings selected oats plus sucrose, but one pony demonstrated a dislike for sucrose and one selected from the bucket on the right side regardless of content. Oats, maize, barley, rye and wheat were compared in Trial 2 using six mature pony mares. Oats were the preferred grain, with maize and barley ranking second and third respectively. Wheat and rye were the least preferred. Even though the ponies demonstrated preference, the total intake at a given meal was not greatl...
Knight DA, Tyznik WJ.Fourteen Quarter Horse foals were used to evaluate the effects of artificial rearing on growth. Seven foals were removed from their dams at 3 d of age and fed a reconstituted 26% crude protein (CP) milk replacer free choice for 1 mo, at which time ad libitum solid feeding began. Controls were weaned from their dams at 2 mo of age and fed a 21% CP concentrate ad libitum until the end of the trial. Variables measured during the 26-wk trial were live body weight, height at the withers and length of body from point of shoulder to point of hip. No significant differences were found between the two ...
Bonhomme-Florentin A.Cecum microfauna association with different plant tissues was examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The ciliates were attached to the damaged areas of the leaves and their highest concentrations were found on the epidermis and mesophyll tissues. The degradation of plant tissue was due to protozoal ingestion of the plant fragments. The morphology of ingested envacuolized chloroplasts changed rapidly, showing different stages of digestion inside the ciliate endoplasm. Intact chloroplasts were rarely observed but the grana of fragmented thylakoid membranes was often seen. The...
Osiyemi TI, Synge EM, Agbonlahor DE, Agbavwe R.Toxoplasma gondii antibodies were found in the sera of 22.86% of people in the Jos area of Plateau State, Nigeria. The incidence of antibodies in Nigerian food animals was 17.40%, the highest being in sheep (21.92%) and lowest in goats (13.88%). Cattle and horses were roughly equally infected--about 17.0%. The zoonotic potential of T. gondii in food animals is stressed and epidemiological factors are reviewed.
Amin TM, Sirs JA.A comparative study has been made of the blood rheology, and its component factors, in horse, sheep, cattle, goat, camel, pig, dog, rabbit and man. The erythrocyte flexibility of horse red cells is high relative to man, that of pig, dog, camel and rabbit comparable, but less flexible, and sheep, cattle and goat relatively inflexible. The erythrocyte flexibility of horse, sheep, cattle and goats does not vary with the plasma fibrinogen level, as occurs with human and rabbit cells. Washing erythrocytes and then suspending them in isotonic saline makes the erythrocytes of all species relatively i...
Mettler NE, Fernández AS, Di Santo MI, Pardo DA.Sera from 282 equines from Tandil country and surroundings were investigated searching for hemagglutination inhibition (HI), Complement fixation (CF), and Neutralizing (NT) antibodies against three flavivirus:Ilheus, St. Louis Encephalitis, and Yellow Fever from the Togaviridae family. Sera were collected between 3-20-79 and 11-25-80 from 10 different places in Tandil and Ayacucho countries. Animals ranged from 45 days to 27 years old. Forty nine of them reacted with one or more flavivirus by HI and/or CF tes representing a prevalence of 17.4% for this antigenic complex. Twenty four of them ne...
Broström H, Hellström U, Hammarström S, Obel N, Perlmann P.Untreated and neuraminidase-treated equine peripheral blood lymphocytes were analysed for binding of the A hemagglutinin of the snail Helix pomatia (HP). For optimal staining by direct immunofluorescence, the concentration of neuraminidase had to be increased as compared to that needed for other species. Moreover, higher concentrations of HP were required for optimal staining of equine lymphocytes as compared to lymphocytes from other species. Even so, the maximal number of equine lymphocytes exhibiting positive staining was only about 20%. No, or very few, HP-positive lymphocytes were seen wh...
Broström H, Hellström U, Ziverts I, Obel N, Perlmann P.In a preceding report we have shown that the lectin Helix pomatia A hemagglutinin (HP) binds to two subpopulations of neuraminidase-treated equine peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL), constituting about 20% and 75% of PBL, respectively. The aim of the present study was to further characterize these HP+ cells in regard to other surface markers such as receptors for guinea pig erythrocytes (GPR+ cells), membrane-bound immunoglobulins (sIg+ cells), receptors for activated complement (C3R+ cells) and receptors for IgG (Fc alpha R+ cells). This was done by double marker analysis and by lymphocyte fr...
Betton JM, Desmadril M, Mitraki A, Yon JM.The unfolding-refolding transition of horse muscle phosphoglycerate kinase induced by guanidine hydrochloride was studied under equilibrium conditions using four different signals: fluorescence intensity at 336 nm, UV difference absorbance at 286 and 292 nm, ellipticity at 220 nm, and enzyme activity. From the following arguments, we found that the process deviates from a two-state model and intermediates are significantly populated even at equilibrium: (1) the noncoincidence of the transition curves and (2) the asymmetry of the transition curve obtained from CD measurements. From these differ...
Conti A, Godovac-Zimmermann J, Liberatori J, Braunitzer G.beta-Lactoglobulin-like proteins were detected in horse colostrum and normal milk using immunological techniques. In contrast to the beta-lactoglobulins sequenced so far these proteins are monomeric and genetically not homogenous. In this paper we report the first primary structure of a monomeric beta-lactoglobulin from horse colostrum. By means of an automatic liquid-phase sequenator the sequence of peptides obtained by tryptic digestion and by cyanogen bromide cleavage was determined. A limited tryptic digestion and hydrolysis with chymotrypsin provided the necessary overlapping peptides. Th...
Adami M, Faria MM, Almeida AE, Pinto MG, Prada IL.The present study examined the ultrastructure of the choroid plexus of the lateral ventricle of the horse. The material was fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 m sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.3, processed and analysed by scanning electron microscopy. The choroid plexus was characterized by regions with a predominance of villi, which resembled finger-like projections or bunches of grapes, and others where straight and uniform folds predominated. Epithelial cells projected into the ventricle and large amounts of cilia and microvilli were observed on their surface. The choroid glomus corresponded...
Roberts MC, Kidder DE, Hill FW.Two enzymes having lactase activity are present in the equine small intestine. The first, the digestive enzyme, neutral beta-galactosidase, declines in activity from birth to three years, disappearing completely between 3 and 4 years of age. The other, the soluble lysosomal enzyme, acid beta-galactosidase, having affinity for lactose and a synthetic beta-galactoside, shows a decrease in activity in the first three months of life and thereafter varies little in activity and represents the lactase enzyme in the adult horse. This pattern may parallel the development of lactase activity in many ot...
Oliver L, Hartree AS.The cystine-containing peptides of horse growth hormone were isolated and their amino acid sequences determined. Four unique half-cystine residues occur in two peptides, one containing 11 and the other, at the C-terminus of the protein, 15 amino acids. These sequences are compared with published data on growth hormones from other species.
Rohner K, Demuth D.We report cases of adverse reactions, some of which serious, of four frequently used therapeutic substances in several animal species. In order to avoid similar cases we discuss special measures or alternative therapies.