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.
Suagee-Bedore JK, Shen Y, Porr S, Girard ID, Bennett-Wimbush K, Wagner AL.Exercising horses are commonly plagued by muscle fatigue and soreness, which can result in reduced performance ability. In the present study, ten unconditioned horses were fed 200g per day DigestaWell NRG, a commercial dietary supplement containing Yucca schidigera and Trigonella foenum-graecum, two herbs shown in other species to reduce post-exercise muscle pain and soreness. A control, unsupplemented group contained ten horses of similar age, breed, and gender. Horses completed a 50 minutes, ridden standardized exercise test of moderate intensity immediately prior to (Period1) and after 28 d...
MacKechnie-Guire R, Pfau T.Assessing back dysfunction is a key part of the investigative process of "loss of athletic performance" in the horse and quantitative data may help veterinary decision making. Ranges of motion of differential translational and rotational movement between adjacent inertial measurement units attached to the skin over thoracic vertebrae 5, 13 and 18 (T5, T13, T18) lumbar vertebra 3 (L3) and tuber sacrale (TS) were measured in 10 dressage horses during trot in-hand and ridden in sitting trot/canter. Straight-line motion cycles were analysed using a general linear model (random factor: horse; fixed...
Lansade L, Trösch M, Parias C, Blanchard A, Gorosurreta E, Calandreau L.Pet-directed speech (PDS) is a type of speech humans spontaneously use with their companion animals. It is very similar to speech commonly used when talking to babies. A survey on social media showed that 92.7% of the respondents used PDS with their horse, but only 44.4% thought that their horse was sensitive to it, and the others did not know or doubted its efficacy. We, therefore, decided to test the impact of PDS on two tasks. During a grooming task that consisted of the experimenter scratching the horse with their hand, the horses (n = 20) carried out significantly more mutual grooming g...
Dufour P, Courtois J, Seynaeve Y, Peeters S, Le Goff C, Cavalier E, Ponthier J.Steroid concentrations in serum are fluctuating during pregnancy of many mammal species. The current knowledge about endocrinology of gestation is mainly based on immunoassays. However, the lack of specificity of these assays hampers the reliability of the results. In the present work, we developed and validated a methodology associating liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) to simultaneously quantify, with high specificity and accuracy, estrone-3-sulfate (E3S), progesterone (PRO), estrone (E1) and estradiol (E2) in serum of two different mammal species. The sample preparation ...
Polak G, Gurgul A, Jasielczuk I, Szmatoła T, Krupiński J, Bugno-Poniewierska M.Traditionally, pedigree-based relationship coefficients were used to manage inbreeding and control inbreeding depression that occurs within populations. The extensive incorporation of genomic data in livestock breeding creates the opportunity to develop and implement methods to manage populations at the genomic level. Consequently, the realized proportion of the genome that two individuals share can be more accurately estimated instead of using pedigree information to estimate the expected proportion of shared alleles. To make use of this improvement, in this study we evaluated the genomic inb...
Al Abri MA, Brooks SA, Al-Saqri N, Alkharousi K, Johnson EH, Alqaisi O, Al-Rawahi A, Al Marzooqi W.Arabian horses were selected for metabolic efficiency, beauty, efficiency and endurance. Therefore, Bedouins have for centuries traced their prized horses' ancestries. With the establishment of the World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO), registration of Arabian horses became centralized and countries worldwide registered them in its database. Most existing Arabian horses in Oman today were imported after the 1970s and are predominantly flat-racing Arabians. This work aimed at revealing the genetic background and diversity of Omani Arabian horses by comparing them with Arabian horses from a di...
Takahashi Y, Takahashi T, Mukai K, Ohmura H.Exercise intensity during races is considerably high. To understand how Thoroughbreds adapt to fatigue conditions, stride parameters for the first and second lap of the race (2400-m, turf) were compared. A high-speed video system was set in a right lateral position about 20 m before the finishing post, with a field view width of about 16 m. The stride frequency, the length between each limb (hind step, diagonal step, fore step, and airborne step), and stride length were measured and analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model. Compared with the first lap, the mean ± standard deviation val...
Martin de Bustamante M, Plummer C, MacNicol J, Gomez D.Sample storage conditions are an important factor in fecal microbiota analyses in general. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of sample storage at room temperature on the equine fecal microbiota composition. Fecal samples were collected from 11 healthy horses. Each sample was divided into 7 sealed aliquots. One aliquot was immediately frozen at -80 °C; the remaining aliquots were stored at room temperature (21 to 22 °C) with one transferred to the freezer at each of the following time points: 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h. The Illumina MiSeq sequencer was used for high-th...
Lawson A, Pinchbeck G.When planning to conduct research, thorough consideration of the study design is essential to enable valid results and purposeful conclusions. A good study design will provide a strong basis for robust conclusions that can contribute to the evidence base. Conversely, a poor study design may unintentionally lead to invalid conclusions with inappropriate claims of the clinical importance. The purpose of this article is to review important aspects of observational study design, with an emphasis on observational clinical research. The value of an observational study can be manifold and the benefit...
Mirror self-recognition (MSR), investigated in primates and recently in non-primate species, is considered a measure of self-awareness. Nowadays, the only reliable test for investigating MSR potential skills consists in the untrained response to a visual body mark detected using a reflective surface. Here, we report the first evidence of MSR at group level in horses, by facing the weaknesses of methodology present in a previous pilot study. Fourteen horses were used in a 4-phases mirror test (covered mirror, open mirror, invisible mark, visible colored mark). After engaging in a series of cont...
You Y, Proctor RM, Guo K, Li X, Xue E, Guan F, Robinson MA.High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) is a very powerful technology for equine doping control analysis. The more recently developed hybrid type of Orbitrap-based HRMS instrument allows for both targeted and non-targeted screening analyses in a single liquid chromatography-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS) run. In the present study, an LC-HRMS/MS method was developed and validated to detect prohibited substances in equine sports. The substances were recovered from equine plasma by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) using methyl tert-butyl ether and were separated on a C18 rev...
Ciani F, Maruccio L, Cocchia N, d'Angelo D, Carotenuto D, Avallone L, Namagerdi AA, Tafuri S.Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) are widely used as a tool to improve reproductive performance in both humans and animals. In particular, in the veterinary field, ARTs are used to improve animal genetics, recover endangered animals, and produce offspring in the event of subfertility or infertility in males or females. However, the use of ARTs did not improve the fertilization rate in some animals due to various factors such as the difficulty in reproducing an anatomical and humoral substrate typical of the natural condition or due to the increase in catabolites and their difficult eli...
Gavriliuc S, Stothart MR, Henry A, Poissant J.The development of next-generation sequencing technologies has spurred a surge of research on bacterial microbiome diversity and function. But despite the rapid growth of the field, many uncertainties remain regarding the impact of differing methodologies on downstream results. Sample storage temperature is conventionally thought to be among the most important factors for ensuring reproducibility across marker gene studies, but to date much of the research on this topic has focused on short-term storage in the context of clinical applications. Consequently, it has remained unclear if storage a...
Joongpan W, Tongsangiam P, Poochipakorn C, Charoenchanikran P, Chanda M.Horses were provided full-time housing in unfamiliar vector-protected facilities during the African horse sickness (AHS) outbreak in Thailand. This study aimed to investigate the impact of this housing arrangement on the equine stress response. Nine healthy horses were housed in both a traditional barn and a vector-protected barn. Equine behavior and stress response data were collected in association with the housing environment and time of day. The mean behavioral score of horses housed in the vector-protected barn was lower at night than during the day. In addition, the horses' mean heart ra...
Mitchell C, Steward KF, Charbonneau ARL, Walsh S, Wilson H, Timoney JF, Wernery U, Joseph M, Craig D, van Maanen K, Hoogkamer-van Gennep A, Leon A....The equine disease strangles, which is characterized by the formation of abscesses in the lymph nodes of the head and neck, is one of the most frequently diagnosed infectious diseases of horses around the world. The causal agent, subspecies , establishes a persistent infection in approximately 10 % of animals that recover from the acute disease. Such 'carrier' animals appear healthy and are rarely identified during routine veterinary examinations pre-purchase or transit, but can transmit to naïve animals initiating new episodes of disease. Here, we report the analysis and visualization of...
Longland AC, Barfoot C, Harris PA.Obesity can negatively impact upon equine welfare and bodyweight (BW) of pastured equines is often difficult to manage. Objective: To compare the effects of three restricted grazing regimens on changes in pony BW and morphometric measurements. Methods: Randomised study. Methods: Twelve mature ponies were individually grazed in 10m wide, rectangular, electric fenced paddocks. The dry matter (DM) herbage yield of each paddock was determined, and paddock length adjusted on Day 1 to provide 1.5% of individual pony BW as herbage DM daily, for 28 days. There were four ponies per treatment. Treatmen...
Fine AH, Andersen SJ.The field of human-animal interactions and, more specifically, animal-assisted interventions and equine assisted interactions (equine assisted interactions have significantly evolved over the past half century. The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a brief commentary of both fields and the challenges they are presently experiencing as they move forward in their future. More specifically within this commentary, attention will be given to highlighting some of the directions taken in both fields, including clarifying their terminology as it applies to scope of practices, trends in resea...
van Dijk J.Jan van Dijk, RCVS specialist in veterinary parasitology, describes how data can be used to both increase understanding of trends in equine helminth abundance and drive better treatment of individual horses.
Dirks E, de Heus P, Joachim A, Cavalleri JV, Schwendenwein I, Melchert M, Fuehrer HP.A 23-year-old pregnant warmblood mare from Güssing, Eastern Austria, presented with apathy, anemia, fever, tachycardia and tachypnoea, and a severely elevated serum amyloid A concentration. The horse had a poor body condition and showed thoracic and pericardial effusions, and later dependent edema and icteric mucous membranes. Blood smear and molecular analyses revealed an infection with . Upon treatment with imidocarb diproprionate, the mare improved clinically, parasites were undetectable in blood smears, and 19 days after hospitalization the horse was discharged from hospital. However, 89 ...
Keen B, Cawley A, Fouracre C, Pyke J, Fu S.The emergence of novel doping agents is a continuous issue for analysts who aim to maintain the integrity of horseracing together with the well-being and safety of the animals and riders involved. Untargeted mass spectrometric analysis presents a potential improvement for antidoping as it enables the detection of compounds being indirectly affected by an administered drug. In this study, liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry was used to investigate a 12-horse administration study of the synthetic opioid, butorphanol. A mass spectrometric workflow capable of detecting metaboli...
Masko M, Borowska M, Domino M, Jasinski T, Zdrojkowski L, Gajewski Z.The horses' backs are particularly exposed to overload and injuries due to direct contact with the saddle and the influence of e.g. the rider's body weight. The maximal load for a horse's back during riding has been suggested not to exceed 20% of the horses' body weight. The common prevalence of back problems in riding horses prompted the popularization of thermography of the thoracolumbar region. However, the analysis methods of thermographic images used so far do not distinguish loaded horses with body weight varying between 10 and 20%. Results: The superficial body temperature (SBT) of the ...
Zhang K, Huang H, Zhou R, Zhang B, Wang C, Ente M, Li B, Zhang D, Li K.The departure of the mature larvae of the horse stomach bot fly from the host indicates the beginning of a new infection period. Gasterophilus pecorum is the dominant bot fly species in the desert steppe of the Kalamaili Nature Reserve (KNR) of northwest China as a result of its particular biological characteristics. The population dynamics of G. pecorum were studied to elucidate the population development of this species in the arid desert steppe. Methods: Larvae in the freshly excreted feces of tracked Przewalski's horses (Equus przewalskii) were collected and recorded. The larval pupation e...
Verkola M, Järvelä T, Järvinen A, Jokelainen P, Virtala AM, Kinnunen PM, Heikinheimo A.Veterinarians face the risk of contracting zoonotic pathogens. Infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines stress the importance of proper hand hygiene and personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent transmission of these pathogens. We aimed to assess how ambulatory livestock and equine veterinarians follow IPC guidelines, when working on farms and in stables. We studied hygiene practices of livestock and equine ambulatory veterinarians (n = 129) in Finland. A web-based questionnaire was used to obtain demographic information and information regarding hand-hygiene facilities and pra...
Starke SD, Miles GC, Channon SB, May SA.Visual assessment of equine lameness is an everyday veterinary task suffering from poor diagnostic accuracy. The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of the perceptual learning game 'LamenessTrainer' on skill development. Thirty-six undergraduate veterinary students engaged in four game modules teaching the assessment of fore- and hindlimb lameness. Computer animations of horses in this game displayed 0% (sound) to 70% (moderately lame) vertical movement asymmetry of head and pelvis. Performance, learning effects, diagnostic accuracy, detection thresholds and survey responses were anal...
Gislason D, Asmundsson T, Gislason T.Diseases connected with work in hay have been known in Iceland for a long time. In 1981 scientific studies of these diseases were started in Iceland at the request of the Farmers Union. The results of these studies are summarized in this article. In studies of hay a great amount of storage mites, moulds and thermophilic actinomycetes (microlyspora faeni) were found in addition to allergens from mice and pollen. Symptoms caused by hay dust were mainly from nose and eyes in people with positive skin tests, but cough, dyspnea and fever were equally common in those with negative skin tests. The mo...
Ramírez A CE, Hurtado-Macías A, Talamantes R, Flores E, Ladrón de Guevara HP, Delgado JI, Estrella RA, Riestra JM, Montes JM, Esmonde-White K....Guided bone regeneration surgeries are based on grafting a scaffold in the site to be repaired. The main focus of the scaffold is to provide mechanical support to newly formed blood vessels and cells that will colonize the grafted site, achiving bone regenertation. In this regards, the aim of this study was to characterize the anatomy, structular, surface morphologycal, chemical composition, and nanomechanical properties of ostrich and equine trabecular bone. Ostrich and equine specimens were obtained from a local abattoir and bone was obtained by blunt dissection, n = 5. Tissue bone anatomy...
Reed KJ, Kunz IGZ, Scare JA, Nielsen MK, Turk PJ, Coleman RJ, Coleman SJ.As hindgut fermenters, horses are especially dependent on the microbiota residing in their cecum and large intestines. Interactions between these microbial populations and the horse are critical for maintaining gut homeostasis, which supports proper digestion. The current project was motivated to determine if any features of the fecal microbiota are informative of the microbial communities from the cecum, ventral colon, or dorsal colon. Digesta from the cecum, ventral colon, dorsal colon and feces were collected from 6 yearling miniature horses. Microbial DNA was isolated and the microbiota fr...
Montgomery PC, Dorrington KJ, Rockey JH.Three independent methods have been used
to determine the molecular weights of the heavyand light-polypeptide chain subunits of equine yGab-,
yGc-, and yT-immunoglobulins. Extensively reduced
and alkylated proteins were filtered through standard
columns of Sephadex G-100 or G-200 in 8 M urea405
M propionic acid. Subunit molecular weights were obtained from the linear elution volume, V,, us. logarithm
molecular weight relationship defined for each column
with rabbit yG-globulin heavy and light chains and
horse heart cytochrome c. Molecular weights also were
determined by equilibrium se...
Brinkmann L, Gerken M, Riek A.Outdoor group housing is increasingly recognized as an appropriate housing system for domesticated horses. The objective of this study was therefore to investigate the effect of potential feed shortage in semi-natural horse keeping systems in winter on animal health and welfare. In 10 female Shetland ponies blood concentrations (NEFA, total protein (TP), total bilirubin (TB), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and thyroxine (T4)), body mass and the body condition score (BCS) were monitored for 7 months including a 4 months period of feed restriction in five of the 10 ponies. Restrictively fed animals ...
Burgess BA.Managing Salmonella in equine populations can be challenging due to the epidemiology of this disease. In particular, due to the range of clinical outcomes, the occurrence of subclinical infections, and intermittent shedding. This greatly affects the ability to detect shedding and can lead to widespread environmental contamination and transmission. The veterinary profession can reduce the risk to stablemates and their caretakers, while meeting their ethical obligation, by appropriately managing these risks within animal populations and environments.
van Beek FE, de Cocq P, Timmerman M, Muller M.Injuries of horses might be related to the force the rider exerts on the horse. To better understand the loading of the horse by a rider, a sensor was developed to measure the force exerted by the rider on the stirrups. In the study, five horses and 23 riders participated. Stirrup forces measured in sitting trot and rising trot were synchronised with rider movements measured from digital films and made dimensionless by dividing them by the bodyweight (BW) of the rider. A Fourier transform of the stirrup force data showed that the signals of both sitting and rising trot contained 2.4 and 4.8 Hz...
Gardela J, Carbajal A, Tallo-Parra O, Olvera-Maneu S, Álvarez-Rodríguez M, Jose-Cunilleras E, López-Béjar M.Horse transportation for temporary relocation during rest periods is a common and widespread practice among horse owners, either from sport competition or working tasks. This study aimed to determine the effect of a relocation period and the multiple factors associated with a rest period on hair cortisol concentrations (HCCs) in horses. Additionally, this study reports the seasonal effect on HCCs and hair growth over a year. Thirteen police horses, Pure Spanish stallions of various ages (5-13 y), were selected to participate in this study. Hair sample collection was carried out approximately e...
The Journal of hereditySeptember 13, 2011
Volume 102, Issue 6 753-758 doi: 10.1093/jhered/esr091
Guastella AM, Zuccaro A, Criscione A, Marletta D, Bordonaro S.Genetic diversity and relationship among 3 Sicilian horse breeds were investigated using 16 microsatellite markers and a 397-bp length mitochondrial D-loop sequence. The analysis of autosomal DNA was performed on 191 horses (80 Siciliano [SIC], 61 Sanfratellano [SAN], and 50 Sicilian Oriental Purebred [SOP]). SIC and SAN breeds were notably higher in genetic variability than the SOP. Genetic distances and cluster analysis showed a close relationship between SIC and SAN breeds, as expected according to the breeds' history. Sequencing of hypervariable mitochondrial DNA region was performed on a ...
Mawdsley A, Kelly EP, Smith FH, Brophy PO.A linear assessment trait evaluation system is proposed to allow quantitative description of the static conformation of the horse. Measurements were made on 27 selected traits. The system was tested initially for repeatability of measurements on 4 horses. Twenty-one of the selected traits were satisfactory and 6 proved unsatisfactory in terms of reproducibility. A population of 101, superior 2- and 3-year-old Thoroughbreds and 19 premium Thoroughbred stallions were similarly assessed. More than 65% of the traits exhibited large (CV > 10%) phenotypic variation within the sampled population. ...
Catalano DN, Coleman RJ, Hathaway MR, Neu AE, Wagner EL, Tyler PJ, McCue ME, Martinson KL.Adding breed type, height, and neck circumference to body length and girth circumference improves bodyweight (BW) estimation in different breeds of horses; however, equations have not been developed for all breed types. The objectives were to develop BW estimation equations for Miniature, saddle-type, and Thoroughbred horses using morphometric measurements. Measurements were collected on adult (≥3 years, nonpregnant) saddle-type (n = 209), adult (n = 249) and juvenile (<3 years, n = 61) Miniatures, and adult Thoroughbreds (n = 100). Personnel determined body condition score (BCS), m...
Chahan B, Zhang S, Seo JY, Nakamura C, Zhang G, Bannai H, Jian Z, Inokuma H, Tuchiya K, Sato Y, Kabeya H, Maruyama S, Mikami T, Xuan X.The prevalence of Babesia (Theileria) equi and B. caballi infections in donkeys in western Xinjiang China was investigated. In total, 93 serum samples were randomly taken from donkeys in the Kashi and Ili areas, and examined for B. equi and B. caballi infections by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays using recombinant antigens. Of the 93 samples, 9 (9.6%) and 36 (38.7%) samples were positive for B. equi infection and B. caballi infection, respectively. In addition, 2 (2.2%) samples were positive for both B. equi and B. caballi infections. These results indicate that equine babesiosis might be e...
Ciota AT.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV; Togaviridae, Alphavirus) is an arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) primarily maintained in an enzootic cycle between Culiseta melanura (Coquillett) and passerine birds. EEEV, which has the highest reported case- fatality rate among arbovirus in the Americas, is responsible for sporadic outbreaks in the Eastern and Midwest United States. Infection is associated with severe neurologic disease and mortality in horses, humans, and other vertebrate hosts. Here, we review what is known about EEEV taxonomy, functional genomics, and evolution, and identify gaps i...
Sekhar VC, Plapp BV.The binding of NAD+ to liver alcohol dehydrogenase was studied by stopped-flow techniques in the pH range from 6.1 to 10.9 at 25 degrees C. Varying the concentrations of NAD+ and a substrate analogue used to trap the enzyme-NAD+ complex gave saturation kinetics. The same maximum rate constants were obtained with or without the trapping agent and by following the reaction with protein fluorescence or absorbance of a ternary complex. The data fit a mechanism with diffusion-controlled association of enzyme and NAD+, followed by an isomerization with a forward rate constant of 500 s-1 at pH 8: E E...
Schvartz G, Tirosh-Levy S, Erester O, Shenhar R, Levy H, Bazanow B, Gelman B, Steinman A.West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are arboviruses transmitted by mosquito vectors. Whereas WNV is endemic in Israel, the Middle East, Europe, and in the Americas, data regarding the prevalence of USUV in the Middle East is limited. While both viruses share similar reservoirs and vectors, exposure of horses in the area to USUV have never been assessed. The aim of this study was to estimate the seroprevalence and co-exposure of WNV and USUV in horses in Israel. A total of 327 serum samples from healthy unvaccinated horses in Israel collected in 2018 were tested for neutralizing antibo...
Simhofer H, Griss R, Zetner K.The main objective of this study was to evaluate an endoscopic examination protocol for routine dental examination in horses. The oral cavities of 300 standing, sedated horses were examined under field and hospital conditions with a rigid endoscope using a standardised technique that included examination of the occlusal, lingual (palatal) and buccal surfaces of all cheek teeth rows. The most common cheek teeth abnormalities detected were sharp enamel edges (present in 96.3% of horses), focal overgrowths (64.3%), fissure fractures (54.3%), diastemata (24.3%) and infundibular hypoplasia/caries (...
Guérin G, Bailey E, Bernoco D, Anderson I, Antczak DF, Bell K, Biros I, Bjørnstad G, Bowling AT, Brandon R, Caetano AR, Cholewinski G, Colling D....A low-density, male-based linkage map was constructed as one of the objectives of the International Equine Gene Mapping Workshop. Here we report the second generation map based on testing 503 half-sibling offspring from 13 sire families for 344 informative markers using the CRIMAP program. The multipoint linkage analysis localized 310 markers (90%) with 257 markers being linearly ordered. The map included 34 linkage groups representing all 31 autosomes and spanning 2262 cM with an average interval between loci of 10.1 cM. This map is a milestone in that it is the first map with linkage groups ...
Dell'Aquila ME, Albrizio M, Maritato F, Minoia P, Hinrichs K.Follicle atresia and granulosa cell apoptosis may be related to oocyte meiotic and developmental competence. We analyzed the relationships among granulosa cell apoptosis, initial cumulus morphology, oocyte nuclear maturation in vitro, and pronucleus formation after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in the horse. For each follicle, the size was measured and granulosa cells were used for DNA laddering analysis. Oocytes were evaluated for cumulus morphology, cultured for in vitro maturation, and submitted to ICSI. Apoptosis was categorized as absent, intermediate, or advanced according to t...
Gellman KS, Bertram JE, Hermanson JW.The semispinalis capitis and splenius muscles of the horse were analyzed for gross morphology, microarchitecture, fiber length, and fiber type. Although these two muscles are similar in size and anatomical position, they are very different from one another in structural design and histochemistry, implying diverse functional roles in the animal's behavior. The histochemical staining profile was limited to two fiber types: slow oxidative and fast glycolytic. The splenius muscle has simple architecture, long fibers, and a 60/40 ratio of SO to FG cross-sectional area. The semispinalis capitis has ...
Knox A, Beddoe T.The global equine industry provides significant economic contributions worldwide, producing approximately USD $300 billion annually. However, with the continuous national and international movement and importation of horses, there is an ongoing threat of a viral outbreak causing large epidemics and subsequent significant economic losses. Additionally, horses serve as a host for several zoonotic diseases that could cause significant human health problems. The ability to rapidly diagnose equine viral diseases early could lead to better management, treatment, and biosecurity strategies. Current s...
Wolny-Koładka K, Lenart-Boroń A.The aim of the study was to determine the antimicrobial resistance profile and the occurrence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase genes and to analyze the genetic diversity of Escherichia coli strains isolated from the environment of horse riding centers. The study was conducted using E. coli strains isolated from the air, manure, and horse nostril swabs in three horse riding centers differing in the system of horse keeping-stable (OJK Pegaz and KJK Szary) and free-range (SKH Nielepice). Resistance to antibiotics was determined using the disk-diffusion method, and the PCR technique was employe...
Desmecht D, Linden A, Amory H, Art T, Lekeux P.Fifty-eight healthy horses were studied during five sporting events of various intensities and durations, namely show-jumping (n = 6), cross-country in a three-day event (n = 30), trotting races (n = 7), galloping races (n = 7) and endurance rides (n = 8). Venous blood samples were collected at rest and immediately after exercise and analysed for plasma cortisol (CORT) and lactate (LA) levels. The experimental procedure was the same throughout the investigation so as to permit a reliable comparison between the five types of exercise. The type of event significantly affected both the resting (p...
Kozytska T, Bassiouny M, Chechet O, Ordynska D, Galante D, Neubauer H, Wareth G.Anthrax is an acute infectious zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis that mostly affects grazing livestock and wildlife. Furthermore, B. anthracis is considered one of the most important biological agents of bioterrorism that could also be potentially misused in biological weapons. The distribution of anthrax in domestic animals and wildlife in Europe with a particular focus on Ukraine as a country of war was analyzed. Between 2005 and 2022, 267 anthrax cases were registered at the World Organization of Animal Health (WOAH) in animals in Europe, including 251 cases in domestic animals ...
Guerriero V, Raynes DA.Cultured bovine, equine, ovine and chicken lymphocytes responded to heat stress by the increased synthesis of a specific set of proteins known as heat stress proteins (HSP). Proteins with molecular weights of 70 and 90 kDa were synthesized in all species. Additional proteins were found in bovine, ovine and chicken lymphocytes. A time course of induction showed an increased synthesis of some of these proteins with only 30 min of heat stress and of several proteins with 60 min of heat stress. A specific monoclonal antibody was used to identify HSP70 as one of the stress proteins in bovine lympho...
Larsson J, Pilborg PH, Johansen M, Christophersen MT, Holte A, Roepstorff L, Olsen LH, Harrison AP.Few studies have investigated the physiological parameters of endurance horses in Scandinavia. Hence, this two race study has focused on the effects of endurance racing in terms of equine clinicopathological blood parameters, heart score, and fluid use. Race A involved 15 horses (120 km). Two pre- and one post-race blood samples were taken, body condition score was assessed in triplicate pre-race, and an ECG was used to determine heart score. Race B involved 16 horses (65-120 km). One pre- and two post-race blood samples were taken. For both races, horse data as well as fluid intake estima...
Klous L, Siegers E, van den Broek J, Folkerts M, Gerrett N, van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MS, Munsters C.In this study, we examined the effects of pre-cooling on thermophysiological responses in horses exercising in moderate environmental conditions (average wet bulb globe temperature: 18.5 ± 3.8 °C). Ten international eventing horses performed moderate intensity canter training on two separate days, and were either pre-cooled with cold-water rinsing (5-9 °C for 8 ± 3 min; cooling) or were not pre-cooled (control). We determined velocity (V), heart rate (HR), rectal temperature (T), shoulder and rump skin temperature (T and T), plasma lactate concentration (LA), gross sweat loss (GSL), and lo...
Longworth KE.Pulmonary intravascular macrophages are an important part of the mononuclear phagocyte system in some species of mammals, mainly sheep and other ruminants, pigs, and horses. These cells phagocytize foreign particles, cell debris and pathogens that pass through the pulmonary circulation. Species with intravascular macrophages localize intravenously injected tracer particles and bacteria predominantly in the lung rather than the liver, and exhibit pulmonary hypertension when these cells are activated. Both in vivo and in vitro studies show that pulmonary intravascular macrophages have distinct s...
Carroll SL, Sykes BW, Mills PC.Husbandry and veterinary procedures have the potential to generate fear and stress in animals. In horses, the associated responses can pose a significant safety risk to the human personnel involved in the procedure, as well as to the animal itself. Traditionally, physical restraint, punishment, and/or threat of an aversive, have been the most common strategies used to achieve compliance from the horse. However, from a welfare perspective, this is less than ideal. This approach also has the potential for creating a more dangerous response from the horse in future similar situations. When caring...
