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Heart Rate's Effect on Equine Performance

A new show ring and a new environment can equate to stress--and even poor performance--for your horse. Because according to Danish equitation scientists, the faster a horse's heart rate in a new environment, the more likely he is to perform poorly.

Can Horses 'Watch and Learn'?

Watch and learn. It sure seems that horses can do it. One of them figures out how to open the gate to get to your not-so-well-hidden stock of carrots, and then before you know it, they're all getting orange in the muzzle. So can they really learn from each other? Maybe, according to a group of Danish equestrian scientists, but there's nothing cert...

Association Between Racehorse Purchase Price and Earnings

Thoroughbred racehorses have to run a pretty fast race to keep up with the money spent to get them to the track, according to a new study by Australian researchers. But it turns out that, at least up to a certain point, buyers are getting the value they're paying for--although it's still a great risk.

Behavioral Differences Between Colts and Fillies Examined

Many riders have a distinct preference when it comes to working with mares--they either love the girls or would rather avoid them. In some cases this choice is related to hormonal behavioral changes in mares during their heat cycles. But perhaps these behavioral differences are not just related to reproduction hormones. What if there was a fundamental dif...

Behavior of Horses With, Without Gastric Ulcers Compared

Think of all the horses you know fairly well. You know how they eat, how they act, how they perform. Now, among those horses, can you pick out the ones with gastric ulcers?

Researcher: Prime Equine Performance Linked to Good Welfare

Is your horse a machine? Most certainly not. But well-meaning owners might nonetheless make the ethical blunder of treating their horses as though they were machines in their service, according to an equine behavior specialist.

Study: 'Nanny' Horses Reduce Weaning Stress for Foals

Are you expecting new foals on the ground next spring? Then consider finding a "nanny" horse for them at weaning time.

Cooled Shipped Semen Quality Impacted by Collection Centers

When it comes to the quality of cooled shipped semen for artificial insemination (AI), all semen collection centers are not equal. They're far from it, in fact, according to a new study by Austrian researchers. The huge variation in the quality of the sperm processed by the collection center has an impact on the probability of the broodmare becoming p...

Study: Horses Prefer Less Rein Tension

Do you ride with a bit? Hold your horses! Okay, now let go.

Researchers: Selenium's Value is in the Sperm, Not the Blood

The trace element selenium appears to reinforce sperm quality and thus maintain a stallion's fertility. When selenium is lacking, motility drops, sperm membranes break down, and the sperm's acrosome (which covers the head) can deform. But according to a new study by German scientists, feeding your stallion more selenium won’t necessarily imp...

Study: Horse's Stress Levels Increase During Events

Horses might experience increased stress during equestrian events and competitions, but that stress appears relatively mild and might even be beneficial according to new research by Austrian, German, and French equitation scientists.

Saddle Tree Types and Pressure Distribution

Modern saddles provide new options for tree type, with the goal of sparing a horse pain from localized saddle pressure. But new Swiss research suggests that, at least when a horse trots, tree type makes little difference in pressure distribution along the horse's back.

Smaller Endoscopes Lead to Less Invasive Treatments for Navicular

A novel twist to an existing surgical procedure is creating new opportunities for healing a long-recognized form of lameness, according to Italian researchers.

New Foal Immunity Research Brings Hope for Improved Prevention Methods

A foal's immune system is known to be weak and immature, but new cell-based research suggests that "immunodeficiency" might be too broad a term to define the disease-fighting capacity of the youngest horses.

Microbiopsy May Predict Performance

A new, simple muscular microbiopsy technique can reveal important information about a horse's athletic potential as well as possible pathologies that can affect performance, according to a new study by Belgian researchers.

Allergy, Parasite Link Investigated

Horses with allergic diseases such as recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) have might also have fewer parasites, according to recent research. A new study suggests that genetics might be the primary explanation for this phenomenon.

New Young Horse Feeding Recommendations Based on Breed

New breed-specific growth models will help fine-tune feeding recommendations for young horses in the near future, researchers reported.

Posture, Behaviors Indicate Horse Well-Being

If a horse spends most of his time standing in the same position in his stall, would you say he's just bored? And what about a mare that threatens to bite when you approach her stall--is she vicious?

Racehorse Training Injuries Vary by Stable in New Study

Which kind of injury is most common to a racehorse? That all depends on who trains it and at which track, according to a group of British researchers. Their recent survey of three major Thoroughbred stables in the United Kingdom showed that the patterns of training-related injuries vary significantly between training centers and trainers.

Fetal Heart Rate Measurements Aid Health Monitoring

Fetal heart rate monitoring during the second half of pregnancy can help veterinarians easily and reliably assess the health of the unborn foal, according to new research by German and Austrian veterinary scientists. However, it's unlikely to give clues about when a mare will foal.

Pregnant Mare Exercise: No Negative Effect on Fetuses in Study

It's human nature to do everything to protect an unborn baby--even an equine baby. And humans that we are, some of us tend to think that means we should keep a broodmare's physical efforts down to a minimum. But new research is showing that even nine months into pregnancy, mares can handle moderate-level exercise with no detrimental effects to the...

Freeze Stops European Atypical Myopathy Reports

The largest outbreak of equine atypical myopathy in Europe has ended with freezing winter temperatures, with a record number of 371 reported cases, according to a group of researchers in Belgium.

Equine Grass Sickness Reviewed

A fatal gastrointestinal disease once limited to Scotland is being seen more frequently in certain parts of the world due to geographical progression, said British researchers.

Rider Position, Horse Back Movement Evaluated

A rising trot is less loading to a horse's back than a sitting trot, producing less vertical force as measured through new biomechanical techniques, according to Dutch researchers.

Horses Demonstrate Ability to Count in New Study

It's no circus trick: researchers have shown that horses can count, despite 100 years of belief to the contrary.

Horse Genome Publication Key to Enhanced Research, Understanding

Where does an Appaloosa get its spots? What makes one horse more naturally suited for Western pleasure than dressage? Why do some horses get laminitis, and others don't? The short answer we all know is, "It's in the genes." Accurate, but abstract.

Study: Topical Allergy Cream Can Produce Systemic Effects in Horses

Glucocorticoid cream applied at normal doses onto healthy equine skin will be quickly absorbed into the body's system and can generate adverse systemic effects, said German researchers in a new study report. As a result, it can also cause a horse to test positive in performance drug tests within two days.

Transport Precautions Reduce Risks to Traveling Horses

Horses being transported have specific needs and appear to be at increased risk of disease, injury, distress, and poor performance when these needs are not met, said an equine welfare study group in the United Kingdom.

Study: Horse Whinnies Packed with Information

Through their whinnies, horses convey specific information about their identities, including sex, height, and weight, according to French researchers. Acoustic analyses of whinnies and the reactions of horses to various recorded whinnies also suggest that the vocal calls play an important social role and appear to be unique to each horse.

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West Nile Virus Returns to Italy

West Nile virus (WNV) has re-emerged in Italy, resulting in 28 equine clinical cases, including seven deaths as of last week, according to an epidemiological bulletin produced by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "Giuseppe Caporale" (IZSA&M), an Italian public health institute.

The epidemic began in central ea...

Heparin Might Prevent Laminitis after Colic Surgery

Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is proving highly effective in preventing laminitis and reducing the severity of laminitis following colic surgery, according to Belgian researchers.

Prior to the study period, more than 10% of colic surgery patients at the Equine Clinic of the University of Liège developed laminitic pain and lameness following ...

Equine Heat Tolerance Parameters Examined in Study

In a step toward understanding heat tolerance in horses, Brazilian researchers recently concluded that respiratory rate (RR), heart rate (HR), and rectal temperature (RT) are the most useful parameters for distinguishing equine adaptation to elevated temperatures. 

As part of an ongoing project on equine heat tolerance, the study authors...

Horses Read Human Body Cues, Researchers Say

Do you ever feel like your horse might be watching your every move? He very well might be, according to a new behavior study by British scientists. Their research indicates that horses are highly sensitive to the attention we attribute to them, including our gaze.

In a series of tests involving 36 horses and ponies aged 10 months to 38 years, two ...

Saddle Pad Research Shows Variable Changes in Rider Pressure

Saddle pads might help reduce painful pressure on a horse's back caused by ill-fitting saddles, but the ideal pad will vary from horse to horse and from saddle to saddle, according to a new study by Austrian researchers.

Optimum pressure relief will also depend on the discipline and even the gait, said primary study author Anja Kotschwar, DVM, res...

Equine Respiratory Disease Diagnosis Aided by Fluid Evaluation

Respiratory disease in horses can be accurately assessed through laboratory evaluation of respiratory fluids, according to a new review by French and Belgian researchers.

When combined with clinical examinations, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and tracheal washes reveal important information leading to the diagnosis and proper treatment of respirato...

Grazing Horses in Moderately Polluted Areas

Horses might serve as good management tools for pastures moderately polluted by trace elements, according to Spanish researchers. And provided the animals receive adequate, systematic monitoring through biological sampling, they can be kept on this land without adverse health consequences.