Equus November 2015

Another reason to yawn I’d like to add an important point about horse yawning (“What’s Behind a Yawn,” Hands On, EQUUS 455). One primary reason they do it is to relieve stress or tension. If you were to just hang with your horse after a workout, just standing around not touching him for, say, 25 minutes, you may witness him yawning multiple times. You will see your horse’s eyes start to close, and a sense of complete calmness will take over. When riding, you may also witness horses yawning when stressed. Knowing this, your readers can gauge their horses in training and know when to give them a break. Peg Smith Brooklyn, Wisconsin Give second colic surgeries a chance “Repeat Colic Surgeries Spell Trouble” (Medical Front, EQUUS 456) captures the…

EQUUS welcomes freelance submissions for practically any section of the magazine. Send manuscripts to EQletters@aimmedia.com. We will also consider typed hard-copy manuscripts, but please note: If you would like your materials returned, you must include a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. We do not review or accept simultaneous submissions. Here are a few guidelines for writers: • Back Page— essays that illustrates an aspect of equestrian life. • Case Report—accounts by equine practitioners and horse owners of unusual or baffling cases of equine illness or injury. • Feature articles generally run from 1,600 to 3,000 words. • Medical Front—brief articles about the latest research, technological advances, treatments and other veterinary topics pertinent to horse owners. • True Tale—true stories that focus on experiences that typify the multifaceted relationships we have with our…

Although sedation can help make a lameness exam go more smoothly, a new study from Germany suggests that it might affect how the horse moves, making diagnosis more difficult. Xylazine or other mild sedatives are sometimes administered to horses who might otherwise make lameness examinations challenging, explains Matthias Rettig, DVM, of the Free University of Berlin. “Some horses are uncooperative during a lameness exam and kick, which can be difficult and dangerous,” he says. But sedation can make a horse sluggish, so Rettig and his fellow researchers set out to determine whether it affects the biomechanical parameters that veterinarians use to diagnose and pinpoint lameness. For the study, researchers attached inertial sensors to 44 horses who were randomly split into two groups. Baseline lameness examinations were performed on all of…

A study from Brazil suggests a possible correlation between a mare’s age and the gender of her offspring. Researchers at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais reviewed the breeding records of nearly 60,000 Mangalarga Marchador horses born in Brazil from 1990 to 2011. In a multi-step statistical analysis, they compared the sex ratio of offspring to the age of both sire and dam as well as to the age gap between the two. They then performed the same analysis on the records of 253 horses of various breeds foaled from 1989 to 2010. Analysis of the combined data showed that mares older than 15 were more likely to deliver fillies than were younger mares. On the other hand, the age of the sire seemed to have only a minor…

New research suggests that windy weather increases the risk that horses living in Florida and other subtropical regions will develop a potentially devastating ocular condition known as deep stromal abscess (DSA). A fungal infection affecting a layer of tissue within the cornea, DSA often occurs in the wake of a superficial abrasion to the surface of the eye. A fungal infection affecting a layer of tissue within the cornea0, DSA often occurs in the wake of a superficial abrasion to the surface of the eye. “They seem to simmer for days to weeks, become painful and can take months to heal with medical and/or surgical therapy,” says Dennis Brooks, DVM, PhD. “They are the most common reason for corneal transplants in the horse.” The infection is found in many warm…

A new study from Poland suggests that music may help horses relax and perform better. To determine whether listening to music has physiological effects on horses, researchers at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin selected 70 3-year-old Arabian racehorses. Forty of the horses were exposed to music for five hours each afternoon for six months, while the remaining horses, serving as a control group, heard no music. Every 30 to 35 days during the study period, the researchers collected cardiac measurements from all the horses while they were at rest, saddled and ridden at a walk. Over the first three months of the study, the cardiac measurements of horses exposed to music indicated lower levels of stress. The researchers concluded that the music had a positive effect on the…