Research

Saddle Research Trust proves popular with readers of Equine Veterinary Journal and Equine Veterinary Education.

Findings hold out hope that a simple pre-race test could one day identify horses in imminent danger of life-threatening injuries.

Warmblood fragile foal syndrome is a severe, usually fatal, genetic disease that manifests itself after birth in affected horses.

Research has shown for the first time that humans make minute, unconscious movements of their ears that are directed towards the sound they want to focus attention on.

Initial review by Brazilian researchers identified 669 genes potentially underpinning equine athleticism. Then they went further.

“The closer the animals were to the epicentre of the impending shock, the earlier they changed their behaviour.”

Tests of 10 breeds showed all of them produced a common horse allergen.

Head and neck angles induced by rein tension seemed to be the key event in provoking the problem in susceptible horses, the researchers reported.

“These algorithms seem promising for gait classification,” they concluded, “although a more extensive validation process should be performed.”

“Horse grazing increased species richness and diversity, as well as numbers of rare species in heathlands.”

The milk aspiration issue, known as dysphagia, was eliminated on the farm once water filtration equipment was installed.

Genetic testing of samples from crosses between donkeys and horses mapped a total of 68 genes in the “muscle contraction” pathway, eight of which were found to be significantly enriched in mules.

“We conclude that the habituation process should be adapted to the horse’s temperament and emotionality.”

Most people had never heard of prions until the rise of so-called mad cow disease in Britain in the late 1980s.