The Science Of Equus

Equine science, anatomy, physiology, equitation science, equine husbandry discussions, and (increasingly rare) opinions based on my personal experiences with horses. Sometimes this blog will have some just-for-fun horse pictures or info about horses that are available for adoption. I'm in the USA.

[shadyufo]

Basket of Coffin Bones

[thatsbelievable]

Things You Might Say to a Horse

1. “I see your hooves are made of keratin, as are my fingernails”

2. “A brilliant plan, old bean…they would never suspect a horse”

3. “I would offer you a ride, but you would crush me”

4. “Comb your hair and act casual”

5. “You claim to be a herbivore, and yet, you ate my family”

[thunderboltfire]

I have unwittingly witnessed a new level of the absurd. Behold, the AI-generated equine anatomy models.

Ah yes, my favourite parts of the equine body. Paster and... *looks at the smudged writing on hand* boob. At least this one looks purely decorative and the being actually looks like a horse. But don't worry, it gets worse.

If we completely ignore the hipopotamus musculature of this one, there's still a lot of things that don't make sense in this one, like a tail that ends in a series of bone spikes and a complete lack of molars. You could make a cool pokemon on the basis of this, but it's not even in the realm of being an actual anatomy help.

I'm firmly convinced this is not a horse, this is something that really, really wants you to think it is a horse. The more you look, the more things look... wrong. The more details turn out to be shifted, bones crammed in to fill in the familiar form, its shape merely implied so that the human mind fills the gap. Of course the text seems like gibberish, because its anatomy is incomprehensible. it's either a parasite or a monster and in each case, it's an eldtrich body horror. I'm kind of angry at how well this joke writes itself.

[followthebluebell]

oh so THAT'S the Bone Horse.

[i-am-corbin-dallas]

These are gold

Boob Humpur

Fibur, Tibua, and Coffin Bones

AI seems to be convinced of the existence of the letter Pi

[thescienceofequus]

Early dispersal of domestic horses into the Great Plains and northern Rockies

Horses evolved in North America and dispersed to Eurasia across the Bering Land Bridge. They continued to evolve and were domesticated in Eurasia, but, as far as we know, they became extinct in North America by the late Pleistocene and were then reintroduced by European colonizers. Taylor et al. looked at the genetics of horses across the Old and New Worlds and studied archaeological samples. They found no evidence for direct Pleistocene ancestry of North American horses, but they did find that horses of European descent had been integrated into indigenous cultures across western North America long before the arrival of Europeans in that region.

[thescienceofequus]

At Long Last, a Donkey Family Tree

In a new study, genetics and archaeology combine to reveal the ancient origins of humanity’s first beast of burden.

Dr. Orlando, who has spent years mapping the domestication history of horses, is an author of the paper, which he hopes will jump-start research on the humble donkey and restore some of its dignity. He and researchers from 37 laboratories around the world analyzed the genomes of 207 modern donkeys, living in 31 countries. They also sequenced DNA from the skeletons of 31 early donkeys, some of which date as far back as 4,500 years.

Scholars had previously identified three potential centers of domestication, in the Near East, northeast Africa (including Egypt) and the Arabian Peninsula. But Dr. Orlando’s team concluded that donkeys — humanity’s first land-based transport — were domesticated only once, around 5,000 B.C., when herders in the Horn of Africa and present-day Kenya began to tame wild asses. That date is about 400 years before the earliest archaeological evidence of tamed donkeys from El Omari, near Cairo, and nearly three millenniums before horses were first harnessed.

[thescienceofequus]

Horse Vertebral Disc Degeneration More Common Than Once Thought – The Horse

Degeneration involves changes in the discs’ color, texture, and integrity due to age and possibly use, researchers said.

It’s been a long-held belief that horses’ intervertebral discs don’t degenerate except in rare cases. But recent study results have overturned that idea.

[thescienceofequus]

Scientists find signs of horse riding in ancient human remains

Researchers have found evidence of horseback riding in skeletal remains of people who lived about 5,000 years ago, adding to a body of resea

[thescienceofequus]

Black Equestrians Want to Be Safe. But They Can’t Find Helmets.

For Black riders with natural hair, finding a helmet that fits can be virtually impossible. Some are trying to raise awareness of the proble

[thescienceofequus]

Farrier designs hinged hoof plate ‘door’ to aid horse’s recovery from tumour

A horse who had a keratoma removed from his hoof is on the road to recovery with the help of a bespoke hinged hoof plate, designed and creat

John Blake, of Breckland Farriers, removed the keratoma on 7 February with the vet present and attached a tailor-made aluminium “door” to Joey’s hoof in a remarkable feat of engineering.

[thescienceofequus]

Virginia Tech Releases Highly Anticipated Helmet Ratings

The Virgina Tech Helmet Lab has released its much-anticipated equestrian helmet ratings. Taking the top spot in the rankings is the $460 Cha

Chronicle of the Horse | 6 December, 2022

The Virgina Tech Helmet Lab has released its much-anticipated equestrian helmet ratings. Taking the top spot in the rankings is the $460 Champion Revolve X-Air MIPS helmet, but in good news for riders who are both frugal and safety conscious, the rest of the top three slots were filled by sub-$60 helmets, the Tuffrider Carbon Fiber ($58) and the IRH Equi-Lite ($50)

Read the full article at the link above.

[thescienceofequus]

Equine Kissing Spines Gene Found – The Horse

Researchers discovered a connection between Chromosome 25 and the presence of kissing spines in horses.

TheHorse.com | 9 September, 2022

The group ran genotyping on 155 Warmbloods and stock-horse breeds that had presented to the participating veterinarians’ clinics due to back pain and/or poor performance. The horses’ veterinary evaluations revealed they ranged from having severe Grade 4 kissing spines to no kissing spines.

...

The team identified one associated variant, or allele, for kissing spines on Chromosome 25. This single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) BIEC2-668062 is linked to an average increase in one kissing spines severity grade for each of the horse’s two copies of the allele (one from each parent).

This allele did not correlate with the horses’ height, which appears to be a separate and unique factor for kissing spines, Lafayette said.

It was, however, in proximity to a gene already known in other species to be associated with chondrocyte (a cartilage-producing cell) proliferation, a sign sometimes observed histopathologically (under a microscope) with kissing spines, said Laura Patterson Rosa, DVM, PhD, a scientific consultant at Etalon Diagnostics and first author of the group’s study publication. “It was reassuring that one of the ‘neighboring’ genes to our best marker was indeed previously implicated,” she said.

The discovered allele isn’t a causative for kissing spines, however. It’s only one of many factors linked to disease development, including exercise, rider skill and weight, riding equipment and fit, core muscle strength, head and neck position, injury, and lameness, said Lafayette.

[thescienceofequus]

[thescienceofequus]

Dangerous Behavior and Intractable Axial Skeletal Pain in Performance Horses: A Possible Role for Ganglioneuritis (14 Cases; 2014-2019) - Pu

<span><b>Introduction:</b> Dangerous behavior is considered an undesired trait, often attributed to poor training or bad-tempered horses. Un

Introduction: Dangerous behavior is considered an undesired trait, often attributed to poor training or bad-tempered horses. Unfortunately, horses with progressive signs of dangerous behavior are often euthanized due to concerns for rider safety and limitations in performance. However, this dangerous behavior may actually originate from chronic axial skeleton pain. This case series describes the medical histories and clinical presentations of horses presented for performance limitations and dangerous behavior judged to be related to intractable axial skeleton pain.

...

Fourteen horses that developed severe performance limitations resulting in euthanasia were included. A complete spinal examination and behavioral responses, gait and neurologic evaluations, diagnostic imaging, gross pathologic and histopathologic examinations of the axial skeleton were performed on all horses. A tentative diagnosis of the affected spinal region was formulated using medical records, owner and trainer complaints, and antemortem examination findings.

...

Ten horses showed severe behavioral responses during the myofascial and mobilization examinations. Based on an aggregate evaluation, the cervicothoracic and lumbosacral regions were the most common regions believed to be the primary area of concern. All horses had moderate to severe ganglionitis present at multiple vertebral levels. Subdural and epidural hemorrhage or hematomas were a common finding (71%) in the cervicothoracic and lumbosacral regions.

...

The mean age was 9.4 ± 2.6 years and included eleven geldings and three mares. The breeds included eight warmbloods, four Thoroughbreds, one Quarter Horse, and one Andalusian. Eight of the horses were used for dressage, four for eventing, one for show hunting, and one for barrel racing. The owners' chief complaint and reports of dangerous behavior were recorded. In 12 horses, the time from purchase to euthanasia was 2.5 ± 1.8 years. The other two horses were raised by their owner, and the time from initial complaint to euthanasia was less well-defined. 

Related article:

Ganglionitis identified in a case series of 14 horses showing dangerous behaviors

Neuropathic pain syndromes appeared to be behind the dangerous behaviors in the horses included in the study.

[thescienceofequus]

Return of rare Ojibwe horse lifts spirits — but still needs help

A small farm outside River Falls, Wis., is raising a herd of rare and endangered Ojibwe horses, part of a grassroots effort to revive the ra

mprnews.org | 23 August, 2022

Loerzel has taken that teaching to heart. Earlier this year, the 28-year-old graduate student in social welfare at the University of Washington raised money to rescue six of the horses from a Canada rancher who could no longer afford to keep them.

She brought them to a farm owned by a friend outside River Falls, where Loerzel moved last year with her husband. And she started a nonprofit called The Humble Horse, to raise awareness about the breed–which is also known as the Lac La Croix pony, and to help revive it. Only about 180 Ojibwe horses remain, mostly in Canada.

...

Thousands of Ojibwe horses once lived near Ojibwe communities on both sides of the border. They would roam free part of the year, but at other times were gathered to help with labor.

But their population dwindled in the first part of the 20th century. Many were killed and used to make dog food, even glue.

By 1977 there were only four left, on the Lac La Croix First Nation in Ontario, just north of the U.S.-Canada border.

Word spread that the Canadian government planned to exterminate them. So four men from the Bois Forte Reservation in Minnesota planned a rescue mission.

"They piled in a pickup truck, hooked up a horse trailer, drove across like beaver dams and portages and frozen ice in the middle of February, said Heather O'Connor, a Canadian author and journalist who spent five years researching Ojibwe horses.

It was dubbed the “Heist across the Ice.”

(Read the full article at the above link.)

[draftmare]

But really.

[thescienceofequus]

I try to stick to being educational on this blog, but I admit I cackle every time I see this very niche meme. And so here we are... Have a silly. Iykyk.

[thescienceofequus]

Helmet Ratings Are On The Horizon. Step Inside The Lab Creating Them.

Flanking the double doors leading into Virginia Tech’s Helmet Lab, a history of helmets is mounted to the walls—football on the left, ice ho

Chronicle of the Horse | 17 August, 2022

For a decade, the lab has been translating its independent research into what it calls a STAR (“Summation of Tests for Analysis of Risk”) rating system for consumers. The ratings—given on a one-to-five scale—indicate how effective a helmet model is in reducing concussion risk for its designed sport. The lab has rated helmets for sports ranging from football to cycling to skiing. Until recently, though, it had not tackled horseback riding helmets.

That changed in 2019, when the lab started crowdfunding to add equestrian helmets to its testing roster, reaching $425,000 in December 2020 through the help of U.S. Equestrian Federation, U.S. Hunter Jumper Association, U.S. Eventing Association and Jacqueline Mars.

As the Helmet Lab prepares to release its equestrian STAR rating system, expected in November, it held an equestrian research symposium last week to share its work.

[thescienceofequus]

20 July, 2022 via the AAEP Facebook Page

Link in images (appears to be broken/404 error at time of posting):

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/animalhealthwelfare/transportofliveanimals/GuidelinesAssessFitnessTransportEquidae050716.pdf