Table of contents for Spring 2022 in Equus

A suggestion that could save lives Thank you for “Hanging in the Balance” (EQUUS 506), your three-part article about Arteiro, the Lusitano gelding that got cast and was dangling from his fetlock in his stall. A resilient, attentive and hands-on owner made all the difference in his recovery! I wanted to pass along a tip to help respond quickly to a situation like this. I once boarded at a barn where the holes for the metal bars were drilled an inch or two deeper in the top board so that the bars could be lifted up and out of the bottom hole with a single hand. I’ve loved that small safety measure ever since---hopefully no one will ever need it---and I plan to incorporate it into my own barn, should…

Genetic research from Brazil may provide the first step in scientifically linking hair whorls to particular personality traits in horses. Areas where a horse’s coat grows in a spiral-like formation, hair whorls can occur anywhere on a horse’s body, but those on the head and neck tend to draw the most interest. Anecdotally, hair whorls have been linked to spookiness, playfulness and other behavioral tendencies in horses. It has already been confirmed that horses with whorls above the eye line are more difficult to handle. For their study, researchers at the Federal University of Bahia and the São Paulo State University analyzed genetic polymorphisms from 342 Quarter Horses, focusing on about 53,000 variations in DNA sequences called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). They sought to identify connections between SNPs with some…

By all accounts, William Rysdyk was a man with a plan. He paid his employer Jonas Seely, a prosperous farmer and knowledgeable horseman of Orange County, New York, the sum of $125 for a well-bred and well-conformed colt, then set out to breed good horses and thereby make his fortune. When the colt reached age 2, Rysdyk broke him to drive and arranged to take him to the county fair. To make sure he would be noticed, Rysdyk decked the colt out in a white bridle and harness---and noticed he certainly was, at least as much for the speed and power he was beginning to show at the trot as for the flashy gear. Rysdyk repeated the display at the next year’s fair, and along with the colt’s greater maturity…

The conformation analyses presented in this article are based on this group of images. Quantitative analysis is never enough, however; the prospective buyer or breeder needs to look at the horse “in the flesh” in order to gain an impression of the harmonious integration of all the body parts. The resemblance of some of these horses to their sire RH is immediately apparent, but less so in others. Every portrait in this gallery was made from a contemporary photograph taken either by Schreiber & Sons or by George Ford Morris. The image of Black’s Hambletonian is the only one that I did not produce; it comes from an old postcard. Brief pedigree information is given for most of these horses, while the reader may review complete pedigrees of Sparkle, Echo,…

It’s that time of year: Spring is in the air, bringing with it an urge to hit the trails, the outdoor arena or the show ring. But have you taken a good look at your horse lately? Depending on where you live, he could very well be a dirty, furry deterrent to your plans. Take heart: Emerging from a long, hairy winter----or from under layers of blankets---is the horse you know and love. With the right tools, some time-tested techniques and a little elbow grease, you can soon have your horse ready for spring adventures and looking beautiful, too. You don’t have to do it all at once, though. Some days a “lick and a promise” is all you can manage and that’s okay. There are plenty of quick and…

“Dummy foal” syndrome is an umbrella term for abnormalities that leave a newborn foal disoriented and disconnected from its dam and environment. The abnormal behavior can vary from having a suckle reflex but not seeking the mammary gland to severe confusion and seizures. For a long time, dummy foal syndrome was thought to result from brain injury related to oxygen deprivation (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy) during birth. Although NMS can be associated with a difficult or protracted delivery, in utero problems or postpartum injury, many cases are preceded by a seemingly normal birth. In one type of NMS, a youngster would seem normal immediately after delivery but then would slowly deteriorate—seeming dazed and disoriented and showing no interest in nursing. Eventually, advances in neonatal critical care enabled about 80 percent of dummy…

Is it ever safe to swap bridles? Q: Can infectious diseases be passed from horse to horse by sharing bridles? I recently lent a friend a bridle when she forgot hers at an event, and someone else told us we should never do that because diseases can be passed on bits. Is that something we need to worry about? If so, would rinsing the bit off be enough to clean it, or should it be disinfected more thoroughly? A: Several important pathogens associated with diseases of the skin, eyes, respiratory tract or mouth (gums, saliva) can be transmitted by switching a bridle or bit between horses. The most significant of these include the highly contagious equine influenza virus (flu), equine herpesvirus -1 and -4, equine arteritis virus and vesicular stomatitis virus,…

A pamphlet I read in a truck stop described this part of New Mexico as “where the Great Plains meets the Rockies.” The stretch of road from Tucumcari to Albuquerque was described as “featureless” in the brochure, but whoever wrote that was missing so much. Riding my horse Rain Dance (Rainy) at a slow walk, I noticed the muted shades of rock and plant life. I felt the ever-present breeze, getting cooler by the day. We crossed paths with roadrunners and antelope. On this journey, my dog Gypsy has developed a skill for flushing out jackrabbits hidden to me until their sudden burst of movement. We’d been traveling on a composite of three roads: old Route 40, Route 66, and Route 54---the secondary road my animals and I had been…

For horses, as for people, a hospital stay can be exhausting because the environment is so disruptive to sleep patterns---and the effect is even worse for those with arthritis. That’s what researchers in Brazil found in a recent study. Horses can doze while standing but to achieve restorative rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep a horse must lie down in either sternal (propped up on his chest) or lateral recumbency (stretched out flat). In an optimal environment, horses spend between 8 and 15 percent of each 24-hour period lying down. “The sleep pattern in horses is already well described,” says Tiago Oliveira, DVM, PhD, of the University of São Paulo, “but we are still studying which situations can influence this pattern and what is the consequence of this interference in the well-being…

As the model for this diagram and explanation, I have used Hambletonian’s son Wilkins Micawber. The first step is to make an outline drawing directly from a photograph or accurate painting of the horse. Next, the palpation points (black dots and triangles) are placed on joints (for example, the center of the carpus or the point of shoulder), or on other points of functional significance (for example, the points of hip and buttock, the peak of croup or the poll). Next, lines are drawn to connect palpation points. Lines are not drawn randomly, nor to connect all points, but only where the construction of a line summarizes the location of a skeletal bone or linked series of bones. Thus, the lines for shoulder, arm, pelvis, femur and head summarize the…

Dirty brushes can harbor bacteria and fungi that cause skin problems, so it’s wise to give them a thorough spring-cleaning. Start by giving the bristles a good vacuuming. Then soak the brushes for about 15 minutes in warm, soapy water (an antiseptic-antibacterial soap—even an iodine-based surgical scrub—is a good idea). After towel-drying the bristles, leave the brushes in the sun to dry. When air-drying brushes with traditional wooden block backs, set them bristledown to keep mildew from forming on the wood at the base of the bristles. Don’t forget to also wash currycombs, mane combs and shedding blades regularly and throw your rub rags in the washing machine every week using hypoallergenic soap.…

Ah, here it is,” the veterinarian says while pressing an ultrasound wand along your horse’s leg. The dark flecks on the computer screen look trivial, like gnats. But his next words make it clear that they aren’t. “Suspensory ligament’s torn. We’re looking at several months of stall rest. We’ll ultrasound once a month to see how it’s doing.” No owner wants to hear those words. Stall rest of any significant duration is a gamble. Clearly, rest is critical to recovery from trauma, illness or surgery. But prolonged stall confinement carries risks, too. Restricted horses are prone to colic, poor blood circulation, immune system weakness, rapid weight change, skin disease and respiratory dysfunction. Many become anxious at first, then withdrawn and depressed. As if that’s not enough, muscle, bone and soft…

Off-track Thoroughbreds are versatile. They are not only becoming highly sought-after partners in many English disciplines, but also are increasingly popular in Western sports. On May 8, three Friends of Ferdinand Inc. (FFI) graduates and one adoptable horse—Bisque, Is He Proud, Vindication Ally and Soy Sauce—took part in an intro to cattle clinic at Brandon Fortner’s Rafter 2F Ranch in central Indiana. Brandon is the head western trainer for FFI and helped lead the instruction with his own FFI graduate, Hum Baby. The sunny Saturday started off with introductions from the cowboy himself, Brandon. Despite several of the Off-Track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs) having never seen a cow before, they handled their introductions perfectly with only an occasional gawk or snort. First, each participant in the clinic got to introduce their horse…

Tyler Murray stood bewildered in the pasture, muck bucket and manure fork in hand. Looking around him incredulously, he turned to the man next to him. “So you’re telling me I have to drag this heavy thing around and pick up poop?” The corrections officer just laughed. “Welcome to horses.” Murray discovered his passion for horses in a rather unorthodox way—in prison. Incarcerated at the Central Maryland Correction Facility after a string of non-violent crimes, Murray was depressed and angry at the world, consumed with guilt and shame. “I was in a dark place emotionally and mentally,” he says. Then a case officer mentioned a program he thought might help: the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) Second Chances Program. It was a suggestion that changed Murray’s life. TRF was founded in…

Belgian researchers are investigating the factors that put horses at risk for fatal aortic ruptures. Although arterial failures that result in the sudden deaths of racehorses and other equine athletes tend to garner the most attention, this problem is seen in a wide variety of horses, notes Annelies Decloedt, DVM, PhD, of the Equine Cardioteam, Ghent University, Belgium. “It can occur in different breeds, and stallions seem to be predisposed, especially during coitus,” she says. “Older horses also seem to be predisposed.” The underlying cause of these catastrophic events is age-related stiffening of the arteries, explains Decloedt. “As arteries become thicker, they lose the elasticity needed to deal with high blood pressures and large blood volumes. The effect of aging on the arterial wall is linked with the fact that…

Making a treatment decision for a horse in the throes of colic can be difficult. Will surgery save his life or simply prolong his pain? To help clinicians make more accurate prognoses—and, specifically, identify horses most likely to survive—researchers at Iowa State University and North Carolina State University have devised a colic-survival scoring system. To construct the system, researchers first collected data from medical records of 67 horses seen at Iowa State University veterinary clinic for acute abdominal pain. In each record, 28 key variables were identified and assessed. Of those, the researchers found that six variables—heart rate, respiratory rate, total serum calcium concentration, blood lactate concentration, abnormal ultrasound and abnormal rectal findings—were highly correlated with survival. These variables were then used as the basis of the colic assessment score…

Schreiber & Sons, a Philadelphia firm famous for their images of horses, took a photograph of Rysdyk’s Hambletonian when he was 17 years old. As it happens, a conformation photo was not taken of the Quarter Horse sire Old Sorrel until he was nearly 30. Both these aged stallions have low backs, not uncommon in older horses but almost universal in old breeding stallions due to the strain involved in mounting multiple times over many seasons. A sagging back also, however, drives other more subtle changes in a horse’s standing conformation. The general effect is that the skeletal structure collapses toward the center, with both the pelvis and the shoulder tending to become more horizontal. This pair of portraits is an attempt to turn the clock back and see what…

The trick to maintaining any white markings on your horse—or managing an entirely grey horse—is to stay on top of the stains. The longer you leave manure or grass stains, the more difficult they become to remove. Traditional homemade preparations for whitening horses can be very hard on the skin and are best avoided. Fortunately, there are many more skin-friendly and convenient stain-removal products on the market these days, both in shampoo and spray form. For example, purple-tinted optical brightening shampoos are a popular way to help eradicate stains and boost the whites. Professional grooms advocate sponging or spraying whitening solutions onto markings and leaving them to soak for 5-10 minutes before rinsing. Once you’ve removed a stain, spraying the area with a grooming spray can help new stains “slide…

Can riding in a trailer bring on colic? Q: Has a link been established between trailering and colic? Twice in the past year my mare has walked off the trailer after a day of showing looking very uncomfortable. Both times, the veterinarian came out, diagnosed mild colic and gave her a dose of Banamine. She recovered within a few hours, but now I’m scared to put her on the trailer. What could be going on? A: This is a very interesting question, because trailering and colic have been linked for many years. However, this link is most discussed for the opposite question: “Can trailering resolve colic in my horse?” The latter likely happens in some cases either because a medical episode of colic has resolved by the time the horse arrives…

Definition: infection of the skin and hair follicles with Dermatophilus congolensis bacteria, which are ubiquitous in the soil and on a horse’s skin, but are activated only in the presence of persistent moisture. Causes: Prolonged exposure to moisture, coupled with minor abrasions or insect bites, enable the bacteria to gain a foothold in the skin. Horses whose immune systems are compromised by advanced age, illness or medications are susceptible to rainrot. Signs: small, gray/white scabs clustered along a horse’s back, hindquarters and other areas that remain consistently wet. The hair may stand up in tufts over each scab. Diagnosis: Most cases of rainrot can be identified by visual inspection alone. However, ringworm, allergic reactions and other conditions sometimes look similar to rainrot. Definitive diagnosis can be made by examining the…

Your horse may be a little stiff at the beginning of your rides for a variety of reasons. Inactivity can cause tissues to contract, making it uncomfortable for a horse to use a joint through its entire range of motion. Inflammatory agents that collect in older joints can also contribute to discomfort and a feeling of stiffness. But as the horse begins to exercise, his tissues will stretch out and the built-up fluid will clear, allowing him to move more easily. If your horse works out of his initial stiffness within 15 minutes of starting a ride and it does not return, chances are good it’s nothing to worry about. Simply take it slow as he “works out the kinks,” and hold off on picking up the pace until he…