athletic | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Need For Speed: Genetic Editing Can Create Faster Horses

Argentinian researchers have created horse embryos after editing a specific speed gene with CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Drs. Lucia Natalia Moro, Diego Luis Viale, Juan Ignacio Bastón, Victoria Arnold, Mariana Suvá, Elisabet Wiedenmann, Martín Olguín, Santiago Miriuka and Gabriel Vichera are hopeful that the new technology will create horses with improved athletic ability; it could also be used to correct genetic defects that cause equine disease.

The scientists were successful in removing the myostatin gene, which inhibits skeletal muscle mass development. This gene plays a significant role in gene-based distance aptitude of racehorses. Their gene editing techniques achieved 96.2 percent efficacy.

The team noted that additional research to determine an efficient manner of editing embryos was needed before this technique could be used to improve the athletic performance of horses. The team's long-term goal is to identify alleles that give a horse a natural sporting advantage and then incorporate them to allow other horses the same characteristics. They consider this technique a precision breeding strategy as it can deliver results to only one generation.

Read the full study here.

Read more at HorseTalk.

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Scar Tissue Issues In Horses May Be Resolved With Standing Surgery

A horse that has experienced a hind-end injury such as a kick, fall or other trauma can develop a mechanical restriction from scar tissue that does not allow him to take normal strides, called a fibrotic myopathy, which can affect his athletic ability. The condition, which is not usually painful, is diagnosed by palpation and ultrasound around the horse's thigh.

The veterinary hospital at the University of California, Davis, did a retrospective study that used 22 horses with the condition that had a standing fibrotic myotomy performed. Drs. Charlene Noll, Isabelle Kilcoyne, Betsy Vaughan and Larry Galuppo reviewed the horse's long-term comfort and return to athletic endeavors.

Tenotomy is a more-standard treatment for this type of issue, but a standing myotomy is less expensive and less invasive. The horse can also be moved about during the procedure to assess the response to the incision into the fibrotic tissue.

Only two of the horses in the study developed complications during the surgery. There were additional complications in 18 percent of the horses, which included issues with drainage or infection that caused sutures to reopen.

After the surgery, the horses were on stall rest for two weeks and hand walked for 10 minutes three times a day. Once sutures were removed, the horses began trotting for five minutes each day and work was increased incrementally from there.

Four weeks after the surgery, canter work was added to the rehabilitation program. Passive range of motion exercises were also recommended twice daily throughout the rehabilitation time. Two months after the surgery, the horses could go back to regular work and could get turned out.

Follow up calls and questionnaires were sent to the horse owners between 6 months and 11 years after the surgery was performed. Ten of the 16 owners said they were satisfied with the long-term outcome of the surgery. Eight of the horses had a recurrence of issues, and eight of the 12 athletic horses returned to their previous level of use. The other four athletic horses needed repeat surgery.

The research team concluded that standing myotomy for fibrotic myopathy leads to fair outcomes with minimal complications, but proper rehabilitation was imperative to the surgery's success.

Read the full article here.

Read more at EquiManagement.

The post Scar Tissue Issues In Horses May Be Resolved With Standing Surgery appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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