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Monkey See, Monkey Do: Will A Foal Mimic A Mare’s Neurologic Behavior?

Foals often mimic the behavior of their dams, copycatting everything from grazing to running to rolling and more. But what happens when a foal is born to a mare that has neurologic issues? Will it mimic the odd behaviors?

The staff at Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center has cared for many foals born to neurologically compromised mares, said Dr. Rodney Belgrave. Often the mares are afflicted with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). Belgrave says he has not seen foals mimic the neurological signs their mothers exhibit.

However, foals can be born infected with organisms that cause neurologic disease. One of the organisms that causes EPM can be transmitted to the fetus from the placenta. However, infected foals may not demonstrate neurological signs until they are three months old.

Foals can also be born with equine herpesvirus type-1 (EHV-1) that is contracted from the dam, but many don't show neurologic signs of this disease, either.

The most common cause of neurologic disease in foals is neonatal encephalopathy, which occurs when the fetus is deprived of oxygen. This can be caused by a bacterial infection called placentitis or by a difficult birthing process. Affected foals often don't develop neurologic signs until 18 to 24 hours after birth.

In both cases, the lack of oxygen leads to fluid build up in brain tissue. Though alarming, the prognosis for neonatal encephalopathy is very good if the foals are treated early and appropriately.

Zenyatta Loses 2021 Foal

Hall of famer Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}–Vertigineux, by Kris S.) has lost her 2021 foal, a Candy Ride (Arg) filly. The news was reported on Zenyatta's official website Tuesday.

“We at Team Zenyatta and Lane's End Farm are deeply saddened to share that Zenyatta lost her 2021 foal early this year,” the website read. “She had been carrying a second Candy Ride filly, and we grieve the loss of this precious life. Thankfully, Zenyatta remains in excellent health and is doing very well.”

Zenyatta's first two foals, the 9-year-old Cozmic One (Bernardini) and 8-year-old Ziconic (Tapit), both raced, but never won and are not retired, enjoying new careers as show horses. Her 2014 War Front filly died and she was not bred back for 2015. The four-time Eclipse winner's 2016 War Front colt also died and her 2017 filly Zellda (Medaglia d'Oro) has yet to make the races. Zenyatta aborted her 2018 Into Mischief foal, but produced a Candy Ride (Arg) filly named Zilkha May 17 of last year.

The post Zenyatta Loses 2021 Foal appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Foals Need Specific Pain Ethogram, Scientists Say

Equine researchers are encouraging the creation of a pain ethogram just for foals. Drs. Johannes van Loon, Nicole Verhaar, Els van den Berg, Sarah Ross and Janny de Grauw have found that foals express pain differently than their adult counterparts. They feel creating a pain-related facial expression scale unique to foals will assist with their welfare. It's important for people caring for foals to recognize when they are experiencing problems, as well as to assist them in managing pain and determining when pain-relieving drugs are working.

To test their theory, the scientists took 60-second videos of 20 foals that were between one day and six months old that had had diagnosed painful conditions like colic, post-operative pain or an injury. They also took video before and after pain medications were administered.

They showed the videos to three observers who didn't know which foals were healthy and which were not, or if they had received pain medication. The observers, a senior anesthetist and two of his vet students, had undergone a two-day training to identify equine facial expressions and what they mean.

It was discovered that though foals and adult horses shared some of the pain-related expressions, like holding their ears back and tightening their eyelids, major differences were also observed.

Painful foals did not:

Show the whites of their eyes when they are in acute pain, like adult horses do. This is most likely because foals show the whites of their eyes all the time as they look around.
Exhibit a flehmen response when in acute pain—it's actually healthy foals that were more likely to curl their lip as they explore their environment.
Grind their teeth, even when they have them.

However, foals in pain did smack their lips, which painful adult horses don't do, though it isn't understood why.

Each observer had similar findings when watching each video. This indicates that that with basic training, horse owners and caretakes can easily assess pain in foals in their care. The scientists suggest that more research is needed to confirm the pain-related behaviors of foals. The team hopes to develop ethograms specific to types of acute pain, like musculoskeletal or colic pain, as well as for chronic pan.

Read the study here.

Study: Fearful Foals Make Fearful Horses

A Danish study sought to decode behavior in foals that might indicate which ones may become fearful adults. Fearful horses can be dangerous if placed in uneducated hands; if bred, they can pass the trait on to their offspring.

Drs. Janne Winther Christensen, Carina Beblein and Jens Malmkvist note that horses will always face situations that can scare them, but through habituation and breeding for a calm demeanor, they can be trained to not flee.

Horses that are scared cause accidents; the researchers note that everyone involved with horses, from those who breed to those who play sports and teach others how to ride, have a responsibility to try to reduce accidents. They also report that it is unethical to breed fearful animals as it has a negative impact on animal welfare.

However, to study equine fearfulness, the same group of horses need to be kept in the identical management situations for the first three or four years of their lives, which is unusual. Winther Christensen and her team followed 25 Warmblood stallions from five months to 3.5 years of age; they were kept as a group with limited human handling.

The researchers reported that foals on their dams' side showed distinct differences in how they approached novel items. Some foals hurried back to their mothers when they saw a scary object while others approached and investigated it. Heart rate monitors showed that the foals that hurried back to their mothers had higher heart rates than the more-inquisitive foals.

Tested again as 3-year-olds, the same horses had similar reactions; overall, the horses that were more alert to the object had more pronounced fear reactions. The team determined that a foal's expression of alertness can help predict later behavior. Fearfulness is consistent across ages, which is helpful to know to ensure proper training and handling of the most-fearful horses. Additionally, if breeders were to breed only calm horses, after a few generations the population would generally become less fearful.