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Study: Your Horse’s Mood Affects His Way Of Going

A new study shows that observing how a horse acts in his stall could offer clues to how a ride might go: A horse that's angry or unhappy in his stall will most likely carry that negative attitude into the arena.

Lead researcher Alice Ruet used 43 lesson horses to test her theory. The study horses were kept in stalls and turned out for one hour a week in individual paddocks. They were used by advanced riders six hours a week for dressage, eventing or jumping lessons.

The study team watched the stalled horses for six weeks, noting their behavior several times each day. The scientists were specifically looking for clues that the horse was in a negative mental state—that he may be experiencing “compromised welfare” from being in a stall. The behaviors they were looking for included aggression toward people, cribbing or other stereotypies, hypervigilance, or a withdrawn posture, which indicated a depressed state.

The researchers then asked the head instructor three questions about each horse's way of going under saddle, including whether he was anxious or fearful, if he seemed uncomfortable, or if he was unwilling to go forward.

The final phase of the study had one rider who was unfamiliar with the horses ride each horse using the same tack. The rider was equipped with inertial sensors on her head and back. The horse wore a sensor on his girth. The ride was recorded, and an independent assessor noted behaviors that may indicate a negative attitude, like head shaking, tail swishing or bolting, as well as the horse's overall demeanor.

The scientists found a correlation between behavior in the stall and how a horse moved under saddle: Horses that were aggressive to humans while in their stalls had choppier gaits while being ridden. They also found that horses that were withdrawn in their stall were more reluctant to go forward when asked. The scientists conclude that a horse in a poor state of welfare is likely to be more unhappy when being ridden, linking welfare to performance.

Ruet suggests additional studies could be done to investigate whether management changes could influence a horse's mood and under-saddle movement.

More Than Ulcers? Girthiness May Be Coming From More Than One Cause

Even the most pleasant horse may act cranky when his girth is tightened, and it's not because you're telling him he's chubby. Some horses will gnash their teeth, snake their heads, swish their tails and try to move away when their girth is being tightened, telling their owners and riders that something is amiss.

Veterinarians often become involved in the issue when a normally stoic horse becomes opposed to being girthed. Drs. Esther Millares-Ramirez and Sarah Le Jeune completed a retrospective study of 37 horses who had been referred to the University of California-Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital for girth aversion.

The horses in the study were of various breeds and ridden in a range of disciplines. Upon referral, each horse had a physical exam that included recording of vital signs and a musculoskeletal exam that included palpation and flexion tests. The horses worked in straight lines and circled on hard and soft ground and were also lunged. Thirteen horses had a gastroscopy, seven had their saddles examined, and three had abdominal radiographs performed.

Of the 13 horses that were scoped, 12 had gastric ulcers. The horses were prescribed omeprazole and the owners said the girthiness resolved with the ulcer treatment. Ten of the horses had orthopedic issues. All 10 horses became less girthy when their musculoskeletal issues were addressed. Three horses had poorly-fitted saddles; once this was addressed and the horses received chiropractic and acupuncture treatments, the angst at being girthed resolved.

The other study horses with aversions to being girthed had a variety of issues, including ovarian tumor, urinary tract infection, girth mass, sand impaction and more.

The team determined that the primary reasons horses exhibit an unwillingness to be girthed include gastric ulcers, orthopedic issues and poor saddle fit.

Science Sleuths: Infectious Or Contagious?

Infectious. Contagious. You have probably heard these words several times in your life, maybe even used them. While similar and related, they are often used interchangeably or incorrectly and there is a difference. The distinction between the two is this: All contagious diseases are infectious, but not all infectious diseases are contagious.

The literal definition of infectious is “the process or state of being infected with a disease.” And to infect means “to affect or contaminate someone or something with pathogenic microbial agents.” Pathogenic meaning disease producing, and microbial referring to viruses, bacteria or other microorganisms. To simplify infectious, it basically means germs get into the body and spread, causing sickness. Contagious diseases are infectious diseases that can be transmitted through direct bodily (close) contact with an infected individual or their bodily discharges, or an object or surface they have contaminated (i.e. COVID-19). Other infectious diseases, however, are transmitted indirectly such as by mosquitoes (malaria) or ticks (Lyme disease).

The Big Picture

Contagious diseases are spread by contact, while infectious diseases are spread by infectious agents. So when something is contagious, it is also infectious because some contact exposed you or your animal to the infectious agent. Something infectious however is not always contagious. Confused yet? You can be infected with food poisoning (you ate the potato salad that sat out in the sun), but food poisoning isn't contagious (you aren't going to pass your food poisoning to someone else or your animals with just a simple contact). Suppose you are near someone sneezing quite a bit and they have an obviously stuffy nose. Well, if you have contact with that person and then you develop the sniffles and sneezes, it was contagious. It was also infectious because the way sniffles and sneezes are contagious is usually through an agent such as a virus or bacteria. If that person's symptoms were caused by allergies though, they aren't contagious because you can't catch allergies.

Since disease is spread by pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites and other microorganisms, biosecurity at your farm is key to prevention. Having a solid plan in place to keep pathogens away from your farm or property, animals and personnel is key. The major components for your program are (adapted from USDA-APHIS):

General Signs of Animal Diseases of Concern

Sudden, unexplained deaths in the herd or flock
Severe illness affecting a high percentage of animals
Blistering around an animal's mouth, nose, teats or hooves
Unusual ticks, maggots or other insects
Staggering, falling or central nervous system disorders
Abortions or still births

Control Access to Your Property

Have only one combined entrance and exit to your farm if possible.
Keep property gates locked at all times.
Make sure all visitors check with you prior to entering your property or visiting your animals.
If you have a large number of visitors, keep track of who visits your farm. Make sure all visitors sign in at arrival and sign out at departure.
Only allow essential vehicles and visitors to enter the farm and keep these vehicles in a separate area away from animals.

Biosecurity Precautions

When a new animal moves onto a farm, be sure that the health status and the source of the animal is known.
New animals or animals returning to a farm should be separated from the rest of the herd for approximately two weeks. This can be difficult in some cases. If you are unable to completely isolate the animals, keep them in a pen or stall farthest from the rest of the stock, keep feed and water buckets or bowls separate, avoid nose-to-nose contact with other stock. For horses or stock that need to be exercised or worked, remove other animals from the pen, arena or paddock and set up a time for the new stock to have access to the area.
Keep vehicles, such as milk, feed and livestock trucks, from driving through areas where animals are housed or feed is kept.
Wash hands thoroughly before/after handling livestock.
Ask visitors to provide information about recent farm and animal contacts; deny entry if they have been to an area or farm of concern.
Clothing worn on farms in other locations/countries should be washed.
All footwear should be disinfected before entering and after leaving an animal housing area.
Discourage visitors from walking through feed mangers and having physical contact with animals.
Report morbidity and mortality events to your local veterinarian or to the state veterinarian's office.

Provide Disposable Protective Clothing

Make sure visitors entering your farm have clean clothes or you can keep a supply of disposable clean coveralls and boot/shoe covers for visitors.
If you haul your own animals, wash your truck, clean and disinfect boots and change coveralls before returning to your farm.
In general, don't borrow or share equipment. In cases where there are no other options, clean and disinfect the equipment prior to use and make sure to repeat these steps prior to returning the items.
If it is necessary to be around the animals of another farm, consider wearing protective clothing such as coveralls, and boots that can be cleaned and disinfected before you enter the property and removed when you leave.

Provide Disinfectant for Incoming Visitors

Provide visitors with a tub of disinfectant and a brush for scrubbing shoes for use before they enter your property, or provide shoe covers.
Vehicles entering and leaving your property should be kept away from animal areas or have their tires washed with disinfectant.

Additional Steps

Control your companion animals and poultry.
Control pests such as rodents and wild life.
Keep garbage and other waste from supplies and animal housing.
Evaluate feed purchased or brought onto the property and fed to animals.
Practice security and cleanliness in feed storage.

The take home message.

With infectious diseases, it's all about spreading germs. They can be spread in many ways, such as through direct contact with an infected person or animal or by direct contact with a contaminated object, consumption of contaminated food (salmonella) or water (cholera) or exposure to disease carrying insects (West Nile, numerous others).

With contagious disease, it's all about contact. The bottom line: have a good biosecurity plan in place on your farm/veterinary practice. Good hygiene, solid insect and parasite controls as well as limiting contact with suspect or new animals/people can help cut down disease problems. If any issues are noted or arise, don't wait; call your veterinarian, state veterinarian or extension agent. USDA can be reached toll-free at 833-663-8732.

‘Miracle Horse’ Catemaco Eyeing Comeback For Mulhall

“Miracle Horse” Catemaco, whose life was gallantly saved by his trainer and breeder Kristin Mulhall in July 2017 at the age of four months, has recovered from a lingering cough that has prevented him from training and racing recently.

Mulhall hopes to have the 4-year-old California-bred son of Girolamo owned by Twilight Racing and Steve Taub ready run at Del Mar, which opens July 17.

“He's such a big horse and I didn't want to rush him,” said Mulhall, whose rapid and rudimentary emergency action after the colt was bitten by a Black Widow spider saved him from death going on four years ago.

Thanks to Mulhall, her veterinarian Dr. Melinda Blue, Bob Baffert's exercise rider Humberto (Beto) Gomez, and Dr. Andreas Klohnen at Chino Hills Equine Hospital, Catemaco's life was saved after an extensive ordeal and he made a full recovery.

On Jan. 1 at Santa Anita, he won his first and only race by four lengths at 14-1, considerably shorter than his odds of survival, relatively speaking.

The post ‘Miracle Horse’ Catemaco Eyeing Comeback For Mulhall appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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