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Multiple Graded Stakes Winner Imperative Thriving In New Career As Dressage Horse

Multiple graded stakes winner Imperative is succeeding in a new career as a sport horse. According to a tweet this week from the National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization (NTWO), the 10-year-old gelding retired and joined the organization's retraining program in August 2019 after a seventh-place finish in that year's Grade 1 Whitney. The earner of over $3 million was shown looking graceful in the dressage ring.

Imperative had a place guaranteed for him at Old Friends, but owner Ron Paolucci said in a press release at the time that the gelding was still healthy and sound and wanted a job so he opted to send him along to a new career.

The 10-year-old gelding is a son of Bernardini out of Call Her. Imperative had 50 starts and placed in 19 of them. He is a two-time winner of the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic and has placed second or third in the G1 Gold Cup, G1 Pacific Classic, G2 San Antonio, G2 San Pasqual, and G3 Native Diver.

At the time of his retirement, Anthony Qartarolo conditioned the horse for Paolucci and Imaginary Stables.

Imperative was bred in Kentucky at Darley's Glencrest Farm. He was consigned by Four Star Sales at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2011 and bought by John Fergusson for $325,000.

Remember Imperative? Retired to NTWO, here he is in his new life as a show horse. He looks wonderful! pic.twitter.com/qTOjuARXuR

— NTWO (@NTWOorg) December 26, 2020

The post Multiple Graded Stakes Winner Imperative Thriving In New Career As Dressage Horse appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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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.

New Smartphone Tool Can Perform Equine ECG In The Field

Veterinarians in the field now have another tool at their disposal to assist with horse health care: a smartphone-based electrocardiogram (ECG) device.

Drs. Elena Alberti, Luca Stucchi, Valeria Pesce, Giovanni Stancari, Elisabetta Ferro, Francesco Ferrucci and Enrica Zucca, all with the University of Milan in Italy, have found that the hand-held tool is useful, practical and feasible to use.

Previously, the AliveCor Veterinary Heart Monitor had only been evaluated by its use on horses in an equine hospital; the scientific team set out to determine if the tool would be accurate when used in the field as conditions are less stable than in a hospital. The scientists created a study to compare the accuracy of smartphone-based ECGs that were recorded by the AliveCor Veterinary Heart Monitor and a standard ECG unit.

ECGs from both were recorded at the same time on both horses in a barn and horses in an equine hospital. The ECGs recorded on a smartphone were digitized by the device and emailed as a PDF; both sets were then analyzed on a laptop by an experienced clinician who didn't know which ECG was recorded by which device.

Both devices recorded the heart rate and rhythm similarly; they also evaluated atrioventricular block and premature complexes, P wave and PQ interval duration, and QRS complex duration and polarity the same. There were no differences between artefacts recorded in the hospital or in the field.

The scientists concluded that the results the AliveCor Veterinary Heart Monitor provided were accurate and that the smartphone-based monitor was a reliable diagnostic tool for vets in the field as well and in a hospital setting. They did, however, note that exceptional atmospheric conditions, like lightning storms, may prevent the AliveCor from recording in the field.

Read the article here.

Why Do Some Geldings Act Like Stallions?

Some male horses, even when gelded, can act like intact stallions. These behaviors can cause issues when the horses are turned out or when they are being handled in the barn.

As most stallions are kept only for breeding purposes, the majority of horse owners have no experience with them or their hormone-driven behaviors; eliminating these behaviors is a driving force behind having a male horse castrated.

Gelding a horse removes his testes, eliminating the source of testosterone, but some of the greatest effects of testosterone occur when the horse in utero, where the fetus' testes pump out a plethora of male hormones. This early influence may cause geldings to act like stallions, fighting with other geldings, mounting mares, acting aggressively with people, attacking foals or herding mares.

Interestingly, many geldings that exhibit stallion-like behavior are in their teens, though it's unclear why they act this way more than their younger counterparts. One theory is that a tumor on the geldings' pituitary glands secrete extra hormones. Another theory suggests that the increased confidence and social rank that comes with age may encourage the stallion-like behavior.

Some geldings may act stud-like because they were not gelded completely; they may have a retained testicle that has failed to drop into the scrotum. A blood test can determine if the horse has a retained testicle, which can be removed surgically.

Stallion-like behaviors can include:

Fecal marking. Some geldings will pass manure on other horse's fecal piles as a way of making others aware of his presence. Stallions in the wild do this as well.
Flehmen response. A horse raises his head, curls his upper lip and inhales to better smell mares he is near. This is a harmless action, but can accompany more troublesome actions.
Mounting mares. This can be a dangerous as mounting can injure the mare or the gelding if he is the recipient of a kick.
Fighting. A gelding acting stallion-like may fight off male horses to keep them away from “his” mares, potentially injuring himself or other horses in the process.
Herding or guarding mares. A gelding may continuously move mares away from people or other horses in the field, keeping them just out of reach.
Acting aggressively with people. Anyone working with or near a gelding exhibiting this behavior will be at risk of being bitten, charged or struck, especially if mares are present.