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Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Retires Two Mounted Unit Members

Valor and Major, both horses with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, have been retired after years of service to the community. Valor is a 28-year-old off-track Thoroughbred who was donated to the sheriff's office 17 years ago. Valor worked the Super Bowl and the Republican National Convention; he was also deployed to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. Among his many accolades was being named the 2017 The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program Thoroughbred of the Year.

Major is a 19-year-old Hanoverian trained in dressage who was donated to the sheriff's office by a community member. Major also worked the Republican National Convention; he has also worked the Florida Classic and other high-profile events.

The horses will be retired at the Sarasota Polo Club.

Read more at the Venice Gondolier and at the Sarasota Sheriff's Office website.

The post Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Retires Two Mounted Unit Members appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Non-Compliance Of Flu Vaccine Administration Leaves Horses Vulnerable

Horses in the United Kingdom may be at risk of the flu even if they are vaccinated because of non-compliance with manufacturing guidelines, research shows. Drs. Amie Wilson, Gina Pinchbeck, Rachel Dean and Catherine McGowan created a survey that asked equine vets in the UK to describe their vaccination practices. The study team then compared these protocols with manufacturer guidelines and datasheets.

Of the 304 responses, 92 percent indicated that the recommendations they give owners are not consistent with manufacturer guidelines for administering the vaccine. Vets most often used vaccination guidelines from the British Horseracing Authority and the Fédération Equestre Internationale.

Additionally, there was variation in vaccine booster protocol for competition and noncompetition horses. The most recommended strategy, given by 57 percent of survey respondents, was a 6-month flu vaccine shot for competition horses and annual flu vaccine administration for non-competition horses.

Nearly 86 percent of vets reported that their clients were reluctant to administer vaccines because of fear of over vaccination, cost and the potential for adverse reactions. Of the vets who responded, 66 percent had horses that experienced an adverse reaction to vaccination, but only 19 percent of these vaccination reactions were reported to the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. Most reactions included stiffness, swelling, lethargy and fever.

The study team noted that there is a discrepancy between manufacturer guidelines for flu vaccinations and those issued by governing bodies for equestrian sport and racing. Non-compliance is common, leaving horses at risk for getting the flu.

Read the study here.

Study Shows Horses Relax In Presence Of ‘Their’ People

An Italian study has objectively shown that horses can recognize individual people familiar to them, highlighting the importance of handler familiarity in the horse-human bond. Horses are generally relaxed when hanging out with humans they know.

Drs. Chiara Scopa, Alberto Greco, Laura Contalbrigo, Elisabetta Fratini, Antonio Lanatà, Enzo Pasquale Scilingo and Paolo Baragli noted that horses can determine if a person is familiar or unfamiliar by both vocal and visual cues. Horses are most likely to engage with someone who is familiar to them; they form long-lasting memories of these people and can recognize them long after their last encounter.

Horses then classify humans based off the interactions they have as either positive, negative or neutral. The research team noted that though the human-horse relationship has been investigated though behavioral analysis, they recommended that physiological indicators be considered for an objective assessment of emotional responses.

They hypothesized that long-term, positive relationships with humans would impact a horse's emotion regulation. The team looked specifically at heart rate variability of 23 healthy horses when they interacted with both familiar and unfamiliar handlers.

The team used 22 people, 12 of them familiar to the horses and 10 unfamiliar people. A baseline heart rate was taken before each person entered the stall and stood near the door for five minutes. The horse could see and smell the person, but could move around. The person then groomed the horse for 2.5 minutes on each side.

The researchers found that the horses appeared more relaxed while physically interacting with familiar handlers; this was especially noticeable during right-side grooming. They concluded that repeated positive interactions with a person are probable triggers for positive emotions during interactions with the same person.

Read the study here.

Horses Better At Adding Than Some Humans

A study from Germany suggests that horses may be more mathematically inclined than originally thought. Researchers from the University of Gottingen trained three Shetland ponies to choose images that matched a specific visual cue.

First Drs. Vivian Gabor and Martina Gerken taught the ponies to walk up to a device and press a button; they were rewarded each time they approached the device and eventually for pressing one of the buttons.

Next, the ponies were shown a computer screen on the device that had a stimulus image in the center, and two images below it—one of which matched the stimulus. Each time the pony touched the image that matched the stimulus image, he got a treat delivered through a tube. To make sure the ponies weren't just selecting a familiar symbol, the researchers changed the options on the computer screen each time.

Once the ponies learned this, the scientists ran the same test, but used different quantities of the same image. For example, the stimulus image may show two dots; the options below may show two options: one with two dots and one with three. If the ponies chose the two-dot choice, they got a treat.

The researchers varied the size and arrangement of the images to ensure the ponies were choosing options based on numbers alone and not on other visual cues. The final phase of the study used images that were groupings of different geometric symbols, such as a cross, triangle and rhombus.

All three ponies had an 80 percent accuracy in matching images with at least four elements in at least two training sessions. One pony could tell the difference between four and five geometric symbols.

While proving that a horse's cognitive abilities may be much higher than previously believed, these finding don't mean the pony was “counting,” the team says. True counting indicated that the individual had an idea of numerical order. The ponies were subitizing: Quickly and spontaneously adding a short number of objects. Some primates and avian species can do this.