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Electrolytes May Not Be Essential For Horses In Light, Moderate Work

Horses that are being asked for light to moderate work in warmer weather may not require electrolyte supplementation.

A dehydrated horse is more at risk of fatigue and heat stroke, reports The Horse. To combat this, a horse may increase his water consumption by 15 to 30 percent In hot and humid weather, and by 200 to 300 percent when they are in heavy work in hot and humid weather.

Supplementing a horse's diet with electrolytes can encourage him to drink more water, but there is little research to prove whether the increased water intake is beneficial in horses in light and moderate work.

Alyson Snyder of Middle Tennessee State University reported at the 2023 Equine Science Society Symposium in Grapevine, Texas, on a study she conducted in September 2022. Snyder used 11 stock-type horses in consistent work, supplementing five of them with a low dose of sodium chloride and potassium chloride and adding sugar to the six other horse's feed.

Venous blood samples were taken in the morning for five days to measure blood glucose levels and plasma was sent to Cornell University for testing. The horse's buckets were regularly checked and refilled.

Snyder noted that as temperatures over the five days increased, so did water consumption. Riders and instructors were unaware of which group horses fell into. They reported that the horses receiving the electrolyte supplementation fatigued faster in morning and midday rides than the control group.

However, they saw no difference in cooldown time between the two groups. Additionally, supplemented horses had no change in plasma concentrations.

All horses consumed more water, and on the hottest day, all the horses sweated more and had similar cool-down times. Snyder concluded that horses in light to moderate work may not need low-dose electrolyte supplementation.

Study Suggests Sedation Could Mask Lameness In Horses

Though sedating a fractious horse could make a lameness exam safer for both horse and handler, a study from Germany indicates that sedation can affect how a horse moves, thus making pinpointing the lameness more difficult.

While sedation can make horses more cooperative, it can also make them more sluggish. Dr. Matthias Rettig, with the Free University of Berlin, created a study to determine whether a sedative affected the biomechanical parameters vets use to diagnose lameness.

Scientists attached inertial sensors to 44 horses that were divided into two groups. Baseline lameness exams were given to each horse, then 22 of the horses received a low dose of the sedative xylazine. The other 22 horses received saline to act as controls. The lameness exams were repeated 20 and 60 minutes after the injection.

The inertial sensors recorded limb, head, and pelvic movement throughout each of the exams.

The researchers found that sedation had no significant effect on pelvic movement in horses with hind-end lameness. Sedation also didn't initially affect the movement of horses with forelimb lameness, but 60 minutes after sedation, it decreased the head movement in some of these horses.

Though the reason for the delayed effect isn't clear, Rettig suggests that horses become used to the trotting up and back routine for the lameness exam or that xylazine acts as a pain reliever and not just a sedative.

Though the change in head movement from the xylazine was not statistically significant, Rettig suggests that practitioners keep it in mind when sedating a horse for a lameness exam, specifically if the exam takes more than an hour.

Relax Trax Music May Reduce Equine Stress

Boehringer Ingelheim is continuing their commitment to the health of the whole horse through the release of a new video explaining the science behind Relax Trax. The special music track, which launched September 2021, was developed in conjunction with animal sound behaviorist Janet Marlow and is designed to reduce stress in horses. In the educational video, Marlow is joined by Dr. Sarah Reuss, Equine Technical Manager, and Kelly Graber, Equine Marketing Manager, to discuss the science behind the music.

“Boehringer Ingelheim is passionate about offering horse owners solutions to health problems outside of the traditional pharmaceutical world,” says Reuss. “Diving into the science behind Relax Trax further highlights how great of a supplementary tool it is for everyday stress relief.”

The effects of Relax Trax are clear in the video. Horses can be seen exhibiting behaviors consistent with relaxation: chewing, yawning, soft eyes, loose, hanging jaws and relaxed nostrils. But why exactly does it seem to work so well?

“Relax Trax includes specific rhythms to mimic the gaits of a horse and string instruments to elicit calm,” explains Marlow. “Relax Trax is also within the horse's pitch comfort range of 1 kHz to 16 kHz and a volume comfort range of 60 to 80 decibels.”

Marlow's musical arrangement was based on what was learned from a study conducted in Poland on racehorses. This and other studies have shown that playing music can help balance equine behavior because it helps mask outside sounds and vibrations, and provides a positive and relaxing effect.

In addition to the pitch, volume and rhythm, the type of music can also influence the effects that it has on the horse. While Relax Trax falls under the classical genre, horses are also fans of country music due to its tempo and key. Rock and jazz, however, tend to be more disruptive and less relaxing.

Relax Trax can be a beneficial relaxation tool for any horse, even if they aren't experiencing what a horse owner might consider to be a stressful event. Stress in a horse's life can present itself in many ways, both big and small. A long trailer ride, competing at a horse show, a new stall neighbor or a change in routine are all different stressors that may be impacting your horse.

“The stress that horses experience can be from many things that we don't necessarily think of as being stressful,” says Graber. “It's important to recognize and limit potential stressors in a horse's everyday life to help keep them relaxed and healthy.”

While stress on its own may not seem like a big deal, it can quickly lead to equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) which can cause larger health problems and poor performance. Consider administering UlcerGard® (omeprazole) or playing Relax Trax for your horse as ways to potentially help reduce the likelihood of ulcers.

The educational video is available to watch here and the audio only version of Relax Trax can be found here.

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Necropsies Inconclusive For Both Saffie Joseph-Trained Horses Who Died Suddenly At Churchill

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has published the post-mortem review reports for both of the Saffie Joseph-trained horses who experienced sudden deaths at Churchill Downs this spring. The occurrence of two of the statistically unusual deaths within just a few days of each other prompted the commission to scratch Joseph's other horses from races at the track, and Churchill later announced a private property suspension of his entries.

Joseph-trained Parents Pride collapsed after being pulled up near the 3/16ths pole during a race on April 29 and died before emergency veterinarians could evaluate her on-site. Chasing Artie trailed the field in his May 2 race and began to stagger, then collapsed while returning to be unsaddled. He was unresponsive to veterinarians' attempts to revive him, and they decided to euthanize him.

Both horses passed their pre-race veterinary exams, and were described as having “very minimal and routine” veterinary work within the past 60 days prior to their starts, based on medical records. No prohibited or therapeutic substances were found in blood testing for either horse; no urine was collected from either horse for testing, as this becomes logistically difficult after death.

In the case of Parents Pride, pathologists did note some mild to moderate changes in the heart, brain and lungs, including minimal myocarditis but none of those abnormalities were thought to be significant enough to prompt a sudden death.

Dr. Laura Kennedy, the author of the mortality review for Parents Pride, reported that “Myocarditis can be identified in clinically normal racehorses that are euthanized for a variety of reasons, including non-catastrophic musculoskeletal injury.”

“Judgments on the significance of certain findings can vary between laboratories and pathologists,” Kennedy wrote. “The pathologist on this case defines myocarditis to be a significant finding when greater than 30% of the histologic sections exhibit inflammation. In this case, 5% of the sections were affected.”

An examination of organs from Chasing Artie did not reveal any abnormalities in the heart, but did make note of hemorrhage in the lungs, including evidence of previous EIPH. The pathologist did not believe this was significant enough to prompt a sudden death. Hemorrhage or congestion in the lungs and spleen are common findings on horses who have undergone chemical euthanasia soon after exercise, and it's often difficult to tell whether the bleeding was a result of the euthanasia drug, normal exertion, or whether it's something acute that preceded the horse pulling up or stumbling.

Toxicology testing on Chasing Artie did reveal trace amounts of the anticoagulant rat poisons chlorophacinone and diphacinone. The concentrations were detectable but too small to be quantified.

Kennedy wrote that while it's true rodenticides were found in 2016 cases of horses in Southern California suffering from sudden deaths, the levels found in those horses were measured in parts per million. In this horse, the levels were smaller than 50 parts per billion, which led Kennedy to doubt this substance caused the horse's death.

Both horses had stomach ulcers, which is a nearly-universal finding on necropsies of racehorses.

Neither the report for Chasing Artie or Parents Pride establishes a definitive cause of death, which is common in instances of sudden death. One academic study from 2011 showed that only about 43 percent of sudden death incidents ever had a definitive cause of death established.

Read our previous reporting on the challenges of establishing a cause for sudden deaths in this 2022 reporting.

Mortality review reports are published on the commission's website here. Several, though not all, of the other Churchill deaths also have mortality reviews posted. In each case of musculoskeletal injury, report authors compared the injured horse to uninjured cohorts from the same race to see if there were any abnormalities in age at first work, veterinarian's list history, length of recent layoffs, number of high-speed furlongs, and much more. Most horses were found to be similar to their competition for most factors studied.

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