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A Novel Way To Correct Wry Nose

Wry nose in horses does more than just look odd — it can affect the way a foal breathes and may lead to weaning and performance issues. It's unknown if the defect, where the upper jaw and nose are shifted to one side, is genetic or caused by an issue in utero.

Dr. Cassandra Sapper and colleagues at the University of Zurich tried a new, surgical approach to correcting the issue on two foals: the team cut the incisive and maxillary bones, then inserted a locking compression plate with screws to stabilize the gap. The front part of the septum was resected and a plate used to fixate the nasal bone deviation.

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After surgery, the team reported that the foals' respiratory issues and facial malformation were markedly reduced, though the underbite and deviation could not be completely eliminated. The new technique did not cut the skin and muscle on the side of the head, so there was less soft tissue trauma than with traditional means of correcting wry nose.

Though previously it had been suggested that wry nose corrective surgery be done at two to three months of age, the study team used foals that were three and seven and a half weeks old. This was deemed advantageous because of their ability to heal rapidly at a younger age. The study team concluded that wry nose corrective surgery can be accomplished using this new method in young foals.

Read the case report here.

Certain Smells Soothe Stressed Out Steeds

Aromatherapy is a holistic treatment that uses plant extracts to encourage health and wellbeing based on the idea that specific scents trigger certain reactions, including relaxation and stress relief. Lavender is often touted to bring about feelings of relaxation and calmness in humans that inhale its scent. A recent study suggests that this scent can calm horses, as well.

The University of Arizona used eight dressage horses for an aromatherapy study. Cardiac parameters were taken before, during and after they inhaled air that had been infused with a lavender scent from a humidifier. Each horse was also tested using air infused with chamomile essential oil and plain water.

The horses wore monitors that collected information on heart rate, time intervals between heartbeats and heart rate variability (HRV) during each testing period. HRV increases when a horse is relaxed.

Trial data showed that inhaled lavender relaxed seven of the study horses, while the chamomile oil relaxed just two of the eight horses. The researchers note that some horses may be more sensitive to the smell of lavender and chamomile than others. The team also reported that none of the horses was exposed to external stressors during the study period. Physiological effects subsided when the inhalation of the oil stopped.

Study Shows Machines Can Detect Equine Pain From Daily Behavior

Machines may soon play a role in monitoring pain in horses admitted to veterinary clinics. Currently, it can be difficult to find an unbiased, quick way to determine if a horse is in pain. Drs. Nuray Kil, Katrin Ertelt and Ulrike Auer created a study that used an automated video tracker to detect and record daily equine activities. The end goal was to have the tracker create an algorithm that would be able to objectively assess pain and wellbeing of horses in a clinical setting. This ability would remove the guesswork of veterinarians and technicians determining if a horse was in pain.

Pain causes behavior changes in horses; understanding normal and pain-induced behaviors in horses is critical to properly evaluating pain levels. Though horses may work to mask pain in an unfamiliar surrounding like a clinic, even subtle variations become apparent when behavior is thoroughly analyzed.

Though there are multiple pain assessment scales available, they are all scored manually and can be skewed by multiple things, including inexperience and the amount of time spent viewing the horse.

To test their video tracker theory, researchers used 34 horses at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna's teaching hospital. All the horses were housed in box stalls with water and were fed four times a day. The horses were recorded on an action camera and in time-lapse mode. The videos were then processed to look for an automated prediction of three body parts: the tail, nose and withers.

The technology was able to identify the horse's stance with an accuracy and sensitivity of more than 80 percent, meaning that it could more often than not detect when a horse was exhibiting pain behaviors. The research team concluded that this technology will improve the detection of equine pain and provide insight for equine behavioral research.

Read the study here.