pain | Horse Racing Free Tips

Don’t Hold Your Breath: Horses Can’t Phsyically ‘Blow Up’ To Prevent Girth Tightening

When budding equestrians are fist taught how to tack up, one of the first things they learn is to always check their horse's girth before mounting; some horses hold their breath to keep the girth or cinch a bit loose. This lack of security could invite a saddle to slip.

That belief has recently been debunked: while horses may resist a girth being tightened, they don't hold their breath to do it, reports EQUUS magazine. The ribs that lie directly beneath the saddle area are relatively immobile, making it nearly impossible for a horse to expand his girth area through his lung power.

However, a determined horse might tighten his abdominal muscles enough to expand his chest and prevent the girth from being completely tightened. A horse may tighten his muscles for a variety of reasons, including the anticipation of discomfort, but many horses tighten their muscles naturally because something is being wrapped around his abdomen.

The key to preventing a horse from tightening his muscles and keeping the girth from being tightened is relaxation. First, ensure that his tack fits well and isn't causing him pain. When beginning to tack, keep the horse's girth or cinch loose, tightening it gradually throughout the tacking-up process. Once the horse has been led to the mounting block, the girth should be checked again. One final check once the rider is mounted may also be necessary.

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.

New Colic Pain Scale Assesses Discomfort Quickly

Two equine hospitals have trialed a pain scale to assess the level of discomfort of 237 horses referred to the clinics for colic. The veterinarians concluded that the sale was reliable, easy to use and fast.

Drs. Yamit Maskato, Alexandra Dugdale, Ellen Singer, Gal Kelmer and Gila Sutton created the Equine Acute Abdominal Pain Scale (EAAPS) in 2013. The scientists report that the scale requires no training, can be used easily in hospital settings and can improve equine welfare.

They suggest that the EAAPS now be tested in the field by veterinarians, as well as by horse owners and farm caretakers who lack medical training. Colic is the most common cause of equine deaths in the United States. Severity of pain is an important parameter for decision making regarding a horse that is colicking; it can also assist in evaluating pain-relieving measures, patient status and surgical or euthanasia decisions.

The EAAP gives typical colic behaviors a one-digit score to grade the severity of pain, with 1 being the most mild (flank watching or lip curling) to 5 being the most severe (rolling). Participants at the two clinics where the EAAP was trialed reported that the EAAP was quick and easy to use, even with no training on the scale.

The creators determined that the EAAPS is feasible to use in an equine clinical setting to determine the severity of colic cases.

Read the full article here.

The Difference Between Sleep Deprivation And Narcolepsy In Horses

Similar to humans, horses need to be physically and emotionally comfortable to fall into deep sleep. Though they don't require this deep sleep every night like humans do, their behavior and demeanor can change if they don't get adequate rest.

Equine sleep has three distinct phases: it begins with the deep restfulness phase where the horse is relaxed, but easily roused; he can stand while in this phase. Next is slow-wave sleep where he is even more relaxed, but can still be standing. To enter the final sleep phase, paradoxical sleep, the horse must lie down. This phase of sleep is where a horse loses reflexed and muscle function; REM (rapid eye movement) occurs in this phase, as well. The horse's brain is just as active in this phase as it is when the horse is awake.

Though people need two to three hours of paradoxical sleep each day, horses need only 30 to 60 minutes. Horses don't have daily sleep cycles like humans, so they don't need paradoxical sleep every day. They can typically only go between seven and 14 days without this type of sleep before becoming sleep deprived. A horse that desperately needs paradoxical sleep will begin having “sleep attacks” that may look similar to narcolepsy, but are not: Narcolepsy is where a horse has frequent, uncontrollable periods of deep sleep. It is a neurological problem typically brought on by stress, excitement or exercise.

Equine sleep deprivation can have physical causes, including pain. Some older horses may have difficulty lying down and getting up because their joints hurt. If a horse won't lie down to roll, he is most often too painful to lie down to rest, as well. If a horse has enteroliths, stone-like formations in his colon, he may not lie down as the stones may press and pull on his colon, causing pain.

If the horse is uncomfortable in his environment he may be unwilling to lie down. He may be alone and fearful in his field, or he may feel unsafe as his herd is lacking a leader. Additionally, horses trying to enforce a specific pecking order in a herd may be too vigilant to sleep.

Three questions can be asked to help determine if a horse is having sleep issues:

Has he rolled lately?
Has his social situation changed?
Is his environment noisy or somehow disturbing?