remodel | Horse Racing Free Tips

New Study Will Help Determine Exercise Effects On Bone Health

Researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) are investigating whether mile-long trot sets might protect foals from leg fractures later in life. Leg fractures can happen in any horse, but lower leg fractures are of more concern in horses that race or jump competitively. Most fractures occur in horses that are between two and 10 years old.

Dr. Annette McCoy, Assistant Professor of Equine Surgery at the UIUC College of Veterinary Medicine and member of the research team, notes that mild exercise early in life stimulates bone growth in horses – particularly in areas prone to fracture — though how is not completely understood. McCoy will see if parallels can be drawn from human medical studies, which have shown that kids who exercise are less prone to injury as adolescents and adults. The bone changes the human subjects experience from exercise seem to be sustained over time.

McCoy and her team will study 12 Standardbred foals housed on the university farm beginning when they are eight weeks old. The scientists will perform a baseline CT exam to measure bone density and volume on the forelegs of each foal. The foals will then be split into two groups: one group will complete an eight-week exercise plan where they trot rapidly over 1,500 yards once a day, five days per week; the second group will serve as the control and will not be exercised. In a previous study, McCoy found that foals living outside were relatively inactive nearly 85 percent of the time.

At 16 weeks old, the foal's forelegs will be scanned again to compare bone development. At 12 months old, a final CT scan will be performed. A computer model will predict the effects of exercise interventions on bone properties.

Equine Asthma Causes Thickening of Arterial Walls In Lungs

Researchers have found that horses with severe asthma also have arterial walls that are thickened in the lung. This condition can also be found in humans that have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; it contributes to pulmonary hypertension.

Severe asthma in horses is chronic lower airway disease; airway obstruction recurs when the horse is exposed to environmental triggers like hay mites and fungi. Drs. Serena Ceriotti, Michela Bullone, Mathilde Leclere, Francesco Ferrucci and Jean-Pierre Lavoie wanted to see if there were changes to the pulmonary arteries in asthmatic horses and how widely distributed these changes were. They also sought to see if the condition was reversible, either by inhaling corticosteroids or by avoiding allergens.

The study found that both actively asthmatic horses and those in remission had increased wall areas and that the pulmonary artery smooth muscle mass was increased. Both inhaled corticosteroids and allergen avoidance reversed the wall increase, but the smooth muscle only returned to normal during avoidance.

They concluded that equine asthma caused thickening of smooth muscle mass in pulmonary arteries. They also determined that the narrowing of the arteries could contribute to pulmonary hypertension. Avoiding triggers was found to be more effective than inhaled corticosteroids to control the disease.

Read the full study here.

Study: Too-Tight Nosebands Can Lead To Nasal Bone Damage In Horses

A new study X-rayed the heads of 144 horses and found many showed bony changes where the noseband typically sits. Though the scientists stress that their study doesn't provide evidence of a link between the noseband, its tightness and the lesions, they do feel that the lesions warrant further investigation on welfare grounds.

The use of too-tight nosebands is concerning to veterinarians, scientists and other equine welfare advocates who worry that the device, if used too tightly, causes distress and applies too much pressure to the tissues in the horse's head, potentially injuring both the tissue and the bone beneath it.

The study used 144 mature Warmblood horses, all used in the Mexican Army and based in Mexico City. Each horse began his career in training for dressage, showjumping and eventing. Noseband tightness is not routinely checked with any type of gauge. The horses were evaluated both physically and with an X-ray. The physical exam looked for lesions, pain on palpation or white hairs where the noseband or curb chain rest.

A week later, X-rays were taken and assessed by veterinarian diagnostic imaging specialists who knew nothing about the horses they were studying. The X-rays were examined for bone remodeling, radiographic opacity and soft tissue thickness in the areas where the noseband meets the lower jaw and nasal bones. They reported bone thickening in the nasal bones of 6.9 percent and 8.3 percent of the horses, and bone thinning in 33.3 percent and 56.9 percent of horses. The radiologists found increased bone deposition in 18.8 percent and 32.6 percent of the lower jaws of horses.

The scientists conclude that these results are the first evidence of bone lesions in the areas typically subjected to pressure from restricted nosebands. They note that this deformation of bone for competitive advantage is difficult to justify on ethical grounds.

Read the full study here.