Handlers should monitor their horses’ temperature before and after travel and should not transport horses who show any signs of being ill, as the immune system weakens during transport

Mares that form close social bonds with other mares have improved pregnancy, foal birth, and foal survival rates, said a group of researchers studying wild herds in the North Island of New Zealand. The mares’ enhanced reproductive success appears to be linked primarily to mutual protection from harassment by stallions, they said.

Unlike most other mammal groups, the mares were

Through their whinnies, horses convey specific information about their identities, including sex, height, and weight, according to French researchers. Acoustic analyses of whinnies and the reactions of horses to various recorded whinnies also suggest that the vocal calls play an important social role and appear to be unique to each horse.

This is the first study of its kind in horses,

West Nile virus (WNV) has re-emerged in Italy, resulting in 28 equine clinical cases, including seven deaths as of last week, according to an epidemiological bulletin produced by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “Giuseppe Caporale” (IZSA&M), an Italian public health institute.

The epidemic began in central eastern Italy in August, in the same

Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is proving highly effective in preventing laminitis and reducing the severity of laminitis following colic surgery, according to Belgian researchers.

Prior to the study period, more than 10% of colic surgery patients at the Equine Clinic of the University of Liège developed laminitic pain and lameness following surgery. The majority of those horses had

Brazilian researchers recently concluded that respiratory rate (RR), heart rate (HR), and rectal temperature (RT) are the most useful parameters for distinguishing equine adaptation to elevated temperatures.

A once-paralyzed foal is now up and running about with the help of an equine “walker” following a groundbreaking surgery to remove a cyst from the spinal cord, according to the treating veterinarians in Belgium.

The Boulonnais draft horse filly, “Vittel,” underwent surgical laminectomy of the L2/L3 vertebrae at one month old on July 3, one week after being diagnosed with a fluid-filled

Do you ever feel like your horse might be watching your every move? He very well might be, according to a new behavior study by British scientists. Their research indicates that horses are highly sensitive to the attention we attribute to them, including our gaze.

In a series of tests involving 36 horses and ponies aged 10 months to 38 years, two humans stood motionless in a paddock, eac

Saddle pads might help reduce painful pressure on a horse’s back caused by ill-fitting saddles, but the ideal pad will vary from horse to horse and from saddle to saddle, according to a new study by Austrian researchers.

Optimum pressure relief will also depend on the discipline and even the gait, said primary study author Anja Kotschwar, DVM, research scientist at the Movement Science

Two horses in France died from complications following a rare, but ferocious, attack by domestic honeybees, which had been separated from their honey hives, according to treating veterinarians.

A horse died and its owner fell unconscious within seconds of falling into decomposing green seaweed along the northern coast of Brittany, France, last week, according to several sources.

Vincent Petit, DVM, PhD, said he was hand-leading his 15-year-old English Thoroughbred gelding along a beachside road after riding a long stretch of gallop when both he and the horse slipped into an

Four horses have been euthanized and a fifth horse is recumbent following an outbreak of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) in a boarding stable in northern France, according to the treating veterinarian. Quarantine has been established and will continue for at least three more weeks.
 
Jeroen Lissens, DVM, said seven of the 63 horses at the stable have tested positive for the disease

What type of impact do various terrains actually have on the health of a horse’s hooves and legs? French researchers are using a highly sensitive 3-D dynamometric shoe and other instruments to give unprecedented insight into the biomechanical effects of diverse surfaces on not only a horse’s limbs, but his entire musculoskeletal system.

Researchers attached the shoe to the front right