McGreevy, P., & Yeates, J. (2018). Horses (Equus caballus). In Companion Animal Care and Welfare. Companion Animal Care and Welfare.
Abstract: Summary Domestic horses are equid members of the class Mammalia, order Perissodactyla, and family Equidae. Horses are obligate herbivores, with nutritional requirements as listed in a table. Adequate space is necessary for exercise, exploration, flight, sharing resources, play, and rolling. Company is essential for all horses, including stallions. Company provides opportunities for mutual grooming and play and allows horses to stand head-to-tail to remove flies. Unhandled horses may respond to humans as they would to predators, whereas handled horses' responses depend on their previous interactions with humans. Horses can suffer from several diseases as listed in another table. The best method of euthanasia of horses is usually sedation followed by either cranial shooting or the injection of an overdose of pentobarbitone into the jugular vein. Behavioural signs of distress can include increased locomotory activity, vigilance behaviours, neighing, snorting, pawing, nibbling walls and buckets, defaecation, rearing, kicking stable walls or doors, and high-stepping 'prancing'.
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Ayala, I., Martos, N. F., Silvan, G., Gutierrez-Panizo, C., Clavel, J. G., & Illera, J. C. (2012). Cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone, serotonin, adrenaline and noradrenaline serum concentrations in relation to disease and stress in the horse. Research in Veterinary Science, 93(1), 103–107.
Abstract: No detailed comparative data are available on the hormonal parameters of horses suffering from a number of diseases. The aim of our study was to measure concentrations of cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), serotonin, adrenaline and noradrenaline in horses with various diseases and following surgery, to assess the response of the HPA axis and adrenal medulla. Blood samples were obtained from six groups of horses comprising a total of 119 animals as follows: laminitis, acute abdominal syndrome (AAS), castration surgery, acute diseases, chronic diseases and healthy controls. Serum hormonal concentrations were determined for each group for comparison. Statistically significant differences between all groups and controls were found for cortisol, ACTH (except for castration), serotonin and adrenaline concentrations but only in horses with laminitis and AAS for noradrenaline. No statistically significant differences were found between males and females. The largest changes in the pituitary–adrenal axis activity occurred mainly in acute diseases, laminitis and in the AAS group.
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Harland, M. M., Stewart, A. J., Marshall, A. E., & Belknap, E. B. (2006). Diagnosis of deafness in a horse by brainstem auditory evoked potential. Can Vet J, 47(2), 151–154.
Abstract: Deafness was confirmed in a blue-eyed, 3-year-old, overo paint horse by brainstem auditory evoked potential. Congenital inherited deafness associated with lack of facial pigmentation was suspected. Assessment of hearing should be considered, especially in paint horses, at the time of pre-purchase examination. Brainstem auditory evoked potential assessment is well tolerated and accurate.
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Russell, M. A., & Aldridge, B. E. (2012). Solving Current Domestic Horse Nutrition Challenges. In K. Krueger (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting (Vol. in press). Wald: Xenophon Publishing.
Abstract: Solving horse nutrition challenges require contributions from Psychology, Biology, Agriculture, and Veterinary Medicine because these are biological challenges of an anthropological nature. The domesticated horse has shifted from an animal of war, transportation, and farmwork, to a companion enjoyed for sport, leisure and recreation. The first realization and responsibility must lie in the fact that it is the owners and managers which are the source of many of the horses’ challenges. Nutritional challenges include: defining requirements and absorption of nutrients, improving feed efficiencies for performance, improving feeding management and eating behaviors, and preventing or treating clinical problems. These challenges can be addressed through science, horse management, and education. Many of today’s challenges in horse nutrition can be related to the equine genome and genetics. Those that can be addressed with nutritional consequences include Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy, Equine Metabolic Syndrome, Recurrent Exertional Rhabdomyolysis, Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency, Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis, and Development Orthopedic Disorders. It is the scientific understanding of cellular processes in relation to nutrients which address the symptoms associated with these diseases. Consequently, feeding management can be changed to actually treat the disease. The most recent advances in equine nutrition implement the use of molecular and cellular based techniques to understand how nutrients are needed during times of stress, feed withdrawal and to maintain gut health. For example, the absorptive capacity and transporter gene expression and localization, are now being quantified. We are also now assessing the impact of the loss of reproductive endocrines on calcium and phosphorus homeostasis in the horse. Additionally, bioluminescent pathogenic bacteria have been utilized to view attachment rates in the gastrointestinal tract of the horse. These are merely examples of the approaches of science to these nutritional challenges. Science is of little use unless it is incorporated into improved management of horses. Every type of horse requires different management and good husbandry. In our country, 70+% of the horses are kept in small herds, on limited acreage, and used for recreation and sport. Since we have taken the horse out of its natural environment and subjected it to these roles, we now seek to determine ways to feed the horse in our environments; i.e. obesity, inconsistent exercise, confinement, surgery, competition, diseases. Private horse feed agribusinesses have aggressively positioned excellent products with claims to improve health, reproduction, performance, and even horse happiness. Owners and managers seek unbiased science upon which they ultimately make their own decisions. General challenge categories seem to be feeding geriatric horses, active performance horses, and idle horses with secondary metabolic problems. Thus, feeding recommendations include the determination of specific horse nutrient requirements, maximization of available forages, providing other nutrients, and exercise to manage horses more as horses. Private and public companies and Extension systems exist to provide online and other sources of information. As more and more people own horses as a hobby and for recreation, they share responsibility to inform themselves on how to best feed and care for their horses.
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Krause, J., Croft, D., & James, R. (2007). Social network theory in the behavioural sciences: potential applications. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 62(1), 15–27.
Abstract: Abstract Social network theory has made major contributions to our understanding of human social organisation but has found relatively little application in the field of animal behaviour. In this review, we identify several broad research areas where the networks approach could greatly enhance our understanding of social patterns and processes in animals. The network theory provides a quantitative framework that can be used to characterise social structure both at the level of the individual and the population. These novel quantitative variables may provide a new tool in addressing key questions in behavioural ecology particularly in relation to the evolution of social organisation and the impact of social structure on evolutionary processes. For example, network measures could be used to compare social networks of different species or populations making full use of the comparative approach. However, the networks approach can in principle go beyond identifying structural patterns and also can help with the understanding of processes within animal populations such as disease transmission and information transfer. Finally, understanding the pattern of interactions in the network (i.e. who is connected to whom) can also shed some light on the evolution of behavioural strategies.
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