The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.
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11 August 2015 THE HORSE TheHorse.com For additional news items, see TheHorse.com/News Equine Education on the Iberian Peninsula In May, WEVA held an educational meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, in conjunc- tion with the annual Federation of European Equine Veterinary Association's (FEEVA) general assembly. Attendees, mostly practitioners from Spain and Portugal, listened to lectures on a variety of topics, including: ■ A novel computerized method of stride and locomotor analysis; ■ A new tool for learning distal (lower) limb anatomy; ■ Diagnosing hoof problems and foot pain; ■ Hoof imaging and endoscopy for the foot's synovial structures; ■ Angular and flexural limb deformities and treatments; ■ Surgical conditions of the foot; and more. To learn more about FEEVA, the meeting, and the presenters, visit TheHorse.com/36019. —Tim Greet, BVMS, FRCVS, MVM, Cert EO, DESTS, Dipl. ECVS WEVA President's Advisor ? A French research team has determined that mares appear to strongly impact foals' relationships with humans. Séverine Henry, PhD, of the University of Rennes, said the dam's infuence is especially signifcant in the frst month of life, when the foal spends 90% of its time less than 5 meters (about 16 feet) away from its mother and nurses about seven times per hour. Learn more at TheHorse.com/35853. DAMS SHAPE FOAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH HUMANS ? D A M S S H A P E F O A L DID YOU KNOW ISTOCK.COM Some Stallion Voices are Sexy We all have our own tastes when it comes to tunes. And, as it turns out, so do mares: Recent study results show that some stallions' whinnies are music to mares' ears, while oth- ers are decidedly less appealing. Alban Lemasson, PhD, of the University of Rennes, in France, and colleagues recorded 178 whinnies from 15 breeding stallions of different ages and breeds. They also documented a variety of parameters, including the stallions' heart rates, testosterone levels, reproductive success based on breeding records, and more. Then the team played the recordings to mares both in and out of season. They played two whinnies concurrently over loudspeakers and observed the mares' responses. They determined that: ■ Stallions with low-pitched whinnies were more fertile and had lower heart rates than those with high-pitched whinnies; ■ Mares spent significantly more time with their heads and bodies directed toward the loudspeaker playing the low- pitched whinnies; and ■ Whether a mare was in estrus did not impact her whinny preference. "This study shows that stallion acoustic signals may play a role in female attraction and sexual stimulation/libido mainte- nance," Lemasson concluded. Find more information and study results at TheHorse. com/35870. — Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc When a veterinarian is concerned that a horse's spinal cord could be compressed, he or she might order a myelogram—a type of radiographic examination during which the veteri- narian places the horse under general anesthesia, removes cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and injects medium to re- veal sites of compression on the radio- graphic image. A research team from Cornell University noted that some veterinarians percieve a high preva- lence of myelographic complications, so they recently took a closer look at the procedure's adverse effects. Of the 278 horses studied, about one-third experienced adverse reactons. The most common were temporary increases in neurologic deficits and elevated temperatures following the procedure. "For the most part, the reactions were mild and self-limiting," said Kath- leen Mullen, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, of Cornell, in Ithaca, New York. Some reactions could have resulted from the CSF volume change, needle injury, or contrast material reaction. All the trappings of general anesthesia (and manipulating the neck during the pro- cedure) could also cause problems. Five horses were euthanized due to reaction severity. But that statistic doesn't necessarily mean veterinarians should avoid conducting myelograms, Mullen said. "Cervical myelography is a very useful diagnostic procedure, and horse owners and veterinarians should not be dissuaded from utiliz- ing this important tool based on the results," she said. "Instead, the results of the study should help veterinarians communicate the frequency and type of complications of the procedure with horse owners." More study findings are available at TheHorse.com/35868.—Katie Navarra Veterinarians use myelograms to visualize spinal cord compression. COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY GLUCK EQUINE RESEARCH CENTER Adverse Reactions to Myelograms Studied