Search Results
You are looking at 41 - 50 of 65 items for
- Author or Editor: Noah Cohen x
- Refine by Access: All Content x
Abstract
Objective—To identify types of musculoskeletal problems associated with lameness or poor performance in horses used for barrel racing.
Design—Retrospective case series.
Animals—118 horses.
Procedure—Medical records were reviewed for information on signalment, history, physical and lameness examination findings, diagnostic tests performed, diagnosis, and treatment.
Results—Most horses were examined because of lameness (n = 72 [61%]) rather than poor performance (46 [39%]), but owner complaint was not significantly associated with age or body weight of the horse. The most common performance change was refusal or failure to turn properly around the first barrel (19/46 [41%]). The right forelimb (n = 57 [48%]) was most commonly affected, followed by the left forelimb (51 [43%]), the left hind limb (31 [26%]), and the right hind limb (25 [21%]). In 31 horses (26%), both forelimbs were affected, and in 6 (5%), both hind limbs were affected. The most common musculoskeletal problems were forelimb foot pain only (n = 39 [33%]), osteoarthritis of the distal tarsal joints (17 [14%]), suspensory ligament desmitis (15 [13%]), forelimb foot pain with distal tarsal joint osteoarthritis (11 [9%]), and bruised feet (10 [8.5%]). In 81 (69%) horses, the affected joint was treated with intra-articular medications.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results suggest that in horses used for barrel racing that are examined because of lameness or poor performance, the forelimbs are more likely to be affected than the hind limbs, with forelimb foot pain and osteoarthritis of the distal tarsal joints being the most common underlying abnormalities. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2005; 227:1646–1650)
Abstract
Objective—To determine the types of musculoskeletal problems that result in lameness or poor performance in horses used for team roping and determine whether these problems are different in horses used for heading versus heeling.
Design—Retrospective study.
Animals—118 horses.
Procedure—Medical records of team roping horses that were evaluated because of lameness or poor performance were reviewed to obtain information regarding signalment, primary use (ie, head horse or heel horse), history, results of physical and lameness examinations, diagnostic tests performed, final diagnosis, and treatment.
Results—Among horses evaluated by lameness clinicians, the proportion with lameness or poor performance was significantly greater in horses used for heading (74/118) and lower in horses used for heeling (44/118) than would be expected under the null hypothesis. Most horses examined for poor performance were lame. A significantly greater proportion of horses used for heading had right forelimb lameness (26/74 [35%]), compared with horses used for heeling (7/44 [16%]). Horses used for heading had more bilateral forelimb lameness (18/74 [24%]), compared with horses used for heeling (4/44 [9%]). Horses used for heeling had more bilateral hind limb lameness (3/44 [7%]), compared with horses used for heading (0%). The most common musculoskeletal problems in horses used for heading were signs of pain limited to the distal sesamoid (navicular) area, signs of pain in the navicular area plus osteoarthritis of the distal tarsal joints, and soft tissue injury in the forelimb proximal phalangeal (pastern) region. Heeling horses most commonly had signs of pain in the navicular area, osteoarthritis of the metatarsophalangeal joints, and osteoarthritis of the distal tarsal joints.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Horses used for heading were most commonly affected by lameness in the right forelimb. Horses used for heeling had more bilateral hind limb lameness than horses used for heading. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2005;226:1694–1699)
Abstract
Objective—To determine factors associated with development of postoperative ileus (POI) in horses undergoing surgery for colic.
Design—Prospective case-control study.
Animals—251 horses undergoing colic surgery, of which 47 developed POI.
Procedure—Signalment, history, clinicopathologic data, pre- and postoperative treatments, lesions, complications, costs, and outcome were recorded for all horses during hospitalization.
Results—Variables associated with increased odds of POI included small intestinal lesion, high PCV, and increased duration of anesthesia. There was modest evidence that pelvic flexure enterotomy and intraoperative administration of lidocaine may have reduced the odds of developing POI.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Findings during the preoperative and intraoperative periods can be used to identify horses at increased risk of POI. Reducing surgical and anesthetic duration should decrease the incidence of POI. ( J Am Vet Med Assoc 2004;225: 1070–1078)
Abstract
Objective—To determine risk factors associated with development of postoperative ileus in horses undergoing surgery for colic.
Design—Case-control study
Animals—69 horses that developed ileus after surgery for colic and 307 horses that did not develop postoperative ileus.
Procedure—Signalment, history, clinicopathologic data, treatment, lesions, and outcome were obtained from medical records.
Results—Variables associated with increased risk of postoperative ileus included age > 10 years, Arabian breed, PCV ≥ 45%, high serum concentrations of protein and albumin, anesthesia > 2.5 hours' duration, surgery > 2 hours' duration, resection and anastomosis, and lesions in the small intestine. Enterotomy reduced the risk of postoperative ileus. After multivariate logistic regression, the final model included the variables Arabian breed, PCV ≥ 45%, lesion type, duration of surgery (> 2 hours vs ≤ 2 hours), and pelvic flexure enterotomy.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results suggest that by evaluating certain factors, horses at increased risk of postoperative ileus may be recognized before the condition develops. Preventative treatment and early intervention may be instituted in these horses. Shortening surgery time and performing an enterotomy may decrease the probability of horses developing postoperative ileus. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001;219:72–78)
Abstract
Objective—To determine whether specific feeding practices were associated with development of colic in horses.
Design—Prospective matched case-control study.
Animals—364 horses examined by veterinarians in private practice in Texas because of colic (cases; n = 182) or any other reason (controls; 182).
Procedure—Participating veterinarians were sent forms at the beginning of the study to collect information on signalment, feeding management practices, farm management practices, and preventive medical treatments. Case and control horses were compared by use of conditional logistic regression to identify factors associated with colic.
Results—Risk factors for colic were a recent change in batch of hay, decreased exposure to pasture, a recent change in type of grain or concentrate fed, feeding > 2.7 kg (6 lb) of oats/d, feeding hay from round bales, and Thoroughbred breed. Recent anthelmintic administration decreased the risk of colic.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results suggest that certain changes in diet (eg, change in batch of hay, change in type of grain or concentrate, feeding hay from round bales) and management (eg, decreased availability of pasture) increase the risk of colic in horses. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2001;219:1419–1425)
Abstract
Objective—To determine the association between high-speed exercise and risk of injury while racing among Thoroughbreds in Kentucky.
Design—Matched case-control study.
Animals—206 Thoroughbreds that sustained a musculoskeletal injury while racing and 412 Thoroughbreds that were not injured during the same races.
Procedure—Data regarding official timed workouts and races and the Beyer's numbers for the 3 races before the race during which injury occurred were extracted from past performance charts and compared between injured horses and control horses.
Results—For injured horses, cumulative distance of high-speed exercise during the 1- and 2-month periods prior to the race in which injury occurred was significantly less than that of control horses; for either period, a difference of 10 furlongs was associated with approximately 2-fold greater risk of injury. Beyer's numbers were significantly higher for injured horses than for control horses. These effects remained significant after adjusting for age and results of prerace physical inspection.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—In Kentucky, injured horses had significantly less cumulative highspeed exercise than did control horses during the 1- and 2-month periods prior to the race in which injury occurred. These results differ from those observed in California. The association of injury with cumulative high-speed exercise appears to vary among regions in the United States. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2000; 216:1273–1278)
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
To compare soil concentrations of macrolide- and rifampicin-resistant Rhodococcus equi strains (MRRE) on horse-breeding farms that used thoracic ultrasonographic screening (TUS) to identify foals with subclinical pneumonia combined with subsequent administration of macrolides and rifampin to affected foals (TUS farms) versus soil concentrations on farms that did not (non-TUS farms), determine whether the combined use of TUS and antimicrobial treatment of subclinically affected foals was associated with soil concentration of MRRE, and assess whether there were temporal effects on soil concentrations of MRRE during the foaling season.
SAMPLES
720 soil samples and 20 completed questionnaires from 20 horse-breeding farms (10 TUS farms and 10 non-TUS farms) in central Kentucky.
PROCEDURES
A questionnaire was used to gather information from participating farms about their 2019 foaling season. Soil samples were collected during January, March, May, and July 2019 for bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing to identify any isolates of MRRE. Results were compared for TUS farms versus non-TUS farms. Linear mixed-effects modeling was used to evaluate for potential associations between the soil concentration of MRRE and the use of TUS.
RESULTS
Overall, the sum of the mean soil concentrations of MRRE was significantly higher for TUS farms (8.85 log10-transformed CFUs/g) versus non-TUS farms (7.37 log10-transformed CFUs/g).
CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Our findings indicated that farms that use TUS to identify foals with subclinical pneumonia for antimicrobial treatment select for antimicrobial-resistant R equi strains. Because prognosis is worse for foals infected with resistant versus nonresistant strains of R equi, prudent use of antimicrobials to treat foals with subclinical pulmonary lesions attributed to R equi is recommended.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To describe the chief complaints by owners and the types and prevalences of musculoskeletal problems associated with lameness or poor performance in cutting horses.
DESIGN Retrospective case series.
ANIMALS 200 client-owned cutting horses examined at the Texas A&M University Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2015, because of lameness or poor performance.
PROCEDURES Medical records were reviewed, and data were collected regarding signalment, history, findings on physical and lameness examinations, results of diagnostic procedures performed, diagnosis, and treatment. Distribution of observed proportions of forelimb and hind limb involvement was compared with a hypothetical distribution of 50% by means of a χ2 test.
RESULTS More horses were examined because of a recent decrease in performance (116/200 [58%]) than for lameness (84 [42%]). All horses had at least 1 lame limb, with lameness affecting a total of 281 limbs. Of the 281 lame limbs, 189 (67%) were hind limbs and 92 (33%) were forelimbs. These proportions were substantially different from a hypothetical distribution of 50% hind limbs and 50% forelimbs. The most common performance change was that horses would not reverse direction to follow prespecified individual cattle, and the most common cause of lameness was pain localized to the stifle joint region (69 [35%]).
CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Cutting horses sustained more hind limb than forelimb musculoskeletal problems, and although these horses were more likely to be examined for decreased performance than lameness, veterinarians should be vigilant for problems affecting the stifle joint region.
Abstract
Objective—To determine whether mares are a clinically important source of Rhodococcus equi for their foals.
Sample Population—171 mares and 171 foals from a farm in Kentucky (evaluated during 2004 and 2005).
Procedures—At 4 time points (2 before and 2 after parturition), the total concentration of R equi and concentration of virulent R equi were determined in fecal specimens from mares by use of quantitative bacteriologic culture and a colony immunoblot technique, respectively. These concentrations for mares of foals that developed R equi–associated pneumonia and for mares with unaffected foals were compared. Data for each year were analyzed separately.
Results—R equi–associated pneumonia developed in 53 of 171 (31%) foals. Fecal shedding of virulent R equi was detected in at least 1 time point for every mare; bacteriologic culture results were positive for 62 of 171 (36%) mares at all time points. However, compared with dams of unaffected foals, fecal concentrations of total or virulent R equi in dams of foals with R equi–associated pneumonia were not significantly different.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results indicate that dams of foals with R equi–associated pneumonia did not shed more R equi in feces than dams of unaffected foals; therefore, R equi infection in foals was not associated with comparatively greater fecal shedding by their dams. However, detection of virulent R equi in the feces of all mares during at least 1 time point suggests that mares can be an important source of R equi for the surrounding environment.
Abstract
Objective—To evaluate the use of sucrose permeability testing to detect ulcers in the gastric squamous mucosa of horses.
Animals—13 adult horses ranging from 5 to 19 years of age.
Procedure—Following induction of gastric ulcers by intermittent feed deprivation, horses underwent sucrose permeability testing (administration of sucrose by nasogastric intubation followed by collection of urine at 2 and 4 hours after intubation) and gastric endoscopy. Squamous ulcers were assigned a severity score (range, 0 to 3) by use of an established scoring system. Horses were subsequently administered omeprazole for 21 days, and sucrose testing and endoscopy were repeated. Pair-wise comparisons of urine sucrose concentration were made between horses with induced ulcers before and after omeprazole treatment. Urine sucrose concentrations also were compared on the basis of ulcer severity score.
Results—Urine sucrose concentrations and ulcer severity scores were significantly higher in horses with induced ulcers before omeprazole treatment than after treatment. Urine sucrose concentrations were significantly higher for horses with ulcer severity scores > 1. Use of a cut-point value of 0.7 mg/mL revealed that the apparent sensitivity and specificity of sucrose permeability testing to detect ulcers with severity scores > 1 was 83% and 90%, respectively. Results were similar after adjusting sucrose concentrations for urine osmolality.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Urine sucrose concentration appears to be a reliable but imperfect indicator of gastric squamous ulcers in horses. Sucrose permeability testing may provide a simple, noninvasive test to detect and monitor gastric ulcers in horses. ( Am J Vet Res 2004;65:31–39)
