Anyone who has had to take an anatomy and physiology class in high school and college knows that it’s a complicated subject. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that researchers are always learning new things about how horses (and humans!) work.
As horse owners and competitors, we want to give our equine athletes every opportunity to feel and perform their best. Keeping up to date with the latest news in horse health and medicine is an important part of that, and it’s why Medivet Equine is bringing you the latest in horse health news each week.
Following the medical model of “do no harm”, MediVet Equine develops scientifically based therapeutics enabling the horse to call on its own healing ability, thus achieving its full performance potential. MediVet Equine provides effective, all natural, drug free products and lab services designed to optimize the overall health of performance horses. They specialize in regenerative treatments that help the body heal itself to get stronger naturally. Boyd Martin has several of his top competitive mounts on MediVet ACS, and has had terrific results!
This Week in Horse Health News presented by MediVet Equine, we have three news bits relating to how horses move and function:
A special issue of the Equine Veterinary Journal with the latest research in practical gait analysis is available for free online. With the recent development of new technologies designed to quantitatively analyze how horses move, assessment by eye is no longer the only method of observation for veterinarians. Gait analysis is no longer simply a matter of determining soundness either, but a means to optimize performance and wellness of the horse as well. [BEVA]
Arthritis in a horse’s neck can affect how the horse moves. French researchers explored the symptoms of lameness that result when the C6 and C7 vertebrae are compressed and found that horses had shortened strides and tightened gaits. Identifying the symptoms of neck arthritis and vertebral compression can provide veterinarians with clues of where to look when lameness can’t be located to a limb. And if veterinarians know where to look, it can potentially save owners big bucks on diagnostic imaging trying to find the problem. [The Horse]
The first standardized map of the horse brain has been created by researchers from Cornell University. They used MRI images of the brains of several horses previously euthanized for reasons unrelated to this study to create a three-dimensional atlas that can serves as a baseline for the species. It’s an important step in learning about the anatomy of the equine brain and improving future neuroimaging techniques and behavioral research. [Standardized atlas of the horse’s brain produced by scientists]
