The Pathogenesis and Immune Evasive Mechanisms of Equine Herpesvirus Type 1

Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is an alphaherpesvirus related to pseudorabies virus (PRV) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV). This virus is one of the major pathogens affecting horses worldwide. EHV-1 is responsible for respiratory disorders, abortion, neonatal foal death and equine herpes myeloencephalopathy (EHM). Over the last decade, EHV-1 has received growing attention due to the frequent outbreaks of abortions and/or EHM causing serious economical losses to the horse industry worldwide. To date, there are no effective antiviral drugs and current vaccines do not provide full protection against EHV-1-associated diseases. Therefore, there is an urgent need to gain a better understanding of the pathogenesis of EHV-1 in order to develop effective therapies. The main objective of this review is to provide state-of-the-art information on the pathogenesis of EHV-1. We also highlight recent findings on EHV-1 immune evasive strategies at the level of the upper respiratory tract, blood circulation and endothelium of target organs allowing the virus to disseminate undetected in the host. Finally, we discuss novel approaches for drug development based on our current knowledge of the pathogenesis of EHV-1.

402 Audio information retrieval for describing gait patterns in Brazilian horses

The Brazilian gaited horse industry is growing steadily, even after a recession period that affected different economic sectors in the whole country. Recent numbers suggested an increase on the exports, which reveals the relevance of this horse market segment. Horses are classified according to the gait criteria, which divide the horses in two groups associated with the animal movements: lateral (Marcha Picada) or diagonal (Marcha_Batida). These two gait groups usually show remarkable differences related to speed and number of steps per fixed unit of time, among other factors. Audio retrieval refers to the process of information extraction obtained from audio signals. This new data analysis area, in comparison to traditional methods to evaluate and classify gait types (as, for example, human subjective evaluation and video monitoring), provides a potential method to collect phenotypes in a reduced cost manner. Audio files (n = 80) were obtained after extracting audio features from freely available YouTube videos. Videos were manually labeled according to the two gait groups (Marcha Picada or Marcha Batida) and thirty animals were used after a quality control filter step. This study aimed to investigate different metrics associated with audio signal processing, in order to first cluster animals according to the gait type and subsequently include additional traits that could be useful to improve accuracy during the identification of genetically superior animals. Twenty-eight metrics, based on frequency or physical audio aspects, were carried out individually or in groups of relative importance to perform Principal Component Analysis (PCA), as well as to describe the two gait types. The PCA results indicated that over 87% of the animals were correctly clustered. Challenges regarding environmental interferences and noises must be further investigated. These first findings suggest that audio information retrieval could potentially be implemented in animal breeding programs, aiming to improve horse gait.

PSI-20 Public perceptions of problematic equine industry sectors and management scenarios

The equine industry is highly variable with many different sectors and management practices. To determine how the public views common management practices and discipline-specific areas of the equine industry, an online study was distributed via email and social media over a 6-week period to U.S. residents over the age of 18 (n = 1,372). Survey questions included demographics, industry connection, definition of welfare and equine classification. Respondents were asked to select the most concerning option from a series of management-related scenarios. The production livestock and equine industries were then segmented by species or discipline, respectively, and respondents were asked which sector was most problematic. To analyze the data, frequency tables (Proc FREQ) and multinomial logistic regression (Proc LOGISTIC) were used in SAS 9.4 (Cary, NC) to test the factors associated with likelihood to select a given management scenario from each series (α=0.05). Respondents who were heavily connected to the industry were four times more likely than lightly connected individuals to select that a blanketed horse or unblanketed horse in 30°F weather with unlimited access to food and water equally presented no concern than to say that a blanketed or unblanketed horse in 30°F weather with unlimited access to food and water and were concerning (OR= 4.09; 95%CL: 2.08,8.04). Of the 1,244 respondents who answered, 563 (45%) said that the gaited horse industry is the most problematic equine industry compared to the racing industry (41%) and stock horse industry (8.7%). Understanding how the public perceives the various animal industries and management scenarios in relation to an individual’s connection to the industry, classification of equines and welfare definition is important to assess and improve educational intervention strategies.

245 Equine research programs: Where are they going?

Those in the equine community have a strong desire for knowledge in the quest to provide the best care for their horses. Unfortunately, they often seek out advice through on-line sources and are quick to take anecdotal evidence or testimonials as fact. While those in the scientific community would encourage decisions to be made based upon quality research, often there are insufficient data available to answer questions posed by the industry. One of the reasons for this is limited resources. In the past it was common to have departmental-funded assistantships for graduate students. However, those assistantships have disappeared in many departments and now students are often supported through grants. Likewise, there is additional pressure by administrators for federal funding though “horse research” is often considered less important to such funding agencies as horses are viewed as recreational animals as opposed to being a food-producing animals. Hence, much funded equine research would fall under the category of product-testing. While somewhat limited in scope, such research may provide the opportunity to answer other research questions if projects are appropriately planned. However, such “side-projects” are only useful if adequate subject numbers and controls are in place. Reduced animal availability and increased costs of utilizing horses in research may necessitate using other animal models for horses to answer fundamental questions and, if appropriately designed, may allow projects to be competitive for federal funding. Especially as it pertains to junior faculty, collaborative research utilizing colleagues with specialized skills can be important in terms of promoting competitive and fundamental research proposals. While limited resources may increase the appeal for low-cost studies, there is still a need for well-designed studies that answer questions critical to the horse industry and doing quality research is important to enhance the reputation of equine research.

Extension Horses, Inc. experts act fast to create online resources to assist the horse industry during COVID-191

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting stay-at-home directives, adopted out of necessity to protect human health, introduced significant challenges for horse owners and small equine businesses. Restricted access, and in many cases closure of barns, resulted in a multitude of questions and concerns within the equine community which needed to be addressed rapidly. Extension Horses, Inc. (EH) coordinated the development and delivery of a variety of educational resources utilizing a combination of online formats and dissemination through social media and EH member contact lists. A series of infographics, webinars, and podcasts (three in each category) were created to provide guidance on essential care of horses, emergency preparedness, financial assistance, legal concerns, and biosecurity during the crucial, initial weeks of the pandemic (March to April 2020). Web conferencing technology (Zoom) was used to facilitate discussion and task delegation among EH members and to conduct and record webinars and podcasts. Podcasts were hosted on Buzzsprout and infographics were created using Adobe InDesign. Live webinar participants were invited to participate in several polls during the webinar and were sent a brief survey to complete at the end of the webinar series. Analytics for all educational resources combined demonstrated a 32-d total direct reach of 135,563. Most live webinar participants identified themselves as horse owners and small equine business owners (55%). The majority of live webinar participants indicated the information was useful (99%), and they would utilize the resources they had learned about (80%). Survey respondents reported that Facebook, email, and word of mouth were key ways in which they learned about the webinars. The same survey found that the web-platform was an effective method to receive information (85% high satisfaction) and respondents were highly likely to recommend future EH webinars to others (88%). The three infographics had a total Facebook reach of 131,765, the webinars had 3,522 total views, and the three podcasts had 276 total downloads. The rapid response of EH and quick turnaround of products allowed a large online audience to receive vital information for coping with COVID-19. Having the established EH network, already familiar with virtual education, was a big asset in this effort. This can serve as a model for cooperative extension to utilize in future collaborative responses to industry issues.

Indicators of Horse Welfare: State-of-the-Art

Animal welfare is defined as a chronic state reflecting an individual’s subjective perception of its situation. Because it is possible to be in a good welfare state and nevertheless experience acute fear or pain, and conversely, short-term positive emotions can be experienced during impaired welfare states, welfare as a chronic state has to be clearly distinguished from temporary states related to emotions, pain or stress. The evaluation of non-verbal individuals’ welfare state, particularly in interspecific situations, is a real challenge that necessarily implies animal-based measures and requires multidisciplinary scientifically validated measures. In the last decade, studies investigating horses’ welfare flourished together with new measures that were not always scientifically tested before being used. At a time were legal decisions are made on animal welfare, it is crucial to rely on reliable welfare indicators in order to prevent false evaluation. The aim of this review is to identify the scientifically tested and reliable indicators of horses’ welfare (e.g., body lesions, apathy, aggressiveness, stereotypic behaviours) from signals of temporary states related to acute pain emotions or stress and from popular beliefs, in order to give the scientific community and the horse industry accurate evaluation tools.

Green Assets of Equines in the European Context of the Ecological Transition of Agriculture

Despite the decline of equine populations in the middle of the 20th century, the European horse industry is growing again thanks to economic alternatives found in the diversification of the uses of equines (sports, racing, leisure, etc.). Equines have many environmental advantages, but the fragmentation of the sector and the lack of synthetic knowledge about their environmental impacts do not enable the promotion of these assets and their effective inclusion in management practices and European policies. To highlight the equine environmental impacts, a literature review was carried out to cover the main European stakes. This work led to the identification of five “green assets”, fields where equines show unique environmental advantages compared to other agricultural productions. These green assets are linked to the nature of equines (grazing and domestic biodiversity), to their geographical distribution (land use), and to their use by human beings (tourism and work). Today, when searching for sustainable solutions to modern environmental issues, the use of equines is a neglected green alternative. Better knowledge and use of equine green assets could partly respond to more ecological agricultural needs and contribute to the development of this animal industry, which has a place in regional development and in Europe’s sustainable transition.