Kinematic Analysis During Straight Line Free Swimming in Horses: Part 1 - Forelimbs

Background: Swimming is used for rehabilitation and conditioning purposes in equine sports medicine despite the lack of understanding of equine swimming kinematics. The aim of this study was to assess forelimb joints kinematics (elbow, carpus, and fetlock) in swimming horses. The specific objectives were 1- to calculate and compare joint angles in swimming vs. passive mobilizations (PM), 2- to determine joint angular velocities during a swimming stride cycle.Methods: Eleven elite endurance horses swam in a 100-m straight pool. Underwater (swimming) and overground (PM) videos were recorded from the horses' left side. Joint markers were applied on the lateral hoof wall, lateral metacarpal epicondyle, ulnar carpal bone, lateral humeral epicondyle, and the greater tubercle of humerus, from which elbow, carpus and fetlock angles, and angular velocities were obtained. As a reference, maximal fetlock, carpus, and elbow flexion/extension angles were determined during PM overground. Differences between angle extrema, angular velocities and range of motion (ROM) were compared.Results: Carpus and fetlock ROM were significantly smaller (p < 0.001) during swimming when compared with PM, while there was no difference in elbow ROM between both situations. The carpus had the greatest ROM of all joints during swimming. Absolute angular velocities values of all joints during swimming were greater during retraction than protraction (p < 0.001). When compared to other joints during protraction, the carpus joint reached the highest angular velocity.Conclusion: Swimming, as a rehabilitation exercise, has the potential to benefit horses where great elbow ROM with a moderate carpus and fetlock extension are wanted.

New Insights into the Management of an EHV-1 (Equine Hospital) Outbreak

In May 2018, Wolvega Equine Hospital (WEH) experienced an EHV-1 outbreak. This outbreak caused significant economic losses and negative publicity for the hospital. How should hospitals prepare themselves for these outbreaks and prevent shedding of the virus on multiple neighboring premises? The hospital transformed most of its activities into mobile practice and the entire infected hospital population was moved to a separate remote location. The hospital was cleaned and disinfected according to the latest recommendations before reopening. Four neighboring professional equine businesses and three privately owned premises were affected by the spread of the virus from the hospital population and initiated quarantine restrictions. Equine hospitals should prepare themselves for EHV-1 outbreaks as the intake of the virus cannot be prevented. A management protocol should include public information protocols, swift client information and quarantine measures that ensure quick containment of the outbreak. Timely reopening of the hospital can be achieved by rehousing the contaminated population. It should also include good regulations with clients and a properly carried out release protocol. Equine sports organizations should establish sufficient vaccination coverage in order to decrease the frequency of EHV-1 outbreaks.

Exercise physiology an essential tool in the evaluation of equine athletes. Review

The physiological and biochemical responses of the equine athlete, before, during and after physical exercise, are studied in the exercise physiology and, for this to start and muscle contraction occurs, for this it is necessary that the organism produces energy through the production of ATP, which occur in three processes, being alactic or lactic, the alactic process occurs through the metabolism of creatine phosphokinase (anaerobic form) and glucose through the Krebs cycle (aerobic form), whereas the lactic process occurs through the metabolism of lactate. During exercise, in an attempt to re-establish equine parameters, physiological changes occur. The physiology of exercise has been studying, through stress tests, performed on an ergometric treadmill or in the field, ways of obtaining parameters to evaluate the species. This study aimed to evaluate an essential tool that is the physiology of exercise on the physical conditioning of equine athletes, through parameters that observe the performance of these animals. For the methodology, a bibliographic survey of articles was made and directed to the physiology of equine exercise, in addition, necessary tools for the evaluation of equine athletes were addressed, being these neurological, cardiovascular, skeletal, and electrolytic responses. It is concluded that the use of tests for the evaluation of the athletic performance in horses performed by treadmill or in the field together with the physiological responses obtained by the action of exercise and training, is considered a valuable tool for equine sports medicine.