HEALTH & EDUCATION

Health & Education

We all want the best care possible for our horses. The Heath & Education section covers both Learning Institutions, Organizations as well as many sources for equine assistance including Veterinarians and Farriers.

For those who want a to formally study horses, the Education section includes College Riding, Equine Studies, and Veterinary Schools. Learn about the wide variety of horses in the Horse Breeds section. Supplements and Treatments Therapy are also included in the section.

Everyone can learn from Fine Art and there are some specialty Museums that might surprise you.

Horses as a therapy partner enrich the lives of the disabled. These facilities are listed in our Therapeutic Riding section. To help children and young adults build confidence and grow emotionally, please see the resources available on the Youth Outreach page.

Looking for a place to keep your horse? You can find it in the Horse Boarding section. Traveling? Find a Shipping company or Horse Sitting service if your horse is staying home!

Want to stay up to date with the latest training clinics or professional conferences? Take a look at our Calendar of Events for Health & Education for the dates and locations of upcoming events.

Do we need to add more? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!

By Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D.

Protein is not a popular subject. Most "nutrition-talk" revolves around carbohydrates -- sugar and starch, to be specific, because they impact metabolic conditions that are a very real concern for many horse owners. We also talk about fat -- types of fat, essential fatty acids, omega 3s, you know the terms - because horses require a daily supply of essential fatty acids and they also benefit from fat to fulfill high energy needs for weight gain and exercise.

But protein? Just check the "percent crude protein" and figure it's enough, right? Not necessarily. There's a lot more to it than that. To guide you, let's start by looking at what happens to the protein in your forages and feeds, when your horse eats it.

Proteins in the feed are digested down to amino acids. There are 22 individual amino acids -- "building blocks" your horse's cells put together to create new proteins. There are literally hundreds of proteins in his body, all of which rely on not only enough total protein, but enough amino acid variability.

Forages have protein, but their variability is limited; they have lots of some amino acids and not much of others. If a single type of grass as hay or pasture is the only protein source in your horse's diet, the pool of amino acids available to your horse's body will be deficient in several amino acids, making it difficult for him to stay healthy.

Think of it like a beaded necklace

Imagine a bowl full of red, blue, yellow and green beads. You want to make a long necklace with a very specific color pattern. As you progress in stringing this necklace, you notice that you've run out of yellow beads. Uh oh -- now you cannot make the necklace you planned. You either get more yellow beads, or you end up with a bracelet instead of a necklace!

Protein molecules are like long, beaded chains of amino acids, in a very specific order, depending on where the protein is located. Muscle protein looks different than joint proteins. Hemoglobin in red blood cells, looks different that digestive enzymes. The DNA within each tissue's cells dictates the order of amino acids needed to produce that specific protein. If there are enough amino acids available, the protein can be created. If not, then that tissue goes without.

And what about all those unused amino acids -- those red, blue and green beads? Can't they be saved for later in the hope that you'll feed more "yellow beads?" Unfortunately, no. Instead, they get destroyed and cannot be used for protein synthesis. They can be used for energy, glucose production, or stored as fat, but that doesn't meet your horse's protein need.[1]

What about wild horses?

Horses in a wild setting travel for miles each day, grazing on a vast assortment of feedstuffs -- grasses, legumes, flowers, fruits, berries, seeds, leaves, edible weeds, shrubs, and bark, offering a mixture of nutrients, including proteins. Can we duplicate this in a domesticated setting? Not usually, unless you have many acres of untouched land. Therefore, our goal should be to improve the horse's protein quality of the diet by offering more protein-rich feeds.

How do we know if we are creating a high-quality protein?

We need to pay attention to the amino acid profile of the entire diet. Of the 22 different amino acids, your horse's body is only able to make 12. The remaining ten are considered essential, meaning the body cannot produce them, or cannot produce them in adequate quantity. Therefore, they must be in the diet. The 10 essential amino acids (EAAs) are methionine, arginine, threonine, tryptophan, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, valine, and phenylalanine.

We do not know the specific requirements of each EAA for horses. The only one that has been evaluated is lysine, because it is considered "limiting." This simply means that the amount of proteins produced will be limited by the level of lysine. If lysine is low, it's like not having enough yellow beads (going back to our beaded necklace analogy).

There are two other limiting amino acids: methionine and threonine. Exactly how much the horse requires is unknown, but we do have an idea of the levels relative to the lysine content. The general thinking among equine nutritionists is that there should be 2 to 3 times more lysine than methionine, and threonine content should be about the same as lysine.

Most animal proteins are higher in quality than those found in plants. This means that they contain more than enough amino acid building blocks to build tissues for vital organs as well as peripheral, non-vital tissues. But horses do not naturally consume animal protein sources, so we have to get a little creative by mixing several plant protein sources so that they ultimately reflect the amino acid profile of an animal source.

Most grasses have a similar amino acid profile. Cool season grasses, such as timothy, brome, orchardgrass, rye, fescue, and Kentucky bluegrass, tend to have more amino acids than warm season grasses, such as the popular Bermuda and Teff. To improve the protein quality, you can add a legume such as alfalfa (lucerne), clover, and perennial peanut grass (grown in some southern areas of the US).

Consider adding whole foods to the mix

Adding alfalfa to grasses will certainly help, but many horse owners choose to avoid it.[2] Or even if you do include it, the EAA content may not be sufficient for your particular horse. For example, feeding 18 lbs of grass hay plus 4 lbs of alfalfa may meet the EAA need of an average horse on light activity, but it may not if the horse has any compromised health issues.

Adding whole foods to your horse's diet will not only improve the overall protein quality, but can add valuable vitamins, antioxidants, trace minerals, and fatty acids that your horse might not otherwise consume. Here are some examples:

1) Dehulled soybean meal. This is the most commonly added protein source to commercial products. Economical and rich in protein (47%), it is easy to see why it is used to boost the protein content of many feeds and ration balancers. But there are several potential problems with soy:

Its fat content is high in linoleic acid (an omega 6 essential fatty acid) and low in alpha linolenic acid (an omega 3 essential fatty acid). High amounts of linoleic acid in the diet can increase inflammation.
Its high phytoestrogen content could possibly impact horses' behavior.
It is goitrogenic, meaning it has the potential to damage the thyroid gland, making it important to monitor iodine intake. Many horses are allergic to soy, exhibiting respiratory and skin issues.
Unless organic, almost all soy grown in the US is genetically modified to withstand being sprayed with the herbicide, RoundUp (Bayer). Glyphosate, its active ingredient has been implicated in potentially damaging the microbiome and interfering with mineral absorption.[3]

2) Hemp seeds. High in protein (32%), they contain two main proteins: albumin and edestin. Both have significant amounts of all EAAs.[4] Some other aspects of hempseeds:

They have both essential fatty acids, linoleic and alpha linolenic acid (ALA), as well as a special fatty acid known as gamma linolenic acid (GLA). GLA belongs to the omega 6 family, but unlike the omega 6 found in soybean oil, it reduces inflammation rather than promoting it.
They are easy to digest, and highly palatable (great for the picky eater).
Can be found as a hempseed meal (with some of the fat reduced to make it appropriate for an overweight horse), or as the whole hemp seed fines, which include the ground up fibrous coating.[5]

3) Flax seeds. With 18% protein, they make a good choice to include in the diet (make sure they are ground). But their real claim to fame is their essential fatty acid content which duplicates those naturally found in fresh, healthy pasture grasses. (Remember, the word, "essential" means that they cannot be made by the body and must be in the diet.) Adding flax will, therefore, serve two benefits: provides necessary essential fatty acids, and offers a source of protein to boost overall protein quality in the diet.[6]

4) Chia seeds. They are comparable to flax seeds in their protein content and nearly identical to flax in their essential fatty acid content. In fact, you can feed either ground flax seeds, or chia seeds, depending on your budget and your horse's preference.

5) Split peas and pea protein isolate. Peas that are dried and split are a tasty way to add protein and crunch to the diet. They can be fed raw, but it is good to soften them a bit by soaking them in warm water for a few minutes. Though the protein content is high (24%), it doesn't compare to the protein content of pea protein isolate, with 75% protein. I recommend adding pea protein isolate to the diet for horses who require extra protein due to aging, growth, intense exercise needs, pregnancy, and lactation.

6) Coconut (copra) meal. A good source of protein (20%), it is low in sugar/starch, and high in fat, from coconut oil, making it a good choice for a horse who is underweight or is heavily exercised. Keep in mind that the fatty acid content of coconut oil does not include essential fatty acids, necessitating supplementation from an additional fat source (such as flax or chia).

7) Pumpkin seeds. A tasty treat, supplying 34% protein, and a variety of vitamins and minerals, including a high amount of magnesium. They can be fed raw, hulled, or with the shells on. When fed raw, they contain active digestive enzymes that are helpful for gastrointestinal tract.

8) Whey. Whey is a protein found in milk and is highly concentrated (80% protein). Because it is animal, and not plant, it is of very high quality. It can contain some lactose, and adult horses are lactose intolerant; therefore, they may develop loose manure.

9) Other feedstuffs:

Beet pulp is not concentrated in protein (only about 7%) but it is a worthwhile way to add a similar amount of calories as oats, without the concurrent insulin response that starch creates. It is a nice carrier feed for supplements. However, most beets grown in the US are genetically modified (GMO), so it is best to choose a non-GMO source.[7]
Black oil sunflower seeds offer a similar level of protein as pumpkin seeds. However, they are very high in linoleic acid (omega 6) with virtually no omega 3s. Consequently, they can cause inflammation when fed in high amounts. Please note: Whenever you add a new feed to your horse's diet, it is important to start slowly, taking two or three weeks to allow the hindgut microbial population to adjust.

Have more fun with your horse enjoying routines that take your horse from wild and spooky to relaxed and happy.

Every rider, trainer and owner that cares about not damaging their horse needs to see the highly anticipated follow up to Equitopia's first "Biomechanics of Engagement" video featuring Veterinarian/Trainer Karin Leibbrandt, DVM, Joanna Robson, DVM, and Jeroen Duenk, Equine Bodyworker.

Part one of this video explores the physiological consequences of riding "behind the vertical" (hyperflexion) as well as anatomical damage as a result of riding with a hollow back.

Part two demonstrates how to start to bring a horse into a relaxed self carriage by teaching the horse to be in both vertical and horizontal balance.

Equestrian World travelled to a remote part of the island more than 100 km from Reykjavik to meet Gunnar Sturluson, an Icelandic Horse breeder and President of FEIF, the International Federation of Icelandic Horse Associations, at his 'Hrísdalur' farm. We also visit Guðmar Þór Pétursson at his farm Hestaland, offering riding tours and instruction all year round.

Photo courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research

By Kentucky Equine Research Staff

Hay produces dust particles that contain mold, endotoxins, mites, and other microscopic antigens. Inhaling those respirable dust particles is the most significant exacerbator of severe equine asthma (SEA). While studies show that hay soaking decreases the production of dust particles, only one study performed to date demonstrates that hay soaking improves lung function.*

In that study, 10 horses with SEA belonging to the Equine Asthma Research Laboratory at the University of Montreal, Canada, were recruited. All horses were in exacerbation at the start of the six-week study. Horses were split into two groups and fed either soaked alfalfa pellets in a feeder or hay that had been soaked in cold water for 45 minutes before feeding at ground level. At baseline and again at the end of the study, airway inflammation was measured via bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL, a “lung wash”), and tracheal mucous scoring was performed. On weeks 0, 2, 4, and 6, researchers assigned respiratory clinical scores based on nasal flare and abdominal effort while breathing. They also measured lung function, as determined by lung resistance/obstruction, during those weeks.

“Clinical respiratory scores and pulmonary function improved significantly during the study in both groups of horses,” explained Ashley Fowler, Ph.D., a Kentucky Equine Research nutritionist.

No significant improvement, however, was noted in airway inflammation in the soaked hay group based on BAL findings of “pulmonary neutrophilia.” This means that a specific type of white blood cell, called neutrophils, persisted in the BAL fluid throughout the treatment period.

“Pulmonary neutrophilia is known to occur when respirable dust exists in the horse’s breathing zone—the two-foot sphere around the nose,” Fowler said.

Despite effectively reducing respirable particles, hay soaking is perceived as cumbersome by many owners, resulting in poor compliance. Further, alternatives to hay soaking such as expensive pellets, oil-mixed hay, and haylage/silage also have limitations. Nonetheless, methods that decrease respirable particles are essential for decreasing the clinical signs of SEA, including labored breathing, coughing, and increased mucus production.

“Because SEA is characterized by inflammation, current recommendations include adding marine-derived anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids to the diet.** Kentucky Equine Research offers EO-3 and ReSolvin EQ, both of which contain EPA and DHA in a palatable formula,” Fowler said.

Owners are also encouraged to decrease dust in the horse’s environment through ventilation and other management practices like turnout and low-dust bedding.

Dr. Janet Beeler-Marfisi

There’s nothing like hearing a horse cough to set people scurrying around the barn to identify the culprit. After all, that cough could mean choke, or a respiratory virus has found its way into the barn. It could also indicate equine asthma. Yes, even those “everyday coughs” that we sometimes dismiss as “summer cough” or “hay cough” are a wake-up call to the potential for severe equine asthma.

Formerly known as heaves, broken wind, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), this respiratory condition is now called severe equine asthma (sEA). These names reflect how our scientific and medical understanding of this debilitating disease has changed over the years. We now consider heaves to be most comparable to severe asthma in people.

But what if your horse only coughs during or after exercise? This type of cough can mean that they have upper airway irritation (think throat and windpipe) or lower airway inflammation (think lungs) meaning inflammatory airway disease (IAD) – which is now known as mild-to-moderate equine asthma (mEA). This airway disease is similar to childhood asthma, including that it can go away on its own. However, it is still very important to call your veterinarian out to diagnose mEA. This disease causes reduced athletic performance and there are different subtypes of mEA that benefit from specific medical therapies. In some cases, mEA progresses to sEA.

What has Equine Asthma got to do with Air Quality?

A lot, it turns out. Poor air quality, or air pollution, includes the barn dusts – the allergens and molds in hay and the ground up bacteria in manure – as well as arena dusts and ammonia from urine. Also, very importantly for both people and horses, air pollution can be from gas and diesel-powered equipment. This includes equipment being driven through the barn, the truck left idling by a stall window, or the smog from even a small city that drifts nearly invisibly over the surrounding farmland. Recently, forest-fire smoke is another serious contributor to air pollution.

Smog causes the lung inflammation associated with mEA. Therefore, it is also likely that air pollution from engines and from forest fires will also trigger asthma attacks in horses with sEA. Smog and smoke contain many harmful particulates and gasses, but very importantly they also contain fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5. The 2.5 refers to the diameter of the particle being 2.5 microns. That’s roughly 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Because it is so small, this fine particulate is inhaled deeply into the lungs where it crosses over into the blood stream. So, not only does PM2.5 cause lung disease, but it also causes inflammation elsewhere in the body including the heart. Worldwide, even short-term exposure is associated with an increased risk of premature death from heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. This PM2.5 stuff is not trivial!

In horses, we know that PM2.5 causes mEA, so it’s logical that smog and forest-fire smoke exposure should cause exacerbation of asthma in horses, but we don’t know about heart disease or risk of premature death.

Symptoms, Diagnostic Tests, and Treatments

Equine asthma manifests with a spectrum of symptoms that vary in severity and degree of debilitation they cause. Just like in people with asthma, the airways of horses with mEA and sEA are “hyperreactive”. This means that the asthmatic horse’s airways are extra sensitive to barn dusts that another horse’s lungs would just “ignore”. The asthmatic horse’s airways constrict, or become narrower, in response to these dusts. This narrowing means it’s harder to get air in and out of the lungs. Think about drinking through a straw. You can drink faster with a wider straw than a skinnier one. It’s the same with air and the airways. In horses with mEA the narrowing is mild. In horses with sEA the constriction is extreme and is the reason why they develop the “heaves line” – they have to use their abdominal muscles to help squeeze their lungs to force the air back out of their narrow airways. They also develop flaring of their nostrils at rest to make their upper airway wider to get more air in. Horses with mEA do not develop a heaves line, but the airway narrowing and inflammation do cause reduced athletic ability.

The major signs of mEA are coughing during or just after exercise that has been going on for at least a month, and decreased athletic performance. In some cases, there may also be white or watery nasal discharge particularly after exercise. Often, the signs of mEA are subtle and require a very astute owner, trainer, groom, or rider to recognize them.

Another very obvious feature of horses with sEA is their persistent hacking cough, which worsens in dusty conditions. Hello dusty hay, arena, and track! The cough develops because of airway hyper-reactivity and because of inflammation and excess mucus in the airways. Mucus is the normal response of the lung to the presence of inhaled tiny particles or other irritants. Mucus traps these noxious substances so they can be coughed out, which protects the lung. But if an asthma-prone horse is constantly exposed to a dusty environment it leads to chronic inflammation and mucus accumulation, and the development or worsening of asthma – along with that characteristic cough.

Accurately Diagnosing Equine Asthma

Dr Janet Beeler-Marfisi listening to a horse's lungs assisted by a "rebreathing" bag Veterinarians use a combination of the information you tell them, their observation of the horse and the barn, and a careful physical and respiratory examination that often involves “rebreathing”. This is a technique where a bag is briefly placed over the horse’s nose causing them to breathe more frequently and more deeply to make their lung sounds louder. This helps your veterinarian hear subtle changes in air movement through the lungs and amplifies the wheezes and crackles that characterize a horse experiencing a severe asthma attack. Wheezes indicate air “whistling” through constricted airways, and crackles mean airway fluid buildup. The fluid accumulation is caused by airway inflammation and contributes to the challenge of getting air into the lung.

Other tests your veterinarian might use are endoscopy, bronchoalveolar lavage, and in the specialist setting, pulmonary function testing. They will also perform a complete blood count and biochemical profile assay to help rule out the presence of an infectious disease.

Endoscopy allows your veterinarian to see the mucus in the trachea and large airways of the lung. It also lets them see whether there are physical changes to the shape of the airways, which can be seen in horses with sEA.

Bronchoalveolar lavage, or “lung wash” is how your veterinarian assesses whether there is an accumulation of mucus and inflammatory cells in the smallest airways that are too deep in the lung to be seen using the endoscope. Examining lung wash fluid is a very important way to differentiate between the different types of mEA, between sEA in remission and an active asthma attack, and conditions like pneumonia or a viral lung infection.

Finally, if your veterinarian is from a specialty practice or a veterinary teaching hospital, they might also perform pulmonary function testing. This allows your veterinarian to determine if your horse’s lungs have hyper-reactive airways (the hallmark of asthma), lung stiffening, and a reduced ability to breathe properly.

Results from these tests are crucial to understanding the severity and prognosis of the condition. As noted earlier, mEA can go away on its own but medical intervention may speed healing and return to athletic performance. With sEA, remission from an asthmatic flare is the best we can achieve. As the disease gets worse over time, eventually the affected horse may need to be euthanized.

Management, Treatment, and Most Importantly – Prevention

Successful treatment of mEA and sEA flares, as well as long-term management, requires a multi-pronged approach and strict adherence to your veterinarian’s recommendations.

Rest is important because forcing your horse to exercise when they are in an asthma attack further damages the lung and impedes healing. To help avoid lung damage when smog or forest-fire smoke is high, a very useful tool is your local, online, air quality index (just search on the name of your closest city or town and “AQI”). In Canada click here. There is also a visual map of conditions across North America.

Available worldwide, the AQI gives advice on how much activity is appropriate for people with lung and heart conditions, which are easily applied to your horse. For example, if your horse has sEA and if the AQI guidelines say that asthmatic people should limit their activity, then do the same for your horse. If the AQI says that the air quality is bad enough that even healthy people should avoid physical activity, then do the same for you AND your horse. During times of poor air quality (Image 2), it is recommended to monitor the AQI forecast and plan to bring horses into the barn when the AQI is high and to turn them out once the AQI has improved.

Prevent dusty air. Think of running your finger along your tack box – whatever comes away on your finger is what your horse is breathing in. Reducing dust is critical to preventing the development of mEA and sEA, and for managing the horse in an asthmatic flare. Logical daily practices to help reduce dust exposure include:

turning out all horses before stall cleaning
wetting down the aisle prior to sweeping
never sweeping debris into your horse’s stall
using low-dust bedding like wood shavings or dust-extracted straw products – which should also be dampened down with water
reducing arena, paddock, and track dust with watering and maintenance
when selecting footing substrate, consider low dust materials.
steaming (per the machine’s instructions) or soaking hay (15-30 minutes and then draining, but never storing steamed or soaked hay!)
feeding hay from the ground or using hay feeders that sit on the ground
feeding other low-dust feeds
avoiding hay feeding systems that allow the horse to put their nose into the middle of dry hay – this creates a “nosebag” of dust

Other critical factors include ensuring that the temperature, humidity and ventilation of your barn are seasonally optimized. Horses prefer a temperature between 10-24 ºC (50-75 ºF), ideal barn humidity is between 60-70%. Optimal air exchange in summer is 142 L/s (300 cubic feet/minute). For those regions that experience winter, air exchange of 12-19 L/s (25-40 cubic feet/minute) is ideal. In winter, needing to strip down to a single layer to do chores implies that your barn is not adequately ventilated for your horse’s optimal health. Comfortable for people is often too hot and too musty for your horse!

Medical interventions for controlling asthma are numerous. If your veterinarian chooses to perform a lung wash, they will tailor the drug therapy of your asthmatic horse to the results of the wash fluid examination. Most veterinarians will prescribe bronchodilators to alleviate airway constriction. They will also recommend aerosolized, nebulized, or systemic drugs (usually a corticosteroid, an immunomodulatory drug like interferon-α, or a mast cell stabilizer like cromolyn sodium) to manage the underlying inflammation. They may also suggest nebulizing with sterile saline to help loosen airway mucus and may suggest feed additives like omega 3 fatty acids, which may have beneficial effects on airway inflammation.

New Research and Future Directions

Ongoing research is paramount to expanding our knowledge of what causes equine asthma and exploring innovative medical solutions. Scientists are actively investigating the effects of smog and barn dusts on the lungs of horses. They are also working to identify new targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and other treatment modalities to improve outcomes for affected horses.