horses

history of horse use

initially used for food, but then started being used for transportation, labour, and entertainment

• a part of mythology, art, and religion

how can horses help the economy

• direct economic benefit in the billions

• creating job

what are the top three provinces for owning the most horses

Alberta > Ontario > Quebec

horse uses in alberta

mostly for backyard ownership/riding and sport

• lots of money is made from slaughterhouses mainly exporting meat to other countries

Stallion

Male intact adult horse

Gelding

Sterilized male adult horse

colt

baby male horse

adult female horse

mare

baby female horse

filly

ungendered baby horse

foal

hand

use for measuring the height of horses

• one hand is 4 inches

ponies

less than 14.2 hands at withers

light horse

15-17.2 hands at withers

heavy horse

16-18 hands, heavy muscle, large bones and sturdy legs

male donkey x female horse

mule

female donkey x male horse

hinny

hot bloods

lighter bodies ideal for speed

• temperament is high strung

hot blood breeds

Arabian, thoroughbred, quarter horse

Warm Bloods

Mild temperament, good for dressage and jumping

type of warm blood breeds

hanoverian, irish sport horse, trakehner

cold blood

mild manner, docile

• good for heavy work

cold blood breeds

percheron, clydesdales, shire

Arabian

oldest horse breed

• agile

• excellent stamina

• distinctive dish face

Thoroughbred

developed from arabian stallions

• fastest at intermediate distances

Quarter horse

strong hindquarters

• fastest at short distances but don’t have high stamina

standardbred

good for harness racing and dressage and hunter jumpers

trotters

run diagonally

pacers

run laterally

base colour of horse coats

black and red

how are colours determined

complex combination involving 16 genes

dominant masking colours

white and grey

true white horses

valued, but not possible. True white horses have lethal white foal syndrome

lethal white foal syndrome

lethal from homozygous white gene

• causes intestinal and neurological abnormalities

• foals die within 12 hours of life if not in utero

horse teeth

important for digesting cellulose for hind gut fermentation

digestive system of horses

digest fiber using fermentation in the hind gut, releasing volatile fatty acids

colostrum

the first milk to babies in the critical first hours following delivery that is rich with antibodies

horse vision

wide field but cannot see directly in front or behind

• eyes can see independently (monocular)

horse hearing

responds well to low tones

• ears can rotate 180 degrees

horse smell

better than humans

• use smell for pheromone detection and predator detection

• mares and foals bond through smell

flehmen reaction

horse rolling upper lip to detect unusual smell, especially important for detecting pheromones

colic

abdominal pain usually due to gastrointestinal issues, but might have other causes

signs of colic

• curling lips

• pawing

• kicking at belly

• lying down

• rolling

• pulse elevated, sweating, pink to blue gums

digestive colic

caused by too much feed or a change in feed

spasmodic colic

also known as gas colic, caused by eating too fast or toxins in feed

• can be helped by running them

sand colic

caused by sand in feed

impaction colic

caused by not enough water

identifying colic by location

better categorization for identifying colic then by cause, but is hard to do and you have to know what the normal state is like

gastric colic

colic in the stomach caused by dilation as fluid contents increase without vomiting and eventually the stomach ruptures

causes of intestinal colic

• obstruction

• strangulation of cut off blood flow to intestine

• intussusception (one intestine sliding into the other)

• volvulus (rotation of intestine)

• impaction

• cranial mesenteric arteritis (inflammation of artery that supplies blood to gut)

• enteroliths

• cecal impaction

ileal impaction

impaction of the distal part of the intestine which is the most common location of impaction in the small intestine

pedunculated lipoma

strangulation of the intestine causing colic

• like wrapping a band around your finger

• must be surgically removed

volvulus

very sever 360 rotation of the intestine on a 180 axis

• no medical treatment except surgery if caught early

verminous arteritis

caused by parasites crawling into abdominal aorta and cutting off the intestinal from blood flow

• cannot be treated but can be prevented by deworming