Humoral immunity is a critical component of the immune system that is established during fetal life and expands upon exposure to pathogens. The extensive humoral immune response repertoire is generated in large part via immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chain variable region diversity. The horse is a useful model to study the development of humoral diversity because the placenta does not transfer mater...

This study was motivated by the hypothesis that the incidence of retained placenta (RP) in Friesian horses is associated with inbreeding. The objectives were to 1) calculate the inbreeding rate in the total registered Friesian horse population; 2) study the association of the inbreeding coefficient of the foal and the mare with the incidence of RP; and 3) study the heritability of RP in Friesia...

Cardiac troponin I is a potentially useful test to identify cardiac muscle damage in the horse. Measurements of cardiac troponin I from serum or heparinised plasma samples from 23 clinically normal Thoroughbred horses in race training were analysed through a standard Australian commercial laboratory using the ADVIA Centaur Assay. The cardiac troponin I concentrations were < 0.15 microg/L from a...

Incidence and risk factors Septic arthritis is a common consequence of bacteremia and septicemia in foals. In one study, septicemia was the most common cause of death (30%) in foals under 7 days of age. In the same study, septic arthritis was identified as the cause of death in 12.5% of foals aged 8 to 31 days.1 Establishment of infection depends on several factors including host defense, virul...

this study aimed to investigate the relationship between race horse breed and the frequency of limb injuries through the time of training and racing. the study population consisted of 4042 thoroughbred and 2553 arabian horses raced at warsaw race track, from 2000 to 2008. among these horses, 94 thoroughbreds and 32 arabians had different limb injuries. based on the achieved results, it is possi...