Veterinary Science Collected Works - Theses
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ItemStudies of Exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage in Thoroughbred and Standardbred Racehorses( 2022)Exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH) or ‘bleeding’ is an important disease of exercising horses. Though it is a disease commonly identified by equine veterinary practitioners, there is a lack of information regarding the impact of an episode of EIPH to career after examination or whether occurrence of EIPH is predictive of a horse’s lifetime athletic potential. There also exists a lack of consensus as whether the commonly used treatment, frusemide (a loop diuretic) is an effective medication to reduce or prevent EIPH. This research project addresses these two questions, with the aim of producing high quality information which can be used to underpin evidence based clinical recommendations for EIPH in horses.
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ItemUse of behavioural signs for riskbased prevention of catastrophic breakdown in racehorses( 2020)Bone and joint injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses typically originate in areas of intense loading. Despite the increasing understanding regarding the pathogenesis of bone fatigue, early detection prior to fatigue fracture is difficult. This thesis focuses on understanding equine behaviour and its potential to reflect orthopaedic pain to assist in the early identification of horses at risk of injury. Previous research suggests an association between facial expression and the presence of equine lameness. In cattle, motion sensors have been validated to record recumbency behaviour used to detect disease without the need for continuous observation. This thesis aimed to investigate monitoring of behavioural patterns as predictors of injury in racehorses. In the first study, Thoroughbred racehorses were monitored at rest with motion sensors placed on forelimbs. Sensor data was collected, and an algorithm developed to identify certain behaviours. Algorithms were validated through video observation and calculation of algorithm sensitivity and specificity. There was excellent agreement for standing, lying, and for stepping behaviour patterns suggesting potential for long term, objective, remote monitoring of horses in the stable environments. In the second study, previously validated facial grimace scales were used to score pain from photographs of Thoroughbreds, captured from video recordings during trot up examinations. This method demonstrated horses with moderate mouth strain (HGS) and tense and extended upper lip (FEReq) were associated with horses less likely to be lame. Exposed sclera was associated with lameness in hand, at the trot. Cohen's kappa was used to measure the proportion of agreement between raters, with behaviours scored to more than two categories the kappa was ordinal weighted. Mean inter observer agreement was moderate, and the sum of facial scores showed no difference between lame and sound horses. There were few associations between lameness status and facial predictors, limiting the potential use of facial expression for prediction of orthopaedic pain during pre-race lameness examinations. In conclusion, motion sensors are sensitive to detect horse movements and have potential use in longitudinal monitoring of horse behaviour. Future research in this area includes prediction of behavioural indicators of musculoskeletal pain in racehorses that could contribute to the development of a risk-based injury prevention model. The facial grimace scales had limited ability to differentiate lame from ‘sound’ horses in this cohort of racehorses. External factors associated with racehorse management, including environmental stress, may be one reason facial grimace scales are not effective for the recognition of subtle lameness in this cohort.