Overview of the Horse Industry:Functions & Purposes

Lecture 1Horse Management

Purpose - Role of the Horse

• Primary Purposes in the United States:• 90 % Pleasure - leisure, trail riding,

– showing, lessons– racing– rodeo, polo, carriage, hitches– police, – transportation, work

History of Horse in United States

Year # horsesin US

# inIndiana

Type/Uses

1910 26.5 M .62 M draft work1940 4.5 M 110,000 draft wealthy1970 2.2 M 87,000 Light

breedsRace,show

2000 7.1M 185,000 Lightbreeds

pleasure

Industry Overview

• 85-90% of horses kept for recreation only• 1.4 Million FTE employed• 1.9 Million own horses• 3.9 horses/owner - Herd size• 7.1 Million involved with horse industry• Horse population follows human population

Types of Equine

• _Draft_ - “cold blooded”, heavy horses– 17-19 hands tall, weigh about 2000 lbs.......

– Belgian, Percheron, Clydesdale, Suffolk, Shire

• Light Breeds - more refined and athletic– Race - Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds– Show/Pleasure - Arabian, Quarter Horse, ++– 14-17 hands tall, weigh 400-1300 lbs.........

• _Ponies_ - mature less than 58 inches– Shetland, Hackney, Welsh, P.O.A.’s

Draft Breeds

Light Breeds

Ponies

Breed Demographics -Foals Registered in 2000

• American Quarter Horse - 110,714 = =• American Paint - 54,400 + + + +• Thoroughbred - 35,400 - - -• Arabian - 11,594 - - -• Standardbred- 11,336 - - -• Tennessee Walker - 11,120 + +• Appaloosa - 11,030 = =

State Demographics -Rank Order

• _Texas__• _California_• Florida• Oklahoma• Illinois• Colorado

• Ohio• New York• Kentucky• Michigan• ....14….• Indiana - 24th

World Distribution of Equus - 1997

Country EquineX 1,000

Horses percapita

Equine / sq.mile

Russia 13,500 .05 1.46

Brazil 11,158 .129 2.48

China 9,800 .012 3.42

Mexico 9,013 .155 6.59

Argentina 8,786 .236 4.44

Poland 7,842 .098 23.61

USA 7,125 .012 .59

Most Common Unsoundnesses

• Bowed Tendons - tearing flexor tendons– usually in front, low weak pasterns, deep surface

• Splints - pulled metacarpal ligament– Ca deposits on upper cannon bone - offset knees

• Navicular - erosion of distal sesamoid in heel– often steep pasterns, small foot, contracted heels

• Laminitis - chronic founder, damaged laminae– often obesity, over eating, concussion

• Spavins - hock problems, posty or sickle hocked

Vital Signs of Horses

• Resting Normals

• Pulse - _40_ bpm• Resp. Rate - 10 bpm• Temp. - 100-101oF

• Performance Maximums

• Pulse - _250_ bpm• Resp. Rate -100bpm• Temp. 1050F

Housing - Fences

• protect from weather, dry place to eat, storage

• 3-sided shed -• closed cold barns -• closed warm barns -

– ventilation -– drainage -

• - keep them in - safely

• boards and posts• woven wire w/board or

electric• pipe or pipe gates• PVC - poly vinyl chloride• plastic covered high

tensile wire

Routine Health Management

• Internal Parasite Control• Contagious Diseases• Dental Care• EIA - Coggins• Hoof Care

Internal Parasite Control

• Strongyles (large and small) - larvae damage arteries and cause G.I. colic

• Ascarids (round worms) - migrate from G.I. Tract to lungs, problem in foals

• Bots - fly lays yellow “nits”, larvae damage stomach lining

• Pinworms - female lays eggs around rectum in tail irritant, indicator of parasites

Deworm Regularly

• Frequency depends on:

• horse density on pasture

• age• use

• Methods

• Purge– Naso-gastric tube– Paste

• Continuous– Daily in feed

Body Condition Scoring

• 1-3 Poor-Thin

• 4 Can see ribs, vertebra ridge evident• 5 Back flat, can’t see ribs, but can feel them• 6 Crease down back, fat deposits• 7-9 Fleshy - Extremely fat

Routine Health Management

• Floating Molars• points on inside of

upper and outside of lower

• interfere with chewing• check mouth for

irritating points at least 2x/year

• file with guarded file

• Hoof Trimming

• hoof grows 1/3-1/2”/mo...

• If grow>wear = trim• if grow<wear = shoe• reset shoes every 5-8

weeks

Diseases / Vaccinations

• TETANUS - lockjaw, clostridium - ALL

• RHINO_ PNEUMONITIS - virus “flu” & abortions

• ENCEPHELOMYELYTIS - EE, WE, & VE• Strangles - distemper, strep bacteria, lymph

• Influenza -flu, various strains

• Potomac Horse Fever - ricketsia vector, water

• Rabies - virus carried in wild animals

Current “Hot” Diseases

• Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome– 1980/2001– late term

stillborn/abortions– 60-90 day abortions– cyanide, wild cherry

trees, Eastern Tent Caterpillars

• West Nile Virus

– concern of human population

– birds– two cases in IN– new vaccine -

conditional approval

Current “Hot” Diseases

• Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA)

• blood borne w/ insects or needles, COGGINS Test for AB’s no vaccine, always a carrier

• Equine Protozoal Myelitis (EPM)

• bird and raccoon• spinal cord lesions• test AB’s in spinal

fluid• can treat and live

Metabolic Diseases of Nutritional Nature

• Colic• Laminitis/Founder• Physitis/Epiphysitis• Exertional Myopathy - tying up

– paralytic myoglobinuria, rhabdomyolysis• Rickets/osteomalacia, Osteochondrosis• Acidosis, ketosis, alkali disease• Toxicities - micotoxins, minerals, etc.

Digestive Categories of Horses

• Maintenance - basic requirements of life• Growth - youngest has highest requirements• Gestation - last three months• Lactation - first three months• Work - depends on activity

– light, moderate, intense

Levels of Performance/Work

• Light - western and English pleasure, trail riding, equitation, hacking

• Moderate - dressage, ranch work, roping, cutting, barrel racing, jumping

• Intense - race training, polo, cutting,

Digestive Tract - 100 feet long

• Stomach - small, frequent, meals; initiates digestion, like non-ruminant

• Small Intestine - site of most amino acid from dietary protein, most soluble CHO energy on grain diet, fat digested

• Cecum - site of bacteria needed to digest cellulose to VFA’s in forages like ruminants

• Colon - absorb water, urea, no bacteria

Feeding Guidelines

• Eat 2.5 % of BW as Dry Matter Forage• Always more forage than grains• Access to water and minerals (salt)• Need regular exercise - be athletic• Most horse are overweight

Colic - #2 cause of death

• Most horses die of old age• Colic - abdominal pain from numerous

causes• Medical colics - 95 % respond to mineral

oil, pain killers, etc...• Surgical colics - don’t respond to medicine

– about 50% return to initial use

Breeding Management

• Seasonally Polyestrus - cycle regularly during seasons of increasing days’ length

• Estrous is 21-22 days• Estrus lasts 5-7 days - ovulation last 24 hrs.• Gestation is 340 days• foals weigh 10-12% of the dam’s weight• commonly use A.I. with cooled semen, embryo

transfer, now more frozen semen

Breeding Technologies

• Day Light - long day breeders (16 hours)• Ultrasound - detect pregnancy• Embryo transfer• Flow cytometry - sex sorting semen• Artificial Insemination• cooled and shipped semen

Genetic Diseases

• CID - Combined Immuno Deficiency

• mostly Arabians• autosomal _recessive_• dd diseased• Dd carrier (hidden)• DD normal

• HyPP - Hyper kalemic Periodic Paralysis

• Quarter Horses of Impressive breeding

• autosomal _dominant_• hh - normal• Hh - diseased• HH diseased

Careers in the Horse Industry

• Veterinarian• Trainer/Exhibitor• Breeder• Farrier• Instructor• Boarding Stable

Manager

• Feed Sales / Research• Tack and Equipment

Manufacturer/Sales• Truck & Trailer Sales• Fencing & barn

builders• Health Care Product

Sales

Horse Industry Summary

• Small herd size• primarily for fun• dependant on

discretionary income• density follows people

population• high turnover in

ownership

• Little long-term knowledge of horse management

• careers in education, services and products

• increasing science & technology

• It’s the economy!