Conversations in Equine Science

This week Nancy and Kate discuss a listeners' email request via a recently published paper on the effects of weather on pastured horses.
Research Reference and Link (not open access-snippets available.):
Keller, G.A.; Nielsen, B.D.; Vergara-Hernandez, F.B.; Robison, C.I. Tracking the Impact of Weather on Equine Activity While Pastured. J. Equine Vet. Sci. 2022, 116, 104052.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0737080622001903

Kate and Nancy discuss using the EBPI to manage osteoarthritis in horses.
References and Link:
Howard DL, Lancaster B, de Grauw J. Development and Preliminary Validation of an Equine Brief Pain Inventory for Owner Assessment of Chronic Pain Due to Osteoarthritis in Horses. Animals. 2024; 14(2):181.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani1402018

Nancy and Kate discuss the horses role in 1872 and how an equine flu epidemic shut down the US economy, but also led to improved horse welfare.
Research Reference/Link:
Freeberg, Ernest (2020). How a flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 – by infecting horses. The Conversation US, Boston, MA. December Issue.
https://theconversation.com/how-a-flu-virus-shut-down-the-us-economy-in-1872-by-infecting-horses-150052

Nancy and Kate review their favorite episodes and then reveal the favorite episodes of the listeners.
Welcome Everyone to 2024 - Season 5

Kate and Nancy discuss their recently published research paper on the preliminary results of their Conversations in Equine Science listener survey.
Reference and Link: Acton, K., McLean, N. & MacKay, J.R.D. (2023) Preliminary evidence supporting the use of equine science podcasts to bridge the gap between scientists and horse enthusiasts to improve horse welfare. Equine Veterinary Education, 00, 1–11. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/eve.13926

This week Nancy and Kate discuss how horses are once again helping humans navigate the new frontier of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Research Reference and Link:
Eakta Jain and Christina Gardner-McCune. 2023. Horse as Teacher: How human-horse interaction informs human-robot interaction. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 536, pp. 1–13.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3544548.3581245

This week Nancy discusses two peer reviewed papers on how to assess arena surface safety and usefulness.
Research References and Links:
Holt, D., Northrop, A., Martin, J., Daggett, A. and Hobbs, S. (2014), What do Riders Want from an Arena Surface?. Equine Vet J, 46: 41-42. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.12267_126
Northrop, A., Martin, J., Blundell, E., Owen, A. and Hobbs, S. (2014), Development of the Equestrian Arena Surfaces for the 2012 Olympic Games. Equine Vet J, 46: 45-46. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.12267_137

This week Nancy gives a summary of her results with replicating the hind-end massage study using her own horses.
Research Reference/Link:
Mabbutt, C., Yarnell, K., and Ferro de Godoy, R. (2022). Comparative Exercise Physiology Vol. 18 (5), pp. 419-426
https://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/epdf/10.3920/CEP220022?role=tab

This week Kate and Nancy discuss the recently published paper questioning the protests and disagreements that occurred at this years (2023) Grand National at Aintree.
Research Reference and Link (Open Access):
Pearson, G.; Douglas, J.; Wolframm, I.; Furtado, T. Used like Pawns or Treated like Kings? How Narratives around Racehorse Welfare in the 2023 Grand National May Affect Public Acceptance: An Informed Commentary. Animals 2023, 13, 3137. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13193137

This week Nancy discusses a research paper comparing pressures/forces in bareback riding with riding in a well fitted conventional saddle.
Research Reference with Link: H.M. Clayton et al.(2013). Forces and pressures on the horse’s back during bareback riding. The Veterinary Journal.