Horse Flashcards
How can you diagnose pregnancy?
No heat
Clinical signs (vaginal and rectal examination)
Hormone measurement (eCG, P4)
Ultrasound (14-45 days)
Basic colour is determined by
W, G, E and A
What are some general characteristics of hot/warmblood horse breeds?
Narrow back, defined withers
Fine skeleton, long legs, above 150cm wither height
Long hindquarters for speed
Minimal feathering
High feed demand -> struggle to maintain weight
400-500 kg
What is the agouti (A) gene?
Distribution of black colour hair
What are 5 advantages of artificial insemination?
Reduces spread of venereal disease
International breeding programs are possible
Less stress by traveling
More mares can be mated with a valuable stallion
Allows line breeding (semen can be stored after death)
What was the warmblood bred for?
to be warm hehe Carriage horses (17th/18th century)
What is SCID and who can have it?
Severe combined immunodeficiency
Frameshift mutation
Poor T- and B-lymphocyt function, immunodeficiency, death of foal after colostrum protection ceases
Arab horses
What is grey (G) gene?
Exclusion of pigment from hair over time (born dark, lightens with age)
Blood refreshment
Crossing of individuals of same breed but different familial lines to increase vigor (physical strength and good health)
Where are most cold blooded/heavy draft horses from?
France, Germany, Great Britain
What is the white (W) gene?
Inability to form pigment
WW homozygotes is embryonic lethal
Gelding
Male castrated horse of any age
What is gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT)?
A mare’s ovum and a stallion’s sperm is inserted into a surrogate mare’s oviduct (useful for us fertile stallions with low sperm count)
What genes can lead to haemophilia?
WW (white) and OO (ovaro white spotting)
What is the Latin name for a horse?
Equus caballus
Name some trotters (7)
Orlow trotter American standardbred Russian trotter (Orlow x American standardbred) Hungarian trotter (nearly extinct) Hackney Morgan Cleveland bay
Give the general characteristics of ponies
Generally cold blooded
Any horse under 14 hands (142 cm)
Thick coats, manes, tails, lower limb feathering
High endurance, mild temper, long life span
What are some health issues of the Thoroughbreds?
High fatality in racing Bleeding from lungs Low fertility Relatively small hearts Small hoof:body mass ratio
What are the 8 most important genetic diseases of the horse?
Haemophilia Lethal white ovaro Melanomatosis HYPP SCID EPSM HERDA GBED
Name some coldblooded breeds
GB: Suffolk punch, Shire, Clydesdale Fr: Percheron, Comtois, Boulonnais, Breton, Ardennais Blg: Brabant Ger: Schelswig, Rhein-Westphalen, Schwarzwald
What is hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA)?
Autosomal recessive
Collagen defect: layers of skin are not held firmly together
What is embryo transfer?
Flushing out a mares newly fertilized egg and inserting it into a surrogate which is in the same phase of the estrus cycle as the donor mare
What are the 4 Tapan subspecies?
Warmblood
Oriental
Draft
Tarpan
Suckling
A nursing foal
Name some thoroughbred blooded sport horses (Hungarian). Name the most winning flat race horse
Gidran (Hungarian anglo-arab)
Fusioso-north star
Noniusz
Kisber
Kincsem
Thoroughbred Hungarian chestnut mare
54/54 wins
What’s the name of the offspring when you breed a male donkey and a mare?
Mule
What causes lethal white ovaro (LWO)?
TC to AG nucleotide mutation in endothelin B receptor gene
What is the melanin extension/non-extension? (E)
Extension of red pigments (red, chestnut, sorrel) ee = ability to produce black pigment in skin, appears red in hairs
What was the Thoroughbred bred for?
to be thorough ehhehe no but ultimate racehorse (Britain 1700)
Foal
Less than a year old
What is glycogen branching enzyme deficiency? (GBED)
No glycogen storage: cardiac and skeletal muscles cannot function –> death
What are 6 signs that the mare is in heat?
Relaxed hyperaemic external genitals Frequent urination Raising tail Mucous discharge Presenting itself to stallion Teasing of other mares
Is the horse
uniparous
biparous
multiparous?
Uniparous –> only releases one ovum and produces one offspring
When is the eCG production?
days 31-120
What are some important Spanish horses and Spanish blooded descendants? except American
Andalusian Lusitano Lipizzaner Friesian Knapstrup ALL Foals Know
What is HYPP?
Hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis
Missense point mutation: autosomal dominant
Signs: disturbed Na-channel function in skeletal muscle, hyperkalaemia, lameness, muscle weakness, paralysis and twitching
Where does fertilization happen?
Fallopian tube
Weanling
A foal that has been weaned (no longer fed breastmilk)
What are some haute ecole dressage thingies? Name 5
Where are they taught?
Piaffe Levade Courbette Capriole Croupade Taught in Spanish riding school in Vienna
What is egg transfer?
An oocyte is removed from a mare’s follicle and transferred into the oviduct of a surrogate mare, which is then bred with a stallion
When does a horse hit puberty?
16-18 months
Name some general features of coldbloods
Large, strong, heavy (1000kg) High cannon girth, short legs Thick mane, tail, lower limb feathering Short life span, low withers, broad back Quiet temperament Used for their strength and meat production
What is the only surviving wild horse breed?
Przewalski’s horse
Interspecies hybrids
Mule and hinny/jennet
What happens if a horse has melanomatosis of grey horses?
Disorder of melanocyte migration
Benign melanomas in grey horses 15 years +, around eyes, vagina, anus and on skin
Grading up
Regular crossings throughout more generations to improve the breed or produce a new breed
Chromosome number:
Wild horse
Domesticated horse
Donkey
66
64
62
What are modified variants of the three basic colours?
Roan, grey
When will the mare have placental estrogens in her blood?
4-5 months onwards
Yearling
Between one and two years old
Ancestor of horse
Tarpan with 4 subspecies
What is the average age of sexual maturity?
3-5 years
What’s the name of the offspring when you breed a female zebra with a stallion?
Hinny/jennet
What colour genes are dominant?
W and G
What is equine polysaccharide storage myopathy? (EPSM) and what breeds can get it?
Metabolic muscular condition that can occur from being tied up. Related to glycogen storage disorder. Seen in Quarter horses
How long is the period covered by horse evolution?
60 million years
Earliest documentation of horse breeding?
Arabian horse, by Bendouin in Middle East at 1330 A.D
What are some American descendants of Spanish breeds?
Mustang (feral) Appaloosa Quarter horse American pinto Peruvian paso My American Quacks At Pizza
When we’re horses domesticated?
5-6000 years ago
What is the roan (R) gene?
Mixing of dark and light hairs
Black, blue, bay and red roan
Dun horses
What are some important warmblood breeds?
Arabian Barb Anglo-Arabian Akhal-Teke Tersk Russian Don A Blue Army Ate Ten Rocks
What is the gestation period for the mare?
336 days
Single crossing
One-time crossing
Synthetic breeds
A planned gene pool of a horse breed
What are the qualitative/monogenic basic colours of the horse?
Black, bay (brown), chestnut
What horse breeds can get LWO?
Paint Pinto Quarter horse English Thoroughbred Miniature horse breeds
S
P
O
T
Spotting
Piebald/Skewbald
Ovaro spotted
Tobiano
Colt
Filly
Male under age of four
Female under age of four
What are two types of pure breeding?
Inbreeding (should not exceed 0.1-0.3)
Line breeding: repeated backcrossing for fixing a certain trait)
Terminal crossings
Utilizes heterosis
Give some pony breeds
Shetland Welsh pony Exmoor, Dartmoor (Celtic) Connemara (Irish) Fell and Dales - sport type New forest Icelandic horse (gaited - tølt) Fjording (Norwegian dun purebred horse) Heck horse Curly horse
What happens if a horse has LWO?
Lack of colon ganglions:
Colic and flatulence in foal
Death of homozygotes
What breeds can get HYPP?
Quarter horse, paint and appaloosa breeds
What are 6 types of cross breeding?
Blood refreshment Single crossing Grading up Synthetic breeds Terminal crossings Interspecies hybrids
Mare
Stallion
Female over age of four
Male over age of four
