Horse Knowledge Flashcards
How are opossums and horses related?
Opossums give EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis) to horses by their feces. Horses eat and drink where feces have been. Can be treated.
EPM effects central nervous system - a disease of the brain and or spinal cord caused by a protozoan organism
How are frogs and horses related?
The frog which is part of the hoof reduce and absorb impact and pump blood up the legs.
(Second heart)
How are canines and horses related?
Canine teeth, located behind the incisors, typically in males, used for fighting in the wild.
How are wolves and horses related?
Wolf teeth which are unnecessary teeth in front of premolars where the bit goes. Should be removed prior to training a horse.
How are parrots and horses related?
Parrot mouth- overbite- upper incisors protrude past lower incisors
Snaffle bit
Puts direct pressure on the mouth. supposed to be rode with two hands (There should be no wrinkles in the mouth) Used in young horses for immediate release in training.
Leverage bits should not be used in young horses.
Curb bit
Indirect pressure on the chin, poll and mouth. Has a curb chain or curb strap and has shanks.
Examples: leverage bit or shank bit
The more breaks in a mouthpiece the more bend. The longer the shank the more brakes.
Hackamore bit
Nose pressure, chin And a little bit of the poll 
The more brakes in a mouthpiece what else is there more of
There’s more bend in the horses body
What does a shank on a bit do and where is it
The shorter the shank, the milder the bit. Shorter shanks magnify the rein cues less than with long shanks. Longshanks are usually more severe as it takes less rein to put more pressure on the mouth.
A long shank increases the leverage and the pressure on the curb groove and the bars of the mouth.
What parts make up the majority of bits?
The mouthpiece, the cheeks, the purchase, the shanks, and the rings.
Explain the mouth piece of the bit.
Explain the cheeks of the bit.
Cheek pieces are used to categorize horse bit types.
A curb bit is made up of the shanks and the purchase. The shanks are from the mouthpiece down and the purchase is from the mouthpiece app.
Explain the purchase of the bit.
The purchase of the bit is from the mouthpiece up on a curb bit.
Explain the shank of the bit.
The shank is from the mouthpiece down.
The bit shank is the side piece or cheek piece of a curb bit. The bit shank allows leverage to be added to the pressure of the rider’s hands on the bit.
Explain the rings of the bit.
What is equine herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4)
or equine rhinopneumonitis
A DNA virus that usually causes respiratory disease. Highly contagious and symptoms include nasal draining, fever and cough. Most commonly seen in weaned foals and yearlings. Older horses are more likely to transmit the virus without showing signs of infection.
What is equine influenza virus (EIV)
A highly contagious respiratory disease. It is caused by two subtypes of influenza A. Equine influenza spreads easily through contact with infected horses and contact with infected clothing, equipment, brushes, and tack. A cough is the most notable sign of equine influenza. Signs can include high fever, watery nasal drainage, lethargy, loss of appetite, weakness and dry cough. Abrupt onset of signs usually last less than three days.
What is strangles?
A bacterial disease (caused by the bacteria streptococcus equi) that is highly contagious among equids. Lymph nodes can become enlarged and affect breathing. The lymph nodes swell and develop abscesses around the throat. Horses are often seen positioning their head down low and in an extended position to relieve throat and lymph node pain. Initially the nasal drainage is clear then becomes cloudy and white. After the abscesses have ruptured the drainage from the nasal passages becomes thick, white to yellow.
There are different vaccines to help protect against strangles, but they do not fully protect every horse from infection. My horses are vaccinated yearly.
Lance the abscess or give time to drain. Supportive care.
Name three different wormers
Quest, ivermectin, and safeguard.
I change wormers every time I worm my horse, so the worms don’t build resistance.
How often do you deworm your horse?
Typically horses are dewormed every eight weeks. But I live in a dry climate and my horses are not let out into the pasture so I am able to deworm them every 12 weeks.
What is thrush and What does it look like?
What causes thrush and how do you treat it?
Thrush is a bacterial and or fungal infection around the frog of the hoof. It has a foul smell and a black discharge.
Causes: dirty and muddy living conditions
Steps you can take to avoid your horse getting thrush include regular turn out and exercise for self cleaning of the hoof, cleaning the horses feet regularly and keeping horse stalls clean and dry
If thrush eats away at the frog long enough, it will get down into the sensitive tissue leading to temporary or permanent lameness.
I treat thrush with a 50/50 combo of bleach and water.
What is EIA?
EIA stands for equine infectious anemia. A potentially fatal blood-borne infectious viral disease. The immune system may attack and destroy red blood cells leading to anemia.
There is not a vaccine or treatment for the disease and the horse becomes a life long carrier. The horse has to be permanently isolated and quarantined or euthanized.
Transmission is by blood feeding flies such as horses flies and deer flies.
Prevention: reduce exposure to biting flies through management practices. Keeping horse clean, Fly spray, fly traps and fly predators.
What are the four core vaccines?
- Rabies
- West Nile
- Eastern equine encephalomyelitis/
Western equine encephalomyelitis - Tetanus
What other vaccines does your horse receive besides the 4 core vaccines?
Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis
Strangles
Rhino-flu -which is a combination of rhinopneumonitis (EHV 4) and influenza
One hand is how many inches?
4 inches
What does HH stand for?
HH stands for hands high. Example is 14.3 HH.
How many hands high is a 59 inch horse?
14.3HH
How many inches is a 15.2 hands high horse?
62 inches
What is tetanus toxoid?
A highly fatal bacterial disease caused by clostridium tetanu causes muscle spasms.
Also called lock jaw.
The bacteria typically enter through a wound.
The inability to open the jaw called “lockjaw” may occur.
Preventable disease as it is one of the core vaccines
What is (EEE) eastern equine encephalomyelitis (encephalitis)?
Also known as sleeping sickness causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
Symptoms include impaired vision, aimless wondering, head pressing, circling, staggering gait, paralysis, seizures and death. There is not a cure. Can only give supportive care.
Mosquitoes transmit the virus from infected birds and has a high mortality rate.
Prevention: It is one of the five core vaccines, and should be received annually
What is west Nile virus?
A mosquito borne virus from wild birds that causes inflammation of the brain.
Symptoms- incoordination, hind in weakness, muscle tremors, teeth grinding, head pressing, behavior, changes, down and unable to rise
No treatment, supportive care
Prevention: one of the five core vaccines that is received annually.
What is navicular disease?
Inflammation of the navicular bone and its surrounding tissues. Typically in the front feet of a horse. Can lead to disabling lameness of a horse.
It is believed to be genetic, but can also be related to confirmation of the distal limbs.
It is a degenerative disease therefore, there is not a cure.
What is laminitis?
Inflammation of the laminae of the foot. If not treated can cause permanent damage and is painful. Can affect one or all feet, but is most common in the front feet.
Causes: sudden access to excessive amounts of lush forage, digestive upset from abrupt change in diet, high fever or illness, or severe colic
Risk factors: overweight and feeding large amounts of carbohydrate rich meals and heavy breeds.
What is founder?
More severe stage of laminitis due to blood supply being cut off to laminae it causes the coffin bone to rotate, sink downward and eventually penetrate the sole.
Causes: sudden access to excessive amounts of lush forage, digestive upset from abrupt change in diet, high fever or illness, or severe colic
Risk factors: overweight and feeding large amounts of carbohydrate rich meals and heavy breeds.
What is VEWT?
Venezuelan, Eastern, and Western Equine Encephalitis and tetanus
Vaccines my horses receive annually
What test is used to check for EIA?
The Coggins test named after Dr. Leroy Coggins
What paperwork do you need to travel with especially crossing the state line?
Coggins test result and a health certificate if crossing the state line.
Coggins test result will say that your horse is negative for equine infectious anemia, and the health certificate says that your horse has had an examination by a veterinarian and your horse is healthy to travel. The health certificate is good for 30 days.
Which side of the horse is the near side of the horse?
The left side is the near
side of the horse.
Which side of the horse is the off side of the horse?
The right side of the horse is the off side of the horse.
What is a parasite?
A parasite is a living organism that lives on other living organisms.
What is colic?
Colic is a severe stomach ache. Colic is the number one killer of horses. It can be caused from moldy food, a gas bubble, impaction from not drinking enough water, including not liking the water during travel.
What is HYPP (hyperkalemic periodic paralysis)?
HYPP is a genetic disease common in American quarter horses stallions. They have to be tested for the disease prior to being used for breeding.
Causes muscle spasms and trembling. Requires a diet low in potassium (no alfalfa) and regular exercise to help manage in affected horses.
(There are five genetic diseases that stallions must be tested for)
What is a mature horses normal temperature?
99-101
What is a foals normal temperature?
100-102
What is the normal pulse or heart rate of a mature horse?
The pulse of a mature horse ranges from 28 to 48 bpm.
What is the normal pulse or heart rate of a foal?
The pulse of a foal ranges from 60 to 80 bpm ( beats per minute)
What is the respirations for a mature horse at rest?
The normal respirations for an adult horse is 10 to 20 bpm ( breathes per minute) at rest.
Capillary refill should be less than 2 seconds
All vital signs should return to normal after 5 minutes if the animal has not been over stressed.
What part of the horse keeps growing it’s entire life
The hoof continues to grow the horses entire life and grows 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch every month.
What country has the most horses?
The United States has the most horses
How did the American quarter horse get its name?
The American quarter horse can run 1/4 of a mile faster than any other breed
How much do you feed a horse a day?
You feed a horse 1% to 2% of its body weight a day depending on the amount of work it has done. This equals out to 10 to 20 pounds of food a day.
Who is Rich Strike?
Rich Strike is an American Thoroughbred race horse that won the 2022 Kentucky Derby. He went from last place to first. He claimed the last starting spot the day before the race after another horse couldn’t race.
What vaccine is not required for horses?
What percent of a horses body is water?
50% of the horses body is water.
What source does a horse get its energy nutrients from?
Carbohydrates
Stallion versus gelding
A stallion is a male horse that can still produce babies. A gelding has been castrated and can no longer produce babies.
What horse color is easy to distinguish but hard to describe?
A bay horse- has a reddish brown or brown body with black coloration on tail, mane, tips of ears, and lower legs.
How long is the gestation period ( carrying a baby) for a horse?
11 months or on average 345 days
What is parrot mouse?
Parrot mouth is a over bite where the lower jaw is shorter than the top jaw.
What is monkey mouth?
Monkey mouth is an underbite where the lower jaw is longer than the top jaw.
What organ do horses not have?
Horses do not have a gallbladder. They do not have a way to store bile to aid in the digestion of fats.
The liver continuously secretes bile to assist in fat digestion.
What is the name of the first registered quarter horse
Wimpy P one. Registered in 1941.
What qualifies as a pony?
A pony is less than 14.2 HH
What is the purpose of sport boots
Sport boots go on the lower leg and help protect from contact and help support soft tissue.
What is a vice?
A vice is a bad habit, such as pawing, cribbing or bucking.
Explain the difference between a horse blemish versus unsoundness
A blemish can affect the look of a horse, but unsoundness can affect the performance of a horse.
Who is Flightline
He won the 39th annual breeders cup world championship, the so-called Super Bowl of thoroughbred racing, by 8 1/4 lengths. He has a perfect 6 race career.
Name three main parts of the hoof
The three main parts of the wall of the hoof are Toe, quarter, and heel
How often do you shoe (shod) your horse?
My horse is shod every six weeks because the hoof never stops growing.
What is the name of the person who shoes your horse?
A farrier is someone who shoes horses.
How often do you deworm your horse?
Horses are usually dewormed every eight weeks, but where I live, we do every 12 weeks because it is dry and my horses do not graze in the pasture.
Name three parts of a horse.
Poll, throat latch, shoulder, elbow, forearm, knee, pastern, hoof, ergot, chestnut, stifle, Gaskin, hock, fetlock, withers, crest , back, croup
What teeth are used to determine the age of a horse?
The 12 front teeth called incisors are used to determine the age of a horse.
Explain the two different types of parasites.
The two different types of parasites are internal and external parasites. Examples of internal parasites are tape worms, stomach bots and blood worms. Examples of external parasites are lice, ticks and botflies.
How do horses keep warm in cold weather
As the days are getting shorter and the horses start growing a longer thicker winter coat and shedding the Shorter thinner summer coat. The winter coat has longer and Courserhairs that stand up which traps warm air close to the body and isolates from the cold. Horses use calories to keep them warm
What is the AQHA 5 horse panel?
This covers major inherited genetic diseases found in the American Quarter Horse and related breeds and is required for all breeding stallions.
Hairs are taken from mane or tail and submitted for testing.
Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency ( GBED) - a fatal, genetic disorder that results from the inability to correctly store glycogen into n several organs in the body
Hereditary Equine Regional Dermal Asthenia (HERDA) - an inherited skin condition characterized by hyperextensible skin, scarring, and severe lesions along the back of affected horses
Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP) - an inherited disease of the muscles characterized by sporadic episodes of muscle tremors or paralysis.
Myosin Heavy Chain Myopathy ( MYHM, #6 recently added) - a muscle disease that results in two distinct clinical disease presentations. Immune mediated myositis (IMM) and non-exertional rhabdomyolysis. Both involve muscle loss or damage and are linked to the same genetic variant.
Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) - an inherited disease in which infected horses can be triggered by halogenated anesthetics, succinylcholine, stress or excitement which can induce a hypermetabolic state characterized by symptoms including muscle contracture, elevated temperature, and irregular heart rhythm.
Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (PSSM1) - a glycogen storage disease that results in the accumulation of abnormal complex sugars in muscle cells, which can lead to muscle pain, weakness, and reluctance to move.
What is Equine HerpesVirus 1 (EHV 1) or EHM
A DNA virus that causes neurological disease and can cause a mare to abort a foal.
Also called Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy
What type of vision do horses have
Monocular and binocular
monocular vision allows the horse to see on both sides of their head (with each eye working independently and see different views) and binocular vision allows the horse to use both eye to see directly ahead.
A horse does have a front blind spot directly under the head, immediately in front of the forehead and below the body in front of the horses face and directly behind them.
What is a glass eye
A glass eye is a blue iris in a horses eye. Which losses less pigment over time. All that a blue eye really means is that there is a difference in the pigmentation of the iris.
If you wanted to give a shot with a smaller needle which would be smaller between a 22 gauge and a 16 gauge
22 gauge
How are vaccines administrated to horses
vaccines administered to horses intramuscular. Neck muscles, pectoral muscles, Hamstring muscles, and gluteal muscles. 
What new panel was recently added to the AQHA genetic panel
MYHM. MYOSIN heavy chain myopathy.
The panel is required for stallions, before foals are registered. That is how AQHA emphasizes heathy and responsible breeding
 what part of the horse corresponds with the human knee
The stifle joint.
The bones that make up the stifle joint are the femur, patella and tibia.
What is EPM?
Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis-a disease of the brain, and or spinal
cord of a horse caused by a protozoan organism. The opossum is the definitive host of the parasite. The opossum sheds the infective form of the parasite in its feces.
No horse to horse transmission.
Symptoms-3 A’s
Asymmetry – symptoms worse on one side of the body versus the other.
Ataxia- inability to move legs and trunk normally.
Atrophy- muscle shrink from normal size. This is not always present as asymmetry and ataxia is.
Prevention includes keeping food in sealed containers, cover hay storage, keep rodents under control, discourage opossums, clean equine water regularly, and don’t feed on the ground.
There are three FDA approved prescription drugs to treat EPM. The effectiveness of the treatment depends on the severity of the disease.
What is a vaccine?
A substance used to stimulate immunity to a particular infectious disease, typically prepared from an inactivated or weakened form of the causative agent or from its constituents or products.
Administered by intramuscular (IM) injection
Strangles is given nasally
What is rabies
A fatal viral disease that effects the nervous system. Caused by the bite of another infected animal or from saliva of an infected animal contaminating an open wound.
Clinical signs include strange behavior, lameness, neurological deficits, fear, aggressiveness, and depression.
There is no treatment, and death usually occurs in about 10 days.
Equine flu, EHV 1 and 4
Horses get these illnesses from other horses.
Types of colic
Sand colic
Impaction. 1
Gas colic. 2
Spasmodic colic. 3
Torsion (twisted gut)
Strangulation
Displacement/entrapment colic
Do you feel is the biggest issue facing the equine industry
Horses are gregarious animals. What does gregarious mean?
Gregarious means to associate with others of one’s kind.
Gregarious animals such as horses, like to be in a herd with other horses, a horse would prefer not to be alone.
How often should you vaccinate your horse?
A horse should be vaccinated, at least annually, but high risk horses such as performance horses should be vaccinated semi annually.
What is a flying lead change? What is a simple lead change?
A flying lead change is a way for a horse to change legs it is leading with with maintaining at least a lope.
If you are in a right lead, the right rear and front leg will be leading. During the flying lead change, the horse will switch to a left lead with the left rear and front legs leading.
A simple lead change, you are going along at a lope and you break your horse down to a trot to allow them to change leads, and then pick them back up to a lope. If you were in a right lead, with the right rear, and front legs leading, you would slow them down for a few steps to change to a left lead, with the left rear and front legs leading.
How to treat a rope burn
Treat with cold water for the inflammation.
Name 4 types of boots for horses
Splint boots/sport boots- protects tendons and ligaments
Over reach boots (bell boots) protect the rear toes from hitting the front heels and prevent from knocking a shoe off.
Shipping boots-padded long boots can go from hoof to knee to prevent injuries and bruising while traveling.
Skid boots- for sliding stops to protect the back of the fetlock
What kind of vision do horses have?
Horses have dichromatic vision. They distinguish colors in two wavelength regions of visible light. Meaning horses naturally see blue and green color variations and cannot distinguish red.
Can bacterial disease be vaccinated for? If so, what diseases can be vaccinated for?
There are 2 bacterial diseases that can be vaccinated for.
Strangles and Tetanus.
Strangles- highly contagious bacterial infection of the upper airway. Characterized by Swollen lymph nodes (that can block the airway) and Formation of Abscesses in the head and neck. Can be spread from horse to horse contact, humans, tack, water troughs and other environmental factors. Treat with antibiotics and supportive care such as medications to reduce fever and make sure horse is eating and drinking.
Tetanus-tetanus is caused by bacteria found in the soil. It can survive for a long time. It enters through wounds, particularly puncture wounds commonly on the sole of the foot. The bacteria attacks nerves that controls muscles, causing muscle stiffness and spasms. The tail is often straight out in the horse develops an anxious expression because of facial muscle spasm. infected horses usually die or have to be put down.
What are some signs of colic and what would you do before calling the vet?
Signs of colic
Kicking or biting their belly
Stretching
Rolling
Sweating
Pawing
Not eating
Walk my horse, take for a ride in the trailer, administer Banamine (reduces pain and inflammation) orally, give water to drink.
Prevention-providing fresh clean water
Allow turnout
Avoid feeding hay on the ground in sandy areas
Routine floating of horses teeth
What is a bowed tendon?
A Bowed tendon refers to swelling in the superficial or deep digital flexor tendon of the lower leg. When either of the tendons swell, it causes the leg to look bowed. This now can appear anywhere from the knee or hock to the pastern region.
Cause is from injury or chronic stress on the tendons.
Treatment-rest, anti inflammatory and sometimes surgery. It can take 8-11 months to heal.
What is the first stride in the loop called?
A lead
What is forage?
Forage is food, such as grass or hay for horses or cattle.
How many bones does a horse have?
205 bones, they don’t have a collar bone.
How many ribs does a horse have
36 ribs or 18 pairs
