Horses Flashcards
Around when were horses domesticated? What year?
5000 to 6000 years ago
Around 4000 BC.
What does the domestication time mean for horses?
We only domesticated them after we settled.
True or false: Horses are one of the newer mammals.
False! They are believed to be one of the oldest mammals. But, they have changed a lot!
How have horses changed from their ancient ancestors?
Remember biology.
They used to be very very small forest creatures that had toes.
During the late pleistocene era, what was there?
A wild horse and donkey like creature. Not a mule.
A long long long time ago, explain where and how wild horses were.
In the south eastern part of africa was zebras.
In the northern part of africa was asses.
in the middle east area was half-asses.
In the European area was horses.
Why are horses a little bit different than our other animals in terms of ancestory?
We are not really sure what horse or horse like animal was the foundation stock of our modern domesticated horses.
What two races of wild horses are represented in our modern horse breeds?
Przewalski horse
and
Tarpan.
What was the range of the Przewalski horse?
Mongolia. (Located above China, below Russia. On the east.)
What is an interesting fact about przewalski horses?
Up until about 20 years ago, there was believed to still be a wild herd of Przewalski horses.
What was the Tarpan’s home range?
Southern Russia, now Ukraine.
Why were horses domesticated?
Transportation and food.
True or false: The same as other animals we have discussed, horses were brought to North/south America via European and Asian explorers.
Kind of!!
Some horses were most likely already in the Americans when explorers arrived!
This is very different than the other animals we have discussed.
How do we believe horses got to the Americas?
Some wild horses crossed the Siberian Ice bridge out of Europe and asia.
The ones in America were the descendants of these.
When was the first bit used?
4000 BC.
What was the first bit made out of?
Femur bone with rope or twine around the ends.
Why is it pretty easy to figure out if certain bones are horse remains?
They would find horse equipment with it! Saddles and bits.
When was the first saddle with stirrups used?
3000 BC.
WHat was the first saddle made of?
Wood
When was military use of horses prevalent?
1000 AD
How did dressage affect domestication?
Horses had to be able to respond to seat and leg movements so hands of the rider were free for combat.
Where does dressage originate?
Military in origin. (Lipizzan, Spanish riding school.)
Horses were the first in what modern day management practice?
A.I breeding!
Oldest recorded use of AI in domesticated animals we believe.
When was AI first used? Where? Describe.
Arabic texts in 1322 describe the collection of semen from stallions to breed mares.
In the middle ages, they say they collected the sperm of the fastest and boldest horses to breed the mares.
Horses are probably the animal that is most responsible for what?
Man’s ability to populate the world.
How has the horses’ role changed? How might it be shifting back?
Nowadays, horses are more common for pleasure. Companions and casual competitions.
However, recently, in delicate logging areas, horses are used to prevent damage from big machinery.
Why might horse numbers in the US be harder to track?
They are not really used as food animals. They are sold around less.
In north carolina, where are there the most horses?
The counties that have cities! Most horse farms are clustered around cities and population centers.
Which two counties without cities that have a bunch of horses? where? Why are they set apart from the other populated counties?
Moore and cumberlin. Near the bottom right of NC.
It has big sand hills and stays very warm. Horses would be shipped down for winter training.
Why are there so many horses in Cumberlin?
A lot of military happenings! Forts! They keep horses and feed them into the military.
Since the pandemic, projected horses numbers? In NC?
Have likely gotten higher!
List the five most common registered horse breeds in NC.
Quarter Horse
Tenn. Walking horse
Arabian
Throughbred
Appaloosa.
Why is a quarter horse called a quarter horse?
They were bred to be able to run a quarter mile the fastest.
Around how many quarter horses are there registered in NC?
45,100
Around how many tenn. walking horses are there registered in NC?
11,200
Around how many Arabian horses are there in NC state?
10,100
Around how many thoroughbred horses are there in NC state registered?
9,300
Around how many appaloosa horses are there registered in NC State?
8,600
What are the 5 noises horses make?
Neigh, Nicker, Snort, Squeal, and roars.
Describe a neigh.
Greeting or separation call.
Very important to maintaining herd cohesion.
Horses also use to to call to their owners when separated or as a greeting.
Horses expect a response to this call.
How is the interspecies communication in horses different than most other animals?
We believe horses are one of the few who expect a response even if they are talking to another animal. INCLUDING humans.
Describe a nicker.
Soft care-giving or care soliciting call
Horses expect a response to this call!
When might a horse nicker?
To the person feeding them.
Describe a horses squeal.
Defensive greeting or a response in to pain.
Do NOT expect a response or reply.
Describe a horses snort. (Two)
Sharp, short, singular= alarm call
Repeated= frustration
They do not expect a response to these.
Describe a horses roar.
Stallion directed towards mare.
Can be observed in boss mares
Likely a dominance call.
They do not expect a response to these.
Which horse noises do they expect a response too? Which ones do they not?
Expect a response to neighs and nickers.
Do not expect a response to snorts, squeals, and roars.
What is the best way to figure out how a horse feels?
Position of ears.
What do ears pointed forward mean?
Interested and attentive.
What do pinned back ears mean?
Sign of aggression.
Where do submissive horses put their ears?
Rolled the ears outward.
How might a submissive horse approach another horse?
Lips retracted and teeth exposed.
Sometimes click teeth.
Describe a submissive horse posture.
Leaned back slightly, head pushed forward inline with the body.
Lips pulled back, teeth exposed, ears turned outward.
Tail down near legs.
Describe a dominant horse posture.
Leaned forward slightly, neck extended and head down slightly. Ears may be pinned in aggression.
Tail perked out.
Is smell important to horses? Why or why not?
Yes! Horses use smells for social and reproductive behaviors. Through pheromones.
How do horses pick up on pheromones?
Vono-nasal organ. Below the nasal cavity but above the mouth.
WHat is the flehmen response?
Upper lip curled up to sample the air for pheromones.
Describe how the flehmen response work?
Underneath the nasal cavity is the vomeronasal organ.
There is a small opening in the roof of the mouth.
The horse opens its mouth and curls its lip, This closes the nostrils and forces the air into the correct cavity.
the air goes through the roof opening and into the organ to test it for pheromones.
What is puberty a function of in horses?
breed and season of birth.
When do light breeds achieve puberty? The average? What is this dependent on?
12-24 months. (Average 15)
This is dependent on the month of the year! Horses can not achieve puberty unless it is breeding season.
When do draft breeds achieve puberty? The average? What is this dependent on?
18-24 months (Average 20 months)
This is dependent on the month of the year! Horses can not achieve puberty unless it is breeding season.
What is the horse breeding season? Why is this not always true?
April to December.
Horses’ breeding season is dependent on light. Different places get different levels of light at different times of the year!
Also, horses have individual responses to light levels. It is not super uniform!
A foal is born in April. She is a light breed. When is she likely to reach puberty? Explain.
The mare was bred in May.
The breeding season starts in Aprill, which is about 12 months away from when the foal was born.
The foal will likely achieve puberty in April or may, shortly after she turns 12 months.
A foal is born in October. She is a light breed. When is she likely to reach puberty? Explain.
The mare was bred in November.
The breeding season starts in April- December
The foal was born in October.
Puberty is likely to occur closer to 17-18 months?
Explain horses breeding season.
Horses are long day breeders.
When there is a lot of light, serotonin is created in the body.
In horses, serotonin stimulates the LH and FSH and encourages estrus.
How are horses similar to sheep? How are they different?
SImilar to sheep, horses will not come into puberty unless they are in the breeding season.
Different than sheep, their breeding season happens when there is more light.
The breeding season of horses is almost completely the opposite of sheep months.
Why might it be easier to breed a horse outside of breeding season compared to a sheep?
You can just stick the horse in a barn with the lights on.
Easier than sheep which require darkness.
Breeding season is influenced by _____ location. Explain.
Geographic
Natural day length changes as you move across the United States. This will change breeding season throughout different areas.
What processes the serotonin and melatonin?
Pineal gland.
How many hours stimulates ovarian activity?
15-16 hours! UNINTERRUPTED!
How many hours inhibits ovarian activity?
Less than 10 hours.
What about the hours inbetween the daylight shutting down and stimulating the cycle.
Horses are weird. Between 10-15 hours of light, some will continue to have estrous cycles, some will stop.
Depends on the individual horse.
Hypothetical: If a horse is in the sunlight for 12 hours and then is put into a barn for an hour, then brought back into the sun for another 4 hours, will she go into heat?
No! They need uninterrupted continuous light! A period of 30 minutes of darkness could restart the cycle.
Do stallions have a breeding season?
Not really, but there has been some studies that show sperm is produced more and at a better quality when light is longer.
How can estrus and ovulation be stimulated in mares?
Supplemental lighting.
What is it called when a horse does not have her regular estrous cycle?
Anestrous or shutdown.
True or false: Unless you are a special farm, most will just let horses have natural breeding seasons.
False! Most people on mare farms do not want mares to ever go into shutdown. They will keep them in the light and never bother to let them go anestrus.
Why might a farmer not want a mare to go into shutdown?
It takes her too long to restart.
When will mares exhibit estrus and ovulation after the proper amount of lighting is introduced?
If they are in anestrus, they will go into estrus 60-90 after the lighting (artificial or natural) starts to fulfill requirements.
Why do many race horse farms want to foal close to Jan 1 as possible?
So that it can be in the lower year groups in competition, but be older, bigger, and faster against competition.
If the sunrise is at 7:30 am and the Sunset is at 6:30 am, will a mare go into estrous?
Very very unlikely! Should get 15-16 hours!
Its possible when its more than 10, but much less likely.
Will a mare go into estrous in the following example? Show work
Assume sunup is at 7:30 am
Assume sundown is at 6:30 pm
Horses fed at 6:00 am (lights on) They are turned out to pasture at 8:00 am.
Brought in at 8:00 pm and lights are turned on. Lights off at 11:00 pm.
No! The sunlight is not uninterrupted.
6:00 am to 6:30 pm - 12.5 hr light
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm- 1.5 hr dark
8:00 pm to 11:00 om- 3 hr light
Will a mare go into estrous in the following example? Show work
Assume sunup is at 7:30 am
Assume sundown is at 6:30 pm
Horses are fed at 7:00 am and lights are turned on.
They are turned out to pasture at 8:00 am
Brought in at 5:00 pm and lights are on.
Lights off by 10:00 pm.
Should work! Its more than 15 hours of uninterrupted light.
7:00 am to 8:00 am - 1 hr light
8:00 am to 5:00 pm- 9 hr light
5:00 pm to 10:00 pm - 5 hr light
How long does the light interruption have to be to send the mares in anestrous?
Only about 30 minutes!! Happens very fast.
How long is an average estrous cycle in a mare?
21 days. The normal
For how long do horses exhibit estrus for? When do they ovulate?
5-7 days.
Ovulate 1-2 days before the end of estrus.
How often are mares bred?
Every other day!
Why are horses bred every other day of their estrus?
Because you have have to act proactively. You dont know if the estrus will end on day 5 or day 7.
You dont want to risk stopping on 5 because she may not ovulate for another 3-4 days and not get bred.
Is it more common for horses to be bred naturally or AI?
AI!
Why is Ai more common in horses than live cover?
Live cover can be dangerous for everyone. Stallions are rough and aggressive. Mares may kick in response.
How might you figure out if a mare is in estrus?
Ultrasonography or teasing.
What is teasing?
Exposing mares to stallions to determine estus.
How might you use ultrasonography to determine estrus?
Look for a 12 to 15 mm follicle on the ovary.
This says she is likely to ovulate.
How are horses similar to cows?
Mares will go into heat while lactating.
When will a mare exhibit estrus after foaling?
5-12 days after foaling.
What is this heat after birth called?
Foal heat.
True or false. A mare will demonstrate a heat after birth, but it is not a functional one.
False! A foal heat can be a fertile estrus provided the uterus has healed sufficiently from the recent birth process.
Because a foal heat can be fertile, what does that mean about ovarian structures?
Mares have large follicles on their ovaries when they are pregnant.
Remember the neural reflex arc that prevents production of LH and FSH during lactation? Why does this not apply to horses?
Idk lmao. It doesnt really apply to horses.
Horses are strange.
What are two signs of estrus in mares?
Winking and breaking.
What is winking in a mare?
Contractions that result in the vulva opening and closing in a rhythmic pattern.
What is breaking in a mare?
Assumption of a characteristic breeding posture or stance.
If a mares estrous cycle is 21 days, and considering the breeding season, what does this mean?
She has a couple of chances to get bred. Should be like 8-9 chances!
Breeding season is April to December.
What is a transition period in horses?
Happens twice!
Breeding to anestrus
Anestrus to breeding.
How might transition periods affect a horse?
Unpredictable reproductive and social behaviors.
Kind of erratic, mares change personality often during these transition periods.
In a transition period, what does “unpredictable reproductive behaviors mean?”
She may be in heat for a day, then not, then go into heat for a bit.
The body is recalibrating.
Why do mares react so badly to transition periods?
A HUGE switch between no breeding hormones to a TON or vice versa.
How might farmers mitigate these transition issues?
By suppressing reproductive activity during the transition period with implants or by feeding synthetic progesterone.
How does progesterone prevent horses from going into these transition periods?
When they are getting ready to transition, you give progesterone.
This keeps hormones low.
Then you take them off the progesterone when they are out of the transition, hormones go higher, she goes straight into heat.
No nasty transition!
How long does a pregnancy last in mares?
330-340 days.
About 11 months.
What is unique about the ovulation activiety in mares?
A significant portion of mares actually ovulate two eggs and begin pregnancy with twins. However, in the vast majority of mares, one embryo dies.
What is EXTREMELY important in mare pregnancy?
The embryo undergoes a period of migration within the uterus prior to implantation.
What is it called when the egg moved in the uterus?
Intrauterin migration.
How does Intrauterin work?Why is intrauterin migration so important?
We believe that the egg moves, it gives off a pregnancy signal and the pregnancy maintains.
If it doesn’t move, then the body doesnt know its pregnant, and the body terminates the pregnancy!
Why might intraiuterin migration happen?
Stress is the leading cause.
What is interuterin migration.
The egg moving through the fallopian tubes and such. Not what we are talking about here.
What causes most mares to lose pregnancies?
Too low levels of progesterone!
When does progesterone need to be high for a mare to maintain her pregnancy?
First 60 days. In order for the pregnancy to have a high probability to go to term
What is it called when the progesterone is too low? Why does this happen?
Luteal deficiency.
The CL doesn’t produce enough progesterone.
How can you know if a mare’s progesterone is too low?
Testing using urine and saliva.
Look on an ultrasound. This can give an idea of whether a CL will produce enough progesterone.
What should you do if the mare has too low progesterone? How?
Supplement of progesterone may be given to keep pregnancy.
Given orally through food.
When do you need to supplement progesterone?
The first third of gestation!
Start her on progesterone after about 3 weeks after breeding and go until a couple of months.
Only really need to supplement for 60-90 days, then the moms body takes over.
How does ultrasound work?
You have a probe, sends out soundwaves, when it hits something dense, it bounces back to the probe.
Fluid isnt dense, does not generally bounce back, no echo, looks black.
Bright white is very dense tissue.
How can you use an ultrasound to figure out if a pregnant mare needs supplemented progesterone?
You scan a CL of a pregnant mare. It should be filled in with white, which is the luteal cells. There really shouldn’t be much black.
When examining uterus, what should you look for?
Little ridges at implantation site.
You scan a CL. There is a ring of white with some black in the middle. Whats this mean?
If there is black in the gaps, there are not enough luteal cells. Luteal insufficiency. This CL will not produce enough progesterone. Go ahead and start supplementing her with progesterone.
How long do mares lactate for (when does weaning occur?)
anywhere from 4 months to 1 year.
Average is 6-7 months.
What else happens during lactation?
Mares are rebred.
In which season do you want a mare to foal? Why?
during breeding season so that they can be rebred!
Remember, if a mare foals outside of breeding season, she will not go into a foal heat.
What is the management schedule for NCSU equine unit?
Mares Foal: February- May
Mares rebred: March-June
Foals weaned: August- October
Mares have to return to estrus, rebreed, and start their next pregnancy while they are lactating.
When do horses show major mammary development?
The last two weeks of gestation.
What happens to a mare as early as 4 days prior to foaling?
Waxing
What is waxing?
Waxy discharge from nipples.
What is unique about lactation in horses?
Unlike other animals, horses dont show very dramatic mammary development.
Unlike other animals, you can not express milk to close to birth in horses.
Why can foaling be difficult to time?
There is a lot of variaiton. Ovulation is a long period of time and she was bred multiple times, so you are not sure when she got pregnant.
Like a five day spread.
There is also some variation at the end of gestation. About ten days.
All the other reasons mentioned…lack of mammary development, cant express milk…
How can you figure out if a mare is close to giving birth?
Take a sample from the mare and test the calcium levels.
What is one big reason why assisting a mare in birth may be difficult?
Horses dont seem to like to give birth around people. She may refuse to birth until people leave.
This makes managing the birth difficult.
How can you work around a mares unwillingness to birth around people?
Use video cameras. Watch over the mare while giving her space.
What are the three phases of birth for ALL animals?
Stage 1: Relaxation of cervix and Myometrial (muscles of the uterus) contractions.
Stage 2: Begins with rupture of placental membranes. Then powerful contractions followed by periods of rest.
Stage 3: Expulsion of fetal membranes.
Before foaling, what are some physical signs the mare gives?
Few days before, the sacrosciatic ligaments will relax. Very significant elasticity 1-3 hours prior to foaling
This looks like a sunken area on either side of the tail.
What physical sign will mares not give before foaling?
Very little vaginal mucus before foaling. Much less than other animals.
Remind of what stage 1 of birth is. How is this seen in horses?
Relaxation of cervix and myometrial contractions.
In horses, no visible signs of straining are visible.
However, some mares show mild signs of colic.
Remind of what stage 2 of birth is. How is this seen in horses?
Begins with rupture of placental membranes. Powerful contractions followed by periods of rest.
In horses, the expulsion of the foal is a rapid process and is done lying down.
How is the birth process different from other animals in horses?
Even though the birth is rapid, the mare often remain lying down for up to 40 minutes after the foal is born.
Other animals dont do this, they get up quickly and tend to the baby.
What are foals born with? What does this mean?
The umbilical cord intact.
Results in blood being transfered to the foal.
Should you leave the umbilical cord intact?
Big debate around this! Different people think it is good and bad.
Remind us about the third stage of birth. Explain how this happens in horses.
Expulsion of fetal membranes
Like normal.
Whatis wrapped around the foal after birth?
the amnion.
What does the horse expell in stage three of birth.
The chorioallantois (placenta)
What is the biggest problem in horse birth?
Retained placental membranes! Much bigger problem in horses than for cattle or swine.
What should you do after the placenta is expelled?
You spread it out and examine it. You can look at the color and look for missing pieces that might have been retained.
What is a good color for a placenta?
Light purple white color.
What is a really bad color for a placenta?
Brownish redish orangish.
What doesnt it mean if the placenta is a bad color?
The brownish color is necrotic tissue. It means something late in the pregnancy went bad.
What should you do if the placenta has necrotic tissue?
You want to check over the baby and the mom when this happens.
You may want to start both of antibiotics.
What does it mean if there are peices missing from the placenta?
That the problem is in the mare!
What should you do if there are missing peices in the placenta?
You should start the mare on antibiotics (maybe the foal too to be safe) and give some prostaglandid to encourage uterine contractions to expell the rest.
What are the two stages of aftercare after birth?
Dip the umbelical cord in iodine after it breaks.
Either make sure the baby is nursing for colostrum or give frozen colostrum.
Why might you need to give frozen colostrum in foals?
Mamma might not want to get up. Foal may be too weak to get up. Then you would give frozen.
Where might you get frozen colostrum here?
Order it from horses from ohio.
You can get colostrum frozen from dairy cows here.
Is it better to get frozen colostrum from the same animal or the same location? Explain?
Better to be from the same location! Regardless of the animal it comes from.
Most mammals are going to have similar antibodies in the colostrum. It doesnt matter much horse to cows.
BUT! Location matters a lot. The antibodies in your colostrum are customized to the stuff around your area specifically.
Horses from Wyoming may have colostrum for different bacteria strain than the ones that are from NC.
