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Background: Electrolyte supplementation may be a risk factor for gastric mucosal lesions, but relevant evidence is limited in horses. Hypothesis: Investigate the effects of PO sodium chloride (NaCl) supplementation on the gastric mucosa of exercising horses. We hypothesized that NaCl supplementation would neither cause nor exacerbate existing gastric mucosal damage. Animals: Fifteen 3‐year‐old healthy Warmblood stallions from a stud farm. Methods: Placebo‐controlled study with a crossover design. Horses were fed either a NaCl pellet at a dosage adequate to replace the electrolyte losses in 10 L sweat or a placebo for 19 days with a washout period of 14 days between treatments. The gastric mucosa was evaluated by gastroscopy before and after treatment. Blood samples were collected for evaluation of acid‐base status, packed cell volume (PCV), and total protein, creatinine and blood urea nitrogen concentrations. Urine was collected, and urine specific gravity, electrolyte, creatinine, and urea concentrations were measured. Results: The initial prevalence of gastric mucosal lesions was 85%. Sodium chloride pellets did not adversely affect the gastric mucosa and treatment did not significantly alter the hematologic and serum biochemical variables. Urine creatinine concentrations significantly decreased and urinary sodium concentrations significantly increased after supplementation with NaCl pellets. Water intake did not significantly differ between treatments. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Daily NaCl pellet supplementation is a palatable and safe way to replace electrolyte losses from sweating in exercising horses and has no negative effects on the gastric mucosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to now, there is no standard protocol to prepare a horse for gastroscopy. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate whether ultrasound examination prior to gastroscopy provides reliable results regarding gastric filling. The study included two groups. Group 1 consisted of 73 horses presented to the Equine Clinic Destedt GmbH for evaluation of a gastrointestinal problem. Group 2 included ten clinically healthy horses from the Institute of Animal Nutrition, Nutrition Diseases and Dietetics of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Leipzig, Germany. These ten horses were examined four times each, at three-week intervals, to determine intraindividual differences after a 12-hour fasting period and possible filling states of the stomach. Transabdominal ultrasonography was performed on the left side of each horse after approximately 12 hours of fasting, directly prior to gastroscopy. Depending on the appearance of the gastric silhouette, a prognosis was made regarding the filling state of the stomach. The prognosis: “empty” was made when the gastric silhouette was wrinkled or the stomach was not visible in its typical intercostal spaces and adjacent structures as small and large intestine, omentum and spleen took its place instead. In case of liquid filling, the assessment was made depending on the amount of liquid. In case of a small amount of liquid, the stomach was considered empty, and in case of a large amount, it was considered not empty. In case of a dome-shaped stomach at sonography, the prognosis was “not emptied”. The size of the stomach was determined by counting intercostal spaces where the stomach was visible at ultrasonography. Gastroscopy was used to determine whether the stomach was empty or not. The stomach was declared empty if small and large curvature, margo plicatus, pyloric antrum and pylorus could be visualised properly. In group 1, a total of 73 horses were examined and the prognosis made by ultrasound examination prior to gastroscopy was correct in 95 % of the cases. In group 2, a total of 10 horses were examined four times, three weeks apart. In 39 out of 40 examinations the prediction made was correct (97.5 %). In addition, the size of the stomach was determined by counting the intercostal spaces, where the stomach could be displayed in ultrasonography. The non-displayable stomach was counted with zero intercostal spaces. Although the difference between empty and non-empty stomachs does not seem great, a stomach that is more than 4 intercostal spaces in size may be an indication of a stomach that is not completely empty. In conclusion ultrasound could be an effective tool to assess the filling status of the stomach before gastroscopy and to improve the results of gastroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Identifying effective and economically feasible changes to apply at the farming level to improve animal welfare are of great importance. Horses reared for meat production are conventionally fed high amounts of concentrates rich in starch and simple sugars; however, horses are herbivores and adapted to eat a fibre-based diet. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of two different feeding management systems on the behavioural activities and subsequent welfare of horses reared for meat purposes. Our findings provide new insights into the positive consequences of feeding horses reared for meat production on a fibre-based diet in terms of both welfare and farming economics. This change in feed management allows horses to express a more natural time budget, spending more time expressing feeding behaviour, which improves horse welfare and reduces energy expenditure in the form of excitable behaviours. Horses reared for meat production are generally fed a diet rich in starch with the aim of maximizing production performances. This study evaluated the effects of two feeding management systems on horse welfare by analysing the relative time spent engaged in different behavioural activities. Nineteen Bardigiano horses aged 14.3 ± 0.7 months were randomly assigned to one of two group pens: one group was fed high amounts of starch-rich concentrates (HCG; n = 10), the other was fed a fibre-based diet (HFG; n = 9). Behavioural activities performed by each horse were video-recorded over a 96-h period. A scan sampling process (n = 144 scans/horse/day; total n of scans sampled = 10,368) was used, and the scans were analysed according to a specific ethogram. The mean frequency (%/24 h) spent exhibiting each behavioural activity was calculated to obtain the time budget. After checking for normality (Shapiro–Wilk test), Student's t tests (normally distributed data) and Mann–Whitney tests (not normally distributed data) were used to compare the time budgets of the two groups of horses (HCG vs. HFG). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to identify the components explaining the variability in behavioural activities between the two groups. K-means cluster analysis subsequently confirmed the PCA results. The behavioural activities associated with feeding horses a fibre-based diet correlated with better horse welfare compared with feeding horses a starch-based diet. Feeding horses a fibre-based diet resulted advantageous from both the welfare and economic perspective; it allowed horses to spend more time expressing feeding behaviours and reduced energy expenditure in the form of excitable, or "fizzy", behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Up to now there is no standard protocol to prepare a horse for a gastroscopy. Therefore, the aim of the study was to find out whether a fasting period of 12 hours prior to gastroscopy would be sufficient for a complete emptying of a horse’s stomach that allows a good visualisation of all gastric regions. Another aim was to measure the size of the stomach at ultrasonography by counting the intercostal spaces and investigate whether a sonographically large stomach prior to fasting influences the emptying of the stomach. The study was divided in two parts. In part 1, 10 horses belonging to the Institute of Animal Nutrition, Nutrition Diseases and Dietetics of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Leipzig, Germany, were examined four times, three weeks apart. Part 2 of the study included a total of 50 horses that were referred to the Equine Clinic Destedt GmbH and divided into two groups. Group A consisted of 34 of the 50 horses that had an empty stomach after 12 hours of fasting. Group B consisted of the other 16 horses that did not empty their stomachs within the fasting period of 12 hours. Transabdominal ultrasonography was performed on the left side of each horse 12 hours before gastroscopy, thus, at the beginning of the fasting period. The size of the stomach was determined by counting intercostal spaces where the stomach was visible at ultrasonography. The horses underwent gastroscopy after 12 hours of fasting. Gastroscopy was used to determine whether the stomach was empty or not. The stomach was declared empty if small and large curvature, margo plicatus, antrum pylori and pylorus could be visualised properly. In part 1, only one horse’s stomach could not be properly examined once due to ingestion of faeces. In part 2 of the study, including 50 horses, a 12-hour fasting period led to sufficient emptying of the stomach in 68 % of horses (group A). The stomachs of the remaining 16 horses (group B) were either filled with liquid (2 horses) or solid content (13 horses); one horse had residual food particles sticking to the mucosa. In part 1 (n = 10), the median size of the stomach was eight intercostal spaces (min: 4; max: 12). There is a need for more research to define the range of the size of the equine stomach because the size of stomachs that were measured in this study was larger than in recent studies. Additionally, the diagnosis of delayed stomach emptying should not depend on only one examination but should be repeated at least a second time. The median size of the stomach prior to fasting in part 2 of the study (n = 50) was seven intercostal spaces (min: 2; max: 12) in both group A and B. There was no correlation between the stomach size and delayed gastric emptying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vitamin A, vitamin E and retinol‐binding protein 4 (RBP4) are a focus of current obesity research in humans. The impact of body weight (BW) gain on fat‐soluble vitamins and its associated parameters in equines has not been previously reported. Ten Shetland ponies and 9 Warmblood horses, all adult geldings, non‐obese and healthy, were fed an excessive energy diet for 20 months to induce BW gain. Serum α‐tocopherol (vitamin E), retinol (vitamin A), retinol‐binding protein 4 (RBP4) and retinol/RBP4 ratio were analysed before BW gain induction and at six timepoints during the BW gaining period. The mean (±SD) % BW gain achieved during two years of excess energy intake was 29.9 ± 19.4% for ponies and 17 ± 6.74% for horses. Serum α‐tocopherol increased significantly in ponies and horses during excess energy intake and circulating α‐tocopherol levels correlated positively with α‐tocopherol intake (r =.6; p <.001). Serum retinol concentrations showed variations during the study but without relation to intake. Serum RBP4 decreased at the end of the study. The retinol/RBP4 ratio increased with BW gain without differences between ponies and horses. In comparison with human research, the increase in the retinol/RBP4 ratio was unexpected and needs further elucidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]