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Type of paper: Literature review. Subject: Equine Physiology. Topic: Dorsal metacarpal disease in horses. The MARKING TEMPLATE is on one of the documents attached, please make sure yo read them ...

Type of paper: Literature review. 

Subject: Equine Physiology. 

Topic: Dorsal metacarpal disease in horses. 

The MARKING TEMPLATE is on one of the documents attached, please make sure yo read them ... This link needs to be in the paper. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.2042-3306.1991.tb02748.x. References cannot be older than 2005. If you have ay question don′t hesitate to ask. Thank you.

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Dorsal Metacarpal Disease

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Equine Physiology

            Various breeds of horses are suitable for multiple equestrian disciplines than others. However, the competitive use of horses raises some concerns in public concerning their health and welfare. There is an economic impact of the horse industry on a country from activities such as racing, horse shows, recreational activities, and employment opportunities (Beck, 2014). The sector further generates $39 – $102 billion in direct economic impact to the US economy while still supporting 4 million jobs daily.

            Notwithstanding, equestrian sport is rapidly growing in China, Australia, and the Middle East. In the United Kingdom, equestrian sport is more popular as compared to cricket or rugby. From this, we can conclude that this sport is a global activity (Allen, 2013). Some horses take part in recreational activities, which is the most common type of activity. Others are  horses are involved in horse shows, which is the second most common activity for horses while others are ‘working horses’ and are used for farming, in ranch work, police work, rodeos or in polo (Berget, 2018).

            As equestrian sport is rapidly growing worldwide, it is vital that a horse meet individual requirements and demands of the specific game. Various disciplines require the horse to perform certain tasks or movements either in hand or under saddle. The way the horse is used, however, dictates the ideal physical or behavior it should be subjected to as to accomplish the needed tasks (Cantin, 2015). Due to this, there are specific breeds, which are best suited for such disciplines. For this reason, there is a need to manage these equine athletes.

                 Maintaining a horse’s health especially in their tissues and bones is essential to their health during these exercises (Bachi, 2014). Though mammals are warm-blooded, horses are either hot, cold and warm-blooded as per their breed, characteristics, and genetics. Coldblooded horses are used to pull heavy loads. They weigh close to 200 pounds and include the Friesian and shire Belgium. They are also used in vaulting competitions and driving, and determine how fast they can haul a load and over what distance. Hot-blooded horses include thoroughbred and Arabian and are known for their speed and agility. They are more fine-boned compared to the cold-blooded horses and are more agile with a lighter body mass often usually around 1000 pounds.

                 Disciplines requiring speeds as track and barrel racing, use a thoroughbred which has stamina and can travel for a mile and a half, at speeds of 45 miles per hour. Its competitor, still a hot-blooded horse, is the quarterback that can outrun the thoroughbred in short race matches. It is heavily muscled, intelligent and agile, making it the best type for quick movement races and competitions. Warm-blooded horses are a mix of the hot and cold-blooded horse breeds and have large bones, agility and the swiftness of the hot-blooded breeds. This breed is best suited for equestrian discipline as cross-country events, dressage and in show jumping. They are becoming more frequent and gaining popularity in the driving and vaulting disciplines too.

                 Horses are different in stature and agility as well as ability, as not all the breeds can handle the activities involved in these vigorous disciplines. It is therefore essential to take care of their soft tissues and their bones for their mental and physical health (Becky, 2014). Their hearts, lungs a digestive tract also need to be well taken care of to minimize chances of illnesses or weaknesses. As the disciplines are of various categories, it means that multiple parts are affected during intense training. Such subject looks at the horse’s performance, gait, the track being used and what the instructor asks of the horse. Though there many things to consider, such as breed, discipline, character and the health of a horse, the review looks at all horses taking part in the equestrian disciplines.

                 Producing the best thoroughbred to win in competitions or maintain their stamina, means finding the right ingredients which are vital for their physiological well-being. The most important thing to first look at a horse is athletism and balance. While they come in at a young age, there is always room for growth and physical improvement. What is to be maintained is the neck, strong square shoulders, the limbs, which are proportional to its body, a deep middle and the girth. The horse should also not be too long and needs to have a well-developed backside. It is particularly important as a horse is a horse due to its engine that from the back which ought to be well-formed.

    All in all, horses do incur injury to their bones and soft tissue because of the strenuous physical exercise they have to go through. Dorsal metacarpal disease, also called DMD affects young horses and is among the common bone injury. It affects close to 70% of Thoroughbred while in training. It involves a broad range of pathologic changes on the metacarpal bone as well as the periosteal bone that is forming. It also affects the focal lysis found in the dorsal cortex and involves fractures. Treatment ranges from nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), controlled exercise, internal fixation, periosteal scraping, and pin firing.

In performance horses, the relatively new treatment – extracorporeal shockwave therapy treats musculoskeletal injury (Cantin, 2015). Though this low-energy radial shock wave and high-energy focused device is used to treat a horse’s lameness, there is little evidence of shock wave effectiveness as a treatment on a horse’s tissues. Radial Shock Wave Therapy (RSWT), when used with appropriate training regimes, was successful yet safe. Its success rate is estimated to be at 90% with most of these thoroughbred racehorses back to racing after their treatment (Ewing, 2017). This non-evasive adjunctive DMD treatment has seen a decrease in horse lameness cannot be wholly said it is on the treatment using RSWT. It is because usually when a horse with DMD is removed from training their lameness improves within eight weeks. Healing will, however, rely on the degree of the injury. Though stress fractures take three to five months to heal after treatment, it is not unheard of for some stress fractures taking only two months to heal completely.

    Also, thoroughbred stress fracture healing took a shorter time when cortical fenestration and internal fixation were used. After treatment, horses resumed racing after eight months. Healing in such cases also depend on whether the horses had had previous treatment before the RSWT. Treatment does not affect performance as horses who returned did so with the same levels of efficiency as before the injury (Griffiths, 2016).

    Dorsal metacarpal disease, also going by the name bucked shins, is one of the things that cause trainers to lose a lot of time with these two-year-olds. Changing of diet, to something like triacton, reduces cases of bucked shins significantly. Given that there is a relationship between bone density degradation and DMD, it can also be used on horses with a chronic bone problem. This supplement is made to support a horse’s digestive health and improve bone density. Such diets include vitamins and minerals essential in a horse’s skeletal development as well as maintaining it. It also offers for optimal gastrointestinal tract functioning. Not only does such a diet increase bone thickness and density, but it also improves hindgut buffering and health (Pilsworth, 2014).

    It is however recommended that no matter how well veterinary check and evaluate the horse owner should be able to assess further and use specific techniques to know what is going on or what certain things mean. For a lame horse, an owner needs to do a baseline assessment first. It includes walking the horse to see the extent of lameness in a horse – subtle or obvious. Some history is also required to know if it is something persistent, for how long it has been going on and if it is just seen under style or a particular gait or is it very persistent and high grade.

    As close to 80% of all lameness will be on the foot, that is the first place to look at. For how severe the injury is, the horse can trot or move back and forth to know which leg is involved. The leg is then isolated, and in a standing position, the leg is evaluated for any noticeable abnormalities such as swelling on joints, wounds, punctures, sensitivity in the tendon areas. It goes on until the hoof where the coronary region examined. It helps in ruling out anything obvious but if there isn’t, then an owner can work on the sesamoid region up to the horse's tendons especially the superficial deep and the suspensory. By pushing and applying pressure on these areas, should a place be sensitive then a horse will show.

    In evaluating the foot, the sole area is cleaned, and care is taken to prevent any further damage or to take off excess tissue. The goal is to clean the surface so that hoof testers are put. Looking for any defects in the sole is essential. It includes a lodged rock or nails. When it comes to hoof testers, it should be applied to all areas of the foot. This method tries to elicit some form of response from the horse. If a horse has an injury to the navicular bone, most horses will respond

    When evaluating lameness, especially in the foot region which is at the back just above the sesamoids, it is required that an owner gently rub a finger through on the chord-like structure underneath, inside the medial surface and on the lateral surface. This network of arteries, veins, and nerves do not usually have any pulsation. However, horses with problems say abscess, their pulse is elevated and is very prominent (Beck, 2016). Such vibrations help localize the pain in specific regions. In cases where the horse does not perform to their optimum levels, shows signs of discomfort or palpation in the dorsal metacarpus, it is likely that biomechanical stress leads to rapid modeling in the horse’s foot. In Type I, cyclic loading leads to the foot’s loss of stiffness leading to the fast production of periosteal bone due to the repeated stress. Type II is usually due to continued track exercise in which causes pressure on the medial side . the horse will, therefore, experience callus formation. Type III is the weakening and fracture of the dorsolateral cortex

    Factors as fast exercises, running on hard tracks, traditional training methods cause stress on the dorsal cortex of metacarpus. It in turns leads to the loss of the leg’s stiffness and the rapid production of periosteal bone and microfractures, which is painful to the horse. If stress continues, then the dorsal cortex undergoes fatigue fracture (Pilsworth, 2014). Such incidences, however, increase with long periods of fast exercises and when on harder surfaces as compared to dirt tracks. As a result, it is a cause for wasted trained time and poor performance.

                 With the goal being to strengthen bones, especially the cannon bone, a horse needs rest as well as other forms of treatment. Total rest is discouraged and exercise should be gradual to allow the bone to heal. Also, not resting enough could lead to more serious injuries to the horse. It can be frustrating to have two-year-olds with dorsal metacarpal disease but it should be noted that proper treatment and rest help in bone healing.

Reference

Stauffer, C. (2016). Leadership skills through equine-assisted learning: The participant’s perspective. 21(3), 87 -88

Allen, K. (2013). Are pets a healthy pleasure? The influence of pets on blood pressure. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(6), 236-239

Bachi, K. (2014). Equine-facilitated psychotherapy. 2(4), 298-312.

Beck, G. (2016). Use of animals in rehabilitation. Psychological Reports, 58, 63-66

Becky, S. (2014). Cognitive behaviour therapy: Basics and beyond, 23(1), 98 – 102

Berget, O. (2018). Animal-assisted therapy with farm animals 4(9), 1-7.

Cantin, S. (2015). Examining the literature on the efficacy of equine assisted therapy. 8(1), 51-61.

Chandler, C. (2014). Animal assisted therapy in counselling. 43(2), 90 – 98

Christian, J. (2015). All creatures great and small: Utilizing equine-assisted therapy to treat eating disorders. 24(7), 65-67.

Pilsworth, R. (2014). Incomplete fracture of the dorsal aspect of the proximal cortex of the third metatarsal bone as a cause of hind limb lameness in the racing Thoroughbred. 24, 147-150.

 Ewing, J. (2017). Equine-facilitated training for two-year old Thoroughbred. 36(5), 59-72.

Griffiths, J. (2016). Improving the predictability of performance by prerace detection of dorsal metacarpal disease in Thoroughbred racehorses. 78(4), 466-467

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