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  Discussion on Prevalence of laryngeal disease in draft horses
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DrO

Posted on Monday, Sep 11, 2006 - 9:59 am:

Here is an interesting study suggesting both a cause of laryngeal hemiplegia disease and a possible common cause of exercise intolerance in draft horses.
DrO

Vet Surg. 2006 Aug;35(6):579-83.
The prevalence of laryngeal disease in a large population of competition draft horses.
Brakenhoff JE, Holcombe SJ, Hauptman JG, Smith HK, Nickels FA, Caron JP.
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences and Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 48824, USA.

OBJECTIVES: (1) To determine the effect of age, height, weight, breed, sex, and specific use on the prevalence of idiopathic left laryngeal hemiplegia (ILH) in a population of draft performance horses; (2) to determine the association between tracheal mucus and laryngeal dysfunction, and the prevalence of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) in a population of draft performance horses. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional. ANIMALS: Draft horses competing at the 2005 Michigan Great Lakes Draft Horse Show. METHODS: Endoscopic examinations were performed on horses competing at the 2005 Michigan Great Lakes Draft Horse Show. Signalment, height, and weight were obtained from the owners and trainers. RESULTS: Belgian, Percheron, and Clydesdale horses (n=183) were studied. Prevalence of ILH was 35%. Horse height was significantly associated with the risk of ILH in Belgian and Percheron horses but not Clydesdales. There was a significantly different prevalence of ILH among the breeds such that 42% Belgians, 31% Percherons, and 17% Clydesdales were affected. Laryngeal disease was a risk factor for increased tracheal mucus. None of the horses had acute evidence of EIPH. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of ILH in draft horses has increased or is higher in competition horses compared with previously studied groups. Tracheal and/or pulmonary inflammation may be more common in draft horses with ILH based on our findings that horses with ILH have more tracheal mucus than horses with normal laryngeal function. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Selection pressure for large, taller, longer-necked horses may be responsible for a seemingly increased incidence of ILH in competitive draft horses.
Member:
Imogen

Posted on Sunday, Sep 17, 2006 - 4:45 am:

Anecdotal evidence would suggest this is also true of Irish draught horses. Anything over 16h basically... but Irish draughts generally tend to be smaller than the breeds studied here which may mitigate the problem.

I was at a lecture evening of the local Irish draught society last Friday where the vet presenting said he believes that performance testing of stallions has become less rigorous regarding wind faults and he think this is a particularly bad thing as just one popular stallion with a wind fault can result in a large change in the prevalence of wind faults overall yet the problem does not usually become apparent until years later. He also thinks using stallions earlier in their lives before problems may appear tends to make the problem worse than was the case in the past. He didn't say it but you got the feeling he was advocating repeated soundness testing for ID stallions, not just the one approval process.

All the best

Imogen
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