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Horses News

June 12, 2025

Top Headlines

 
Horses 'Mane' Inspiration for New Generation of Social Robots
May 28, 2025 — Interactive robots should not just be passive companions, but active partners -- like therapy horses who respond to human emotion -- say ...
Updated Equestrian Helmet Ratings System Adds Racing and High-Speed Events
Apr. 28, 2025 — Falling off a horse at high-speed changes the impact to the rider's head and the parameters for a quality helmet, according to new research. The findings indicate that head impacts during falls at high speed generate unique head rotation, which in ...
How a Small Number of Mutations Can Fuel Outbreaks of Western Equine Encephalitis Virus
Apr. 4, 2025 — New research shows how small shifts in the molecular makeup of a virus can profoundly alter its fate. These shifts could turn a deadly pathogen into a harmless bug or supercharge a relatively benign ...
Secrets of Horse Genetics for Conservation, Breeding
Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers are helping uncover new information about the Y chromosome in horses, which will help owners identify optimal lineages for breeding and help conservationists preserve breed ...
Scientists Turn to Human Skeletons to Explore Origins of Horseback Riding
Sep. 20, 2024 — A new, wide-ranging exploration of human remains casts doubt on a long-standing theory in archaeology known as the Kurgan hypothesis -- which, among other claims, suggests that humans first domesticated horses as early as the fourth millennium ...
Researchers Discover Gene Variants That Determine Speed of Graying in Horses
Sep. 19, 2024 — Scientists now understand why some gray horses turn completely white as they age, while others remain an eye-catching 'dappled' gray ...
Rein Tension May Affect Horse Behavior
Sep. 3, 2024 — High rein tension was found to be associated with trotters opening their mouths, which indicates pain or discomfort in the ...
Trojan Horse Method Gives Malaria Parasites a Taste of Their Own Medicine
Aug. 14, 2024 — More than a quarter of Australians over the age of 50 take cholesterol-lowering drugs to prevent heart disease and strokes, but our bodies also need cholesterol to survive. Now, scientists say its role as a basic building block of life holds the key ...
Bacterial Gut Diversity Improves the Athletic Performance of Racehorses
Aug. 7, 2024 — The composition of gut bacteria of Thoroughbred racehorses at one-month-old can predict their future athletic performance, according to a new study. Foals with lower bacterial diversity at 28 days old also had a significantly increased risk of ...
Horse Miscarriages Offer Clues to Causes of Early Human Pregnancy Loss
Aug. 5, 2024 — A study of horses -- which share many important similarities with humans in their chromosomes and pregnancies -- revealed that 42% of miscarriages and spontaneous abortions in the first two months of pregnancy were due to complications from an extra ...
Movement Sensors Show Promise in Identifying Racehorses at Injury Risk
July 11, 2024 — A small 3-ounce sensor capable of recording 2,400 data points of movement in just one second being tested and refined by researchers could be key in reducing the number of injuries to racehorses. Researchers used the biometric sensors to track ...
Pagan-Christian Trade Networks Supplied Horses from Overseas for the Last Horse Sacrifices in Europe
May 17, 2024 — Horses crossed the Baltic Sea in ships during the Late Viking Age and were sacrificed for funeral rituals. Studies on the remains of horses found at ancient burial sites in Russia and Lithuania show ...

Latest Headlines

updated 2:08pm EDT

Earlier Headlines

 
Promoting Horse Welfare With an Intestinal Disease Screening Method
Sep. 10, 2024 — Researchers are developing a promising method to support the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in horses. Awareness of the prevalence of IBD in both humans and animals has increased in ...
Common Equine Painkiller Disrupts Assisted Reproduction Technique Efficiency in Mares
Aug. 13, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that phenylbutazone, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) commonly prescribed in horses, can affect the ability of a mare's egg cells -- called ...
How a Horse Whisperer Can Help Engineers Build Better Robots
Apr. 25, 2023 — New research shows us that age-old interactions between people and their horses can teach us something about building robots designed to improve our ...
Horses Living in Groups Are Better at Following Human Indications Than Horses Living in Individual Paddocks
Apr. 25, 2023 — A new study shows that horses living in big enclosures and in groups of at least three horses are better at following directional indications from humans than horses kept in individual paddocks. The ...
New, Exhaustive Study Probes Hidden History of Horses in the American West
Mar. 30, 2023 — Indigenous peoples as far north as Wyoming and Idaho may have begun to care for horses by the first half of the 17th Century, according to a new study by researchers from 15 countries and multiple ...
The World's First Horse Riders
Mar. 3, 2023 — Researchers have discovered evidence of horse riding by studying the remains of human skeletons found in burial mounds called kurgans, which were between 4500-5000 years old. The earthen burial ...
Shaping the Sport of Kings: Key Genes Linked to Successful Racehorses Identified by International Team
Dec. 13, 2022 — A critical set of genes linked to successful racehorses has been identified by an international research team. Scientists from Asia, Europe, North America compared the genomes of Thoroughbred, ...
Long-Term Relationship With Owner Reduces Horses' Stress Reactions in New Situations
Aug. 25, 2022 — A new study shows that horses can be more reluctant in new situations if they have multiple riders, have had several owners or the horse has been with its current owner only for a short period of ...
Race Performance of Thoroughbred Horses Determined by the Quality of the Male Parent Rather Than the Age of the Female, Study Finds
Aug. 25, 2022 — Research supports the belief that the most important factor affecting a thoroughbred's race performance is the quality of its sire, whereas the effect of the age of its broodmare is ...
Scientists Create a DNA Test That Identifies Lyme Disease in Horses
Aug. 17, 2022 — A Rutgers scientist aiming to help heal a sick horse created an ultra-sensitive DNA test that could have applications for difficult-to-detect illnesses in humans such as Lyme ...
Ultrasound Could Save Racehorses from Bucked Shins
Aug. 9, 2022 — When racehorses enter training at about 2 years old, they can develop tiny stress fractures and new bone formations in their legs. This condition, called bucked shin, occurs in about 70% of the ...
Oldest DNA from Domesticated American Horse Lends Credence to Shipwreck Folklore
July 27, 2022 — Feral horses have roamed freely across the island of Assateague off the coast of Maryland and Virginia for hundreds of years, but exactly how they got there has remained a mystery. In a new study, ...
Ancient DNA Clarifies the Early History of American Colonial Horses
July 27, 2022 — A newly identified 16th century horse specimen is among the oldest domestic horses from the Americas known to date, and its DNA helps clarify the history of horses in the Western Hemisphere, ...

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