The modern veterinarian in horse practice is often consulted by horse owners concerning riding problems. These problems are more complex and show other characteristics than traditional lameness. For the diagnostic process and to give adequate advice the veterinarians need an understanding of riding terminology and problems related to riding. It is also of high importance that riders, trainers and veterinarians increase the knowledge of equine biomechanics and how these are influenced by the rider. Collection is an important concept in the riding terminology.

Injuries to the suspensory ligament represent a huge problem in equine veterinary medicine. As many of the affected Horses are elite-competition athletes, there are high expectations on veterinarians to make these Horses fully functional again. The suspensory ligament has several features which makes the healing process complicated. So far no treatment has shown to optimize the healing process. This has led to the testing of many new treatment methods, in order to find a consensus for the injury.

The aim of this study was to investigate if the botanical composition of haylage affects pH, dry matter content and microbial composition of the faeces in horse and pig and ileal environment in pigs. Two separate studies were conducted where pigs and Horses were fed two diets containing haylages with different botanical composition. The first haylage was from a tilled land dominated by timothy and meadow fescue and the other haylage came from a meadowland with a large inclusion of dandelion, 25 % and common couch. The dry matter content (70.8 % and 73.0 % respectively) and the pH-value (5.7) were similar in both feeds. The first study was made as a three-periods switch-back study with 7 Standardbred Horses. In the first and the third period, 7 and 9 days long respectively, the diet consisted of the haylage from the tilled land, oats, sugar beet pulp, soy bean oil meal, lucerne pellets and brewers yeast.

Laminitis is a common but devastating condition, and affected Horses are often euthanized or influenced a very long time. Many Horses never return to their original capacity. Laminitis is often associated with severe pain and a long time of convalescence. Symthoms includes lameness, hoof hyperthermia, strenghthened digital pulse and pain. The horse often tries to move the body weight away from the forelegs which are often more severly affected than the hindlimbs.

This study aims to investigate how value is constructed in horse business, in order to increase knowledge and contribute to development of theory in this field. This is important since the horse plays a significant role in the rural development in Sweden. The study assumes that value is something created through relationships in the social network. Therefore theories of sensemaking are combined with a discourse analytic method. By interviewing customers to two companies, one with orientation on trotting Horses and one with orientation on showjumping Horses, it was found that value is constructed through retrospective stories.

Back problems are well noticed in Horses, especially in Horses used for riding. Kissing spines (impingement of the dorsal spinous processes) are often found at radiographic examinations of the thoracic spine. Kissing spines is a radiological diagnosis, indicating that parts of at least two adjacent dorsal spinous processes are in contact with each other. It is not uncommon that Horses without clinical signs of back problems have some degree of kissing spines. It is therefore not sufficient with a radiographic examination to say that the cause of pain is kissing spines.

Eventing is often called as the formula 1 in equestrian sports and comprises three disciplines: dressage, show jumping and cross-country. The sport provides excitement, challenge and joy and is the ultimate sport for intelligent riders and Horses. Many are fascinated by the challenges the sport offers while other consider it foolhardy to ride a cross-country. Eventing is not a risk-free sport and has even been given the label of being one of the world´s most dangerous sports. What do those risks mean to the horse? And particularly, is it associated with good animal ethics to use the horse for eventing? Finding answers to these questions is not easy as it probably is not a clear and simple answer.

Respiratory disease with airway inflammation as main characteristic is common in the horse. It is a syndrome that is not yet fully understood. The etiology, pathogenesis and classification into different disease states are subjects for discussion and under continuous revision. Despite a number of modern techniques, the diagnostic procedure is challenging. There is no test considered to be gold standard when diagnosing these diseases.

Scintigraphic examination of the esophagus has for some time been the method of choice for the study of motility dysfunction in humans. The method has not yet been described for Horses hence the lack of reference values for passage time for a bolus through the esophagus in healthy subjects. The purposes of this study were to measure passage velocity and time for a bolus to pass through the esophagus in healthy subjects, as well as to evaluate the reproducibility of the method. Eight warm-blooded trotters were used in the study. The Horses were sedated with a low dose of Acepromazine prior to onset of the study.

Horse keeping is gaining an increasing interest in Sweden. During 2004 to 2010 the number of Horses increased with 10 - 20 %, and was estimated to be 362 700 in 2010. Julmyra Horse Center (JHC), situated in Heby municipality, is a gated community for people sharing a large interest for Horses and a vision of a sustainable horse management has been formulated. This study evaluates how the horse keeping of today at JHC, and how an expansion of the horse keeping may affect the risk of enhanced phosphorus load to the nearby lake system Vansjön ? Nordsjön.

The aim of this study was to determine the basic movements of the riders? pelvis and upper body when riding in trot seated. The study was preformed at a treadmill with seven high level dressage Horses and their riders. The movements of the horse and rider were captured with a motion analysis system (ProReflex®) and also recorded on video. The Horses were ridden in collected trot, 3.0 m/s.

Joint injury (inflammation) or osteoarthritis is the most common cause of poor performance in the athletic horse. Osteoarthritis is the ensuing degeneration of joint cartilage due to inflammation/injury. The single most important factor in the inflammation cascade of joint injuries is interleukin-1 (IL-1). Until recently, these injuries have been treated with products like hyaluronic acid, cortisone and polysulphated glycosaminoglycans (PSGAG). Several studies have not been able to demonstrate a significant difference in the clinical improvement of joint injuries treated with hyaluronic acid or PSGAG and saline.

The equine hoof is often manipulated in purpose to achieve a better stride or to reduce the weight on damaged tissue. The living tissue in the hoof can?t store energy as glycogen and is therefore depending on a continuous supply of glucose for its energy production. The purpose of the study was to determine if wedging (i.e. elevating) the heel could influence the hooves glucose and lactate consumption/production. Five standardbred Horses were trained to trot on a treadmill without getting physical or mentally tired.

The interest in Horses and equestrian sport is constantly increasing, and so is the will in both riders and trainers to learn more about the effect the rider and its equipment have on the horse. The last twenty years, more and more studies have been performed were the horse and its kinematics have been in focus. The access to more advanced technology has made it possible to study areas, which earlier have been hard to reach. The knowledge about kinematics in the horse, and how riders and their equipment interact with the horse?s movement, is also of great interest to veterinarians in equine practice.

Peritonitis is a potentially life-threatening disease in Horses. With no published work from Sweden, the objective of the study was to describe the occurrence and demographics of Horses with peritonitis and to evaluate the outcome of treatment in terms of short-term survival during a ten-year period in a large clinic in Sweden. Data were examined in a retrospective manner in 69 Horses diagnosed with and treated for peritonitis at Universitetsdjursjukhuset (UDS) in Uppsala between 2002-2012. Demographic data examined included age, breed, gender, history, duration of illness before arriving at UDS, reason for seeking veterinary care, initial clinical findings (general state of health, heart rate, respiratory rate, mucous membrane appearance, rectal temperature, abdominal sounds, rectal examination, nasogastric tube results), abdominocentesis results (abdominal fluid analysis including visual inspection, leukocytes and protein, cytology, bacterial culture and sensitivity pattern), complete blood count (CBC), Serum amyloid-A (SAA) upon presentation and a follow up, plasma fibrinogen, plasma protein and albumin, treatments, length of hospitalisation and outcome. All medical records with the diagnosis of peritonitis were extracted from the medical records system Trofast. All records with any other diagnosis code referring to trauma such as rectal tear or ruptured uterus, recent abdominal surgery, external trauma or rupture in the gastrointestinal tract were excluded. To be included in the study, the peritoneal fluid should contain more than 20.000 cells/?L, have a peritoneal protein value of >30 g/L; or have a significantly changed peritoneal fluid sample (orange with increased turbidity or worse) in cases where no data on cells or protein were available. The Horses were divided into two groups; one where the peritonitis was deemed to have an idiopathic aetiology (primary peritonitis) and the other group where the peritonitis had a possible aetiology such as intestinal parasites, impaction etc.