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The importance of identifying and eliminating spores when dealing with the problem of poor performance in the race horse. Dr Meriel Moore-Colyer ‘No general fact appears better established in hippopathology than the one evidencing that disease is the penalty that nature has attached to the domestication of the horse’ (Percivall, 1853) Dust related poor performance • Reduced capacity for exercise Coughing Nasal discharge = Recurrent Airways Obstruction (RAO) (also known as COPD or IAD) % of air in the horse's lungs that can be expired during half a stride 120 normal % of air expired 100 80 Loss of performance 60 RAO horse 40 20 0 0 10 20 30 % of stride 40 50 Snow and Vogel (1987) RAO • Hypersensitivity reaction to stable dust (bacteria, fungal spores, plant particles and insect fragments) • Clarke and Madelin (1987) identified over 50 different species of microorganisms in the stable air • numerous respirable particles (5µm diameter) from hay and straw (Slater, 1996) Aspergillus Mite Bacteria (clostridium spp) Dust levels in the environment • • • • • Season Weather Geographical location Source of spores (crops, stores) Stable: Pony bedded on shavings and fed pelleted hay the dust got a 97% reduction in dust levels in the breathing zone than when on straw and long hay (Woods et al.,1993) Dust in hay and straw • Spores on grass when cut • Leaf shatter when drying • Soil particles • Damp = mould and bacteria growth Dust in hay • Baled and stacked = heat production • Heat encourages mould growth • 42°C Thermophilic actinomycetes (aspergillus spp) >10 10/ m3 in stable (108 / m3 allergenic) • Aspergillus spp produce spores 1 – 5 µm diameter Dust in hay cont. • Spores of 5 µm fall 0.1 cm / second • 3000 respirable particles per ml of air • Horse tidal volume of 4 litres = 12 million particles in every breath. Stable environment Dust minimising regime • • • • • Good ventilation = 5 changes air / hr Hay store far away Muck out when horse is out Dust-free bedding Dust-free (low-dust) forage Dust-free stable Dust-free bedding • • • • Shavings Paper Hemp Rubber mats (Never deep-litter as it encourages mould and bacteria growth) Dust-free stable Dust-free forage ?? Difficult to find Answer don’t feed forage! But must feed forage as horses: • Need to chew • Gut health - peristalsis - dispel gas - alkaline gut - reduce gastric ulcers Low dust forage • Chopped fibre / fibre cubes (chew?) • Haylage (bulky, slow release energy) • Hay - dust extracted - soaked - steamed Reducing dust in hay • Mechanical dust extraction - 95% dust reduction (Gregory and Lacey, 1968) • Soak • Steam Table 1. Respirable particle numbers and mineral levels (g/kg 95%DM) in 2.5 kg hay nets after four different soaking treatments (Moore-Colyer, 1996) Soak (hrs) Spore (nos) Na K P Mg Ca N 0 32652 6.3 14.5 2.8 1.6 3.7 13.6 0.5 3908 (90%) 3.6 10.5 2.4 1.6 3.8 14.6 3 3484 (90%) 2.5 6.1 1.8 1.3 3.8 14.1 12 2092 (94%) 1.9 5.3 1.7 1.2 3.7 14.8 s.e.d s.e 3695 0.26 1.09 0.10 0.05 0.64 0.68 Table 2. Respirable particle numbers and mineral levels (g/kg 85%DM) in 2.5 kg hay nets after four different wetting treatments. (Blackman and Moore-Colyer, 1998) Soak Spore (mins) (nos) Ca Fe Cu Zn Mn 0 25971 5.2 88 3.7 21 77 10 1862 (93%) 4.8 77 2.7 21 81 30 1163 (96%) 5.0 101 2.6 19 78 1309 80 steam (95%) 5.2 72 3.1 20 81 Soaking hay • > 90% reduction in respirable particles • Sig loss of Na, K, Mg, P, Cu • 10 minute soak = effective as 30 minutes • Post soak water is a biological hazard Steaming hay • 80 minute steam = soaking for 10 / 30 minutes • No loss of nutrients • No effluent • Handler subjected occupational asthma (2.5 kg hay net) Steaming hay • Specialized steamer whole bale Haygain methodology • Complete strung bale • 80 minute cycle • • • • TVC (bacteria) Fungi Yeasts Incubated at 22 and 330C on petri-films Haygain steamer Micoorganism Dry hay Steamed hay Sig TVC 4,261,600 800 0.008 Fungi 10,173,333 0 0.008 Yeast 6,893,333 0 0.008 Haygain scientific facts • Spores are killed • Aspergillus spp killed (Creighton, 2009 Irish Equine Centre) • Temp inside bale > 95°C (spores killed by 10 min exposure to wet heat at temp 70 - 90°C Haygain observations ‘Horses love the steamed hay and don’t cough’ James Fanshawe, Rose Dobbin, Tom Symonds ‘Coughing horses have now stopped completely….improved performances and no interruption in training schedules’ Tom George Haygain observations ‘ An immediate positive effect in horses with irritable airways…when we stopped using it those horses started coughing again within 4 days…indispensible Hughie Morrison ‘seen the benefits from cleaner scopes……saves on scoping so pays for itself Fanshaw, Andrew Boxhall Haygain explanations • All biological proteins to lose function when denatured • Heat causing denaturing spore protein • Altering allergenicity of spores? (on-going work) Advantages of steaming • Killing fungal, bacterial and yeast spores • No loss of nutrients • Handler not exposed to dust • No effluent • Safely feed long fibre ie hay to racehorses Acknowledgements Thank you for listening !