Fly-Grazing Horses

I have noticed a lot on the news recently about horses that live in the wild becoming too large in numbers in certain areas and causing problems. There are also problems with horses being bred until they are in large groups and then being left on land being "fly-grazed". This is currently a big problem in Wales.

The BBC published this news article the other day. Click here! In it they discuss the problems with horses being left on land to graze where they should not be. Many of these horses have a poor welfare and some end up being put to sleep. 250 stray horses recently hit the news that had been found in Bridgend. The people that previously own these horses need to stop breeding such large numbers. I expect they are hoping to earn money by selling the horses on and nobody wants to buy them.

This is also giving horse owners a bad name and will not help with other issues in the community that riders are campaigning for such as access to bridle paths and safer riding on the roads.

I am not sure what a solution to this problem could be. Owners need to be educated and hopefully they will realise that they are not gaining anything by breeding these large numbers of horses and leaving them on land to graze that does not belong to them and may be in dangerous areas.

Love Laura
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How They Do DNA Tests

We had a molecular genetics practical the other day in which we used horse hair and extracted the DNA from it. This is the process that many DNA tests are based on so I decided to write a blog on how this was done. I should have taken some photos but I have only just decided. This may not be the method used by all companies doing DNA tests but this is how we did it.

These tests may be carried out for breeding purposes to detect for coat colour genes or genes that may be linked to diseases. See my other post on coat colour and linked diseases.

• During the practical we were given horse hair and we had to cut the follicles off around 20 strands with a scalpel. As it is DNA you are testing for you have to be very careful with contamination.

• Once the hair follicles have been cut off they were put into tiny tubes. Before the DNA can be analysed it has to be removed from the hair follicles. This is done by mixing the hair follicle with certain solutions, the type used may depend on the type of DNA sample. 
• The samples undergo a number of steps such as being heated in a water bath. They are also put into tubes with filters on them. 
• They are spun on a high speed centrifuge machine after adding a number of different solutions.
• The DNA will then be held in the filter, the final solution then removes it from the filter and keeps it in the solution.

• A NanoDrop machine can be used to detect the levels of DNA now present in the solution. This is important when knowing how much to dilute it by before the DNA analysis.

• PCR is then used to look at the DNA present. During this step the DNA solution is mixed with primers which cut the DNA.
• The PCR machine then runs for a number of cycles which last varying lengths of time at certain temperatures.
• PCR separates the two strands of DNA and allows lots of copies of them to be made. This will allow them to be detected when assessing the DNA present.

• The DNA solution is run on gels via electrophoresis using electrical currents to separate the DNA.
• T-RFLP is a machine that can sequence the DNA present. 

• To then tell what this DNA actually means it is compared with known genes using computer programs. The equine genome was sequenced in 2007 so this is now available. It can tell you the types of DNA present along with how much of it is present in the sample.

Here is a little addition to this article. I have just seen a news story on an equine "DNA bank" which would be useful against the theft of horses and recognising who the horse belongs to. They say this is a longer lasting solution than microchips which may be removed. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17169712

Love Laura
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GB Rider Profile; Mary King

Mary King is an eventer and I have seen her a number of times at Badminton Horse Trials. One thing that always stands out about her is that she smiles all the way round the cross country course. I am writing this a bit before I plan to post it but she is currently ranked number one by the FEI at eventing.

Mary King was born in 1961 and started riding on a vicar's pony. When she was 12 years old she said she went on a trip with the Pony Club to Badminton Horse Trails and was enthralled, "from that moment I knew I wanted to win it", she said. She then went on to get a job on an eventing yard where her riding skills developed. 

She has been to five Olympics and collected a team silver in Athens 2004 and a team bronze in Hong Kong 2008. She won a gold medal at the Kentucky World Equestrian Games in 2010. She has four European team gold medals. She won Badminton Horse Trials in 1992 and again in 2000. I think I might have been there in 2000 because this was around the time when I used to go and I remember Mary King being one of the big riders competing. 

In 2001 she had a riding accident in which she broke her neck. This did not deter her and she carried on competing as soon as she could. She is definitely a very brave rider!

 Mary King is also sponsored by Joules  which is one of my favourite brands. She also has a daughter, Emily who is sponsored by Joules and does eventing. I think her daughter is 15 years old. Mary King has written a number of books and has her own computer games and games for the wii! I used to have the first one for the computer when I was younger! She currently lives in Devon.

She currently has a number of horses she is riding including Imperial Cavalier, Kings Temptress and Appache Sauce. 

Mary King is not only a brilliant rider but she seems like a really nice person. I wish her the best of luck for the Olympics!

None of these images belong to me.

Love Laura
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Clever Hans

I am just doing some extra reading for my equine behaviour module and I came across "Clever Hans". I learnt about this horse in psychology A level and it is an interesting story.

Clever Hans was a horse that lived in Austria in the 1900s. The horse was thought to be an arithmetic genius. It appeared that he was able to count and could also do algebra. He would count out the answer by pawing with his leg and would always stop at the correct number.

After scientists taking great interest in this horse and why it was so clever they found that it only got the correct answer when it could see the audience. If there was a board between them it got the incorrect answer.

The horse had learnt to read the body language of the audience and when he got to the correct answer he would stop due to changes in their body language. He learnt he would get a reward after doing this as well. His owner was thought to be the main person he looked at for these cues and his bowler hat, seen below was thought to accentuate his movement of leaning forward slightly as the horse got to the correct answer.

This shows how horses pick up on very small body language signals. This has developed from them living in herds where body language is a very important part of their communication. As they are prey animals, they often prefer communicating in this way as opposed to using vocal noises which could alert predators.

Love Laura
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Giveaway Winner!

Thank you all for entering the giveaway! I really enjoyed reading your answers about the things you all love about horses.

The winner is  Ruffles!! Congratulations I will contact you soon!

Love Laura
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