Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T13:26:33.966Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A simple field technique for estimation of body surface area in horses and ponies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

JC Sneddon ,
R Walton  and
A Bond
JC Sneddon*
Affiliation:
School of Biological & Earth Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
R Walton
Affiliation:
Woodville Riding School and Boarding Kennels, Raby Road, Thornton Hough, Wirral, UK
A Bond
Affiliation:
14 Cooper Road, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS22 6RX, UK
*
*[email protected]
Get access

Abstract

This study aimed to produce a weight-independent algorithm for determination of body surface area (BSA; cm2) to within 5% accuracy of the directly determined value in selected horses and ponies under field conditions. Quantification of BSA in equines has applications in the fields of energy budgeting, growth, thermoregulation, conformation and drug kinetics. A simple algorithm for determining BSA to ±5% accuracy was produced for Shetland ponies, Shire horses, Welsh Mountain Section A ponies and Hanoverian mature horses and foals. The accuracy of the method was ±8% for Welsh Mountain-type ponies and Hanoverian two-year-olds. The data were produced by tiling of the shoulder region on one side of the animal with chalk and adapting a simple geometrical integrative technique. Linear anthropometric measurements were of limited use in predicting BSA in that they produced algorithms of ±5% accuracy for ponies of uniform conformation only (Welsh Mountain Section A ponies). The relevant equations were:for Arab-based breeds (Welsh Mountain-type and Section A ponies and Hanoverian horses and foals) andfor UK native breeds (Shetland ponies and Shire horses), where ‘surface area of shoulder region on one side’ was defined by the anterior margins of the supraspinatus and deep pectoral, and the posterior margin of the triceps muscles. This tiling procedure fulfilled the aim of the study and also provided quantitative information on proportional differences in areas of body regions between and within these selected breeds.

Keywords

horsessurface areameasurement
Type
Research Article
Information
Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , February 2004 , pp. 51 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1Chappell, WR and Mordenti, J (1991). Extrapolation of toxicological and pharmacological data from animals to humans. Advances in Drug Research 20: 2–112.Google Scholar
2Walsberg, GE (1992). Quantifying radiative heat gain in animals. American Zoologist 32: 217–224.Google Scholar
3Cymbaluk, NF and Christison, GI (1990). Environmental effects on thermoregulation and nutrition of horses. Veterinary Clinics of North America. Equine Practice 6, 355–372.Google Scholar
4Cymbaluk, NF (1994). Thermoregulation of horses in cold, winter weather: a review. Livestock Production Science 40: 65–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Hodgson, DR, McCutcheon, LJ and Byrd, SK (1993). Dissipation of metabolic heat in the horse during exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology 74: 1161–1170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Hodgson, DR, Davis, RE and McConaghy, FF (1994). Thermoregulation in the horse in response to exercise. British Veterinary Journal 150: 219–235.Google Scholar
7Lindinger, MI (1999). Exercise in the heat: thermoregulatory limitations to performance in humans and horses. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology 24: 152–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Kleiber, M (1965). Metabolic body size. In: Blaxter, KL (ed) Energy Metabolism. Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium held at Troon, Scotland, May 1964. Academic Press: London and New York, pp. 427–435.Google Scholar
9Hintz, HF and Meakim, DW (1981). A comparison of the 1978 National Research Council Nutrient Requirements of Horses with recent studies. Equine Veterinary Journal 13: 187–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10National Research Council, (1989). Nutrient Requirements of Horses. 5th revised ed. Committee on Animal Nutrition, National Research Council, Washington DC. p. 112.Google Scholar
11National Research Council, (2000). Nutrient Requirements of Beef Cattle. 7th revised ed. Subcommittee on Beef Cattle Nutrition, Committee on Animal Nutrition, National Research Council, Washington DC. p. 248.Google Scholar
12Weibel, ER (2002). The pitfalls of power laws. Nature 417: 131–132.Google Scholar
13Meeh, K (1879). Oberflächenmessungen des menschlichen Krpers. Zeischrift für Biologie 15: 425–458.Google Scholar
14Brody, S (1945). Bioenergetics and Growth with Special Reference to the Efficiency Complex in Domestic Animals. New York: Reinhold, p. 1023.Google Scholar
15Gould, SJ (1966). Allometry and size in ontogeny and phylogeny. Biological Reviews 41: 587–638.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16McDowell, RE, Lee, DH and Fohrman, MH (1953). The relationship of surface area to heat tolerance in Jerseys and Sindhi–Jersey (F1) crossbred cows. Journal of Animal Science 12: 747–756.Google Scholar
17Schmidt-Nielsen, K (1995). Scaling. Why is Animal Size So Important?. 7th ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 237.Google Scholar
18Rübner, M (1883). Über den Einfluβ der Körpergrösse auf Stoffund Kraftwechsel. Zeitschrift für Biologie 19: 535–562.Google Scholar
19Hurnik, JF and Lewis, NJ (1991). Body surface area, a reference space allowance in confinement. Poultry Science 70: 412–415.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20Hill, RC (1993). A rapid method of estimating maintenance energy requirement from body surface area in inactive adult dogs and cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 202: 1814–1816.Google Scholar
21Prothero, J (1992). Scaling of bodily proportions in adult terrestrial mammals. American Journal of Physiology 262: R492–R503.Google ScholarPubMed
22Ohwada, K and Katahira, K (1993). Indirect measurement of body surface area of cotton rats. Experimental Animals 42: 635–637.Google Scholar
23Rainford, J (1995). Measurements of sweat gland volumes in the equine epidermis. BSc Honours research project, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.Google Scholar
24Dineen-Main, CMS (1997). The measurement of total body surface area in the horse. BSc Honours research project, Liverpool John Moores University, Luiverpool, UK.Google Scholar
25Bond, A (2001). The calculation of body surface area in Shire Horses and Shetland Ponies.. BSc Honours research project, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.Google Scholar
26Walton, R (2002). The calculation of body surface area in Hanoverian horses at ages 0–6 months, two-years old and 12-years old. BSc Honours research project, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.Google Scholar
27Sisson, S and Grossman, JD (1953). The Anatomy of Domestic Animals. Philadelphia, PA: WB Saunders & Co.Google Scholar
28Streekumar, KP and Nirmalan, G (1990). Estimation of total surface area in Indian elephants (Elaphus maximus indicus). Veterinary Research Communications 14: 5–17.Google Scholar
29Scholander, P (1955). Evolution of climatic adaptation in homeotherms. Evolution 9, 15–26.Google Scholar
30Barton, RA (2002). How did brains evolve? Nature 415: 134–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31Green, DA (1976). Growth rate in Thoroughbred yearlings and two-year olds. Equine Veterinary Journal 8, 133–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32Frez, PB, Cymbaluk, NF and Pharr, JW (1984). Quantitative analysis of long-bone growth in the horse. American Journal of Veterinary Research 45: 1602–1609.Google Scholar
33Holmström, M, Magnusson, L-E and Philipsson, J (1990). Variation in conformation of Swedish Warmblood horses and conformational characteristics of élite sport horses. Equine Veterinary Journal 2, 186–193.Google Scholar
34Wallin, L, Strandberg, E and Philipsson, J (2001). Phenotypic relationship between the tests of Swedish Warmblood horses as four-year olds and longevity. Livestock Production Science 68: 97–105.Google Scholar
35Carroll, CL and Huntington, PJ (1988). Body condition scoring and weight estimation of horses. Equine Veterinary Journal 20: 41–45.Google Scholar