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BackgroundEquine ocular diseases pose a medical challenge due to long-lasting and cost-consuming therapies as well as economic issues associated with potential decrease in value of affected horses. The scale of the problem is significant but difficult to precisely define because epidemiological data is limited and lacks consistency in presentation. To date, no retrospective studies specifically investigating Arabian horses have been published.ResultsThe aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the prevalence of ocular lesions and define the ocular diseases present in Arabian horses from breeding farms in Poland. Clinical and ophthalmic examination of 615 Arabian horses at Polish breeding farms (15% of Arabian population in Poland) were performed and medical history from the previous 5 years was analyzed. Data was obtained from review of veterinary archives and epidemiological interview of the resident veterinarian at each farm. The prevalence of ocular diseases was 9.75%. The following pathologies were diagnosed (with their respective prevalence): equine recurrent uveitis (ERU; 5.5%); cataract not related to ERU (3.3%); non-visual eyes (1.13%); posttraumatic lesions (0.8%); glaucoma (0.16%).ConclusionsIn this study, ERU was the most common ocular disease identified in Arabian horses in Poland. Its prevalence was lower than usually reported in Europe and the United States. There was no sex or farm predisposition but ocular disease prevalence increased with age. Other severe ocular pathologies were also observed, confirming that ocular diseases remain an important clinical problem.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-017-1252-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Leptospirosis is one of the most common zoonotic infections worldwide, including in most livestock, some companion animals, horses, wildlife, and humans. Epidemiological estimation of its prevalence in all species is difficult due to the variety of clinical presentations and challenges regarding laboratory diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to measure the seroprevalence of leptospiral infection in Arabian horses kept in the largest breeding farms in Poland, representing over 15% of the Polish Arabian horse population. Leptospira antibodies were detected by MAT (cut-off 1:100) in 33.2% of serum samples (204 of 615 animals) (CI 95%: 29.6–37.0%), most frequently reacting with the serovar Grippotyphosa, similar to previous reports in populations of randomly selected horses. These results indicated high Leptospira seropositivity, thus, although any form of clinical leptospirosis is rare, it may be postulated that the leptospiral exposure is widespread.

6Concurrent proximal suspensory desmopathy and injury of the proximal aspect of the accessory ligament of the deep digital flexor tendon in forelimbs and hindlimbs E. PLOWRIGHT AND S. DYSON 7 Sport horses with inflammatory airway disease (IAD) with predominantly eosinophils or mast cells are more predisposed to poor performance, exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH) and have shorter careers when compared to horses with neutrophilic IAD Use of standing MRI and a new MRI grading system of the subchondral bone of the distal third metacarpal bone to identify bone changes in the Thoroughbred racehorse when comparing 21 cases of catastrophic biaxial proximal sesamoid bone fracture with 53 controlsThis supplement contains a diverse selection of abstracts addressing clinical research from many disciplines. Topics that are particularly well represented this year include endocrinology, laminitis, critical care and spinal disease. The only consistent feature is the very high standard. This year, BEVA has devoted an extra two sessions to abstracts, but despite this increased time, the selection process was difficult due to the large number of excellent submissions. Over the last 10 years or so, Clinical Research Abstracts have progressively risen in stature and it is now the go-to place for cutting-edge, clinically relevant information delivered in a concise and highly professional manner. This is where Congress attendees will find the snippets of information to take straight back to practice to effect changes in the way of case management. By publishing this supplement in EVJ, BEVA hopes to make this new and relevant research available to those who have not been able to attend the Congress in person. Perhaps, this supplement will inspire some readers to make the trip next year.Reasons for performing study: Combinations of α2-adrenoceptor and opioid agonists are commonly used in equines, but there is little scientific information on this topic in donkeys.Objectives: To compare the sedative and hypoalgesic effects of 4 dosages of butorphanol in xylazine-premedicated donkeys. Study design: In vivo experiment.Methods: Six donkeys received intravenous treatments: saline and saline (S-S); xylazine (0.5 mg/kg bwt) and saline (X-S); xylazine and butorphanol 10 μg/kg bwt (X-B10); xylazine and butorphanol 20 μg/kg bwt (X-B20); xylazine and butorphanol 30 μg/kg bwt (X-B30); and xylazine and butorphanol 40 μg/kg bwt (X-B40). Sedation score (0-3), head height above ground (HHAG), and mechanical nociceptive thresholds (MNT) of the left metacarpus were assessed before and for 120 min after treatment. Areas under the curve (AUC) for 0-30, 30-60 and 60-120 min post treatment were computed for sedation scores (SS-AUC), HHAG (HHAG-AUC) and MNT (MNT-AUC). Differences between treatments were analysed using the Friedman test followed by Dunn's test and repeated measures one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test.Results: All treatments except S-S induced sedation. Butorphanol treatments induced significantly greater SS-AUC0-30 values than th...