# Horses, Mules, & Donkeys abbreviations and diffinitions-gathering info



## Farmer Kitty (May 22, 2009)

With the diffferent forums coming together into one community, people are studying up on different breeds of animals. Those who are familar with an animal breed tend to use abbreviations for different common things, which is perfectly fine. I thought I would start threads within each animal forum for abbreviations and diffinitions. After a few days I will take the info listed here and put it into a thread in one post so newbies to the breed can refer to it to find out what the abbreviations mean. Those threads I will lock to keep them clean but, leave this one open for additions that can be transferred into the other thread. 

So let's get them started!


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## Little Cow (May 22, 2009)

Breeds:

TB-  Thoroughbred
WB-  Warmblood
AQHA-  registered Quarter Horse
QH-  Quarter Horse
Appy-  Appaloosa
APHA-  registered Paint Horse
Arab-  Arabian
Draft-  Any of the draft breeds:  Clydesdale, Belgian, Percheron....etc
TWH-  Tennessee Walking Horse
GV-  Gypsy Vanner


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## Farmer Kitty (May 22, 2009)

Keep them coming!

You can include things like common diseases too!


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## Bronco Hollow (May 23, 2009)

*HYPP *- Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis
A genetic defect found in descendants of the Quarter Horse sire Impressive.  Causes the horse to tye-up or attacks of the muscle system.  Horses tested for HYPP will fall into one of three categories H/H - Positive 100%, H/N - 50% chance of passing the defect on and N/N - Negative

*EPM *- Equine Protozal Myeloencephalitis
This protozoan [single cell parasite] penetrates the central nervous system, producing varying levels of neurological disease.  Horses with this neurological disease often don't recover to their previous athletic capacity.  Opossums are the normal host for the parasite [and recently known,  living with cats raises the risk of contracting EPM].  Horses ingest the parasite from the opossums dropping/urine.   Signs of EPM are weakness, muscle atrophy, and cranial nerve deficits.  

Not an abbreviation, but this term is used very widely
*Colic*
Is a symptom that the horse has belly pain - it is not a diagnosis.
Colic is categorized into one of two categories, medical or surgical.  
Medical colic refers to any type colic that can be treated without the use of surgery.  Types of colic placed within this category are; 
1. Gas or spasmodic colic
2. Large and small colon impactions, enteritis [inflamed intestines] 
3. Sand accumulation of the large colon

Surgical colic refers to any type colic the requires the use of surgery to cure the horse.  Types of this colic are;
1. Volvulus/Torsion [twisted] of the large colon
2. Displacement of the large colon
3. Small intestinal incarcerations [strangulation of the small intestine caused by some tissue acting as a tourniquet on the small intestine
4. Enteroliths [non-feed type impactions/obstructions, i.e. a stone formation in the intestine]
5. Fecoliths - [an usually hard food impaction or foreign body obstructions i.e. hay twine, plastic bags]
6 Other - this would include all other types of surgical colic which could be 30 or 40 other conditions but occur much less frequently than the prior five types listed


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## Farmer Kitty (May 27, 2009)

I read a horse thread that the horse has cushings. What is cushings?


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## farmy (May 27, 2009)

A small benign tumour in the pituitary gland causes equine Cushings syndrome. Since the pituitary governs the entire endocrine system, a number of conditions are associated with the disease. Cushing's disease is also referred to as hyperadrenocorticism.

A horse with Cushings usually develops the condition in the mid to late years of life (average age, 20 years), although it is sometimes diagnosed in horses as young as seven. 

Horses with cushings will drink in excess of 20 gallons of water a day, they urinate constantly and are usually unable to shed their coats. So here in florida it can be pretty miserable. 

 I also have a dog with cushings... so I have some experience with the disease.


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