This week has been relatively quiet on the equine science news front, but there's still been some great stories in the news. Here's my weekly round-up:

Australian scientists have found that giving stabled horses one hour of exercise a day makes for happier horses.

Dr Raf Freire, a lecturer in animal behaviour and welfare from the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at Charles Stuart University carried out a study involving 24 horses each of which was allocated one of four daily exercises: walker, treadmill, turn-out into a paddock and riding.

All of the horses were then tested to see their responses to being handled and stables during various tasks. Dr Freire said: "We found that the exercise regimes significantly reduced the amount of unwanted behaviour and the number of commands given by the handler."

The work found that the horse's welfare and thus handler safety was improved by this daily exercise regime. Many owners can already testify to having a happy horse when they are given daily turnout and exercise, so this latest piece of research just confirms this.

A few days ago, the website Horsetalk announced that $1million would be going to help a researcher at the University of Guelph to develop research to help treat cartilage injuries in horses

Thomas Koch has been awarded a post-doctoral fellowship by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation to study the use of stem cells to repair damaged equine cartilages. He will be working with researchers from both veterinary and human medicine labs in Sweden, Canada and the United States.

His work relies on obtaining stem cells from the umbilical cord blood of foals - a completely non-invasive method. The work is not only going to be useful for injured horses, but has relevance to human treatments as well.

By isolating te stem cells into their different types, they hope to find which cell characteristics have the most potential for treating injuries. The scientists will use a special type of stem cells, known as mesenchymal stem cells, which grow into connective tissue, muscle and bone. They then hope that these can be combined with engineered grafts of cartilage and bone-like material to treat injuries in the stifle joint.

Since the horse's stifle joint is similar to the human knee, there is hope that this work will have an impact on human injuries too. Koch is quoted on Horsetalk.co.nz as saying, "If we can make it work in horses, then there is the potential to apply the same principles to make it work in people too."

There's also good news about colic - one of every owner's biggest worries. TheHorse.com have published some news detailing that colic surgery now has a better survival rate than before.

A review of equine colic surgery was recently written by Gal Kelmer, DVM, MS from the Koret Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was published in the August issue of the Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice.

The horse's long intestine and colon can result in twisted guts which can make it difficult for blood and oxygen to reach the internal tissue causing it to due and need removing. But the shear size of the horse means that surgery and anaesthesia can carry high risks, not to mention the huge pressure put on the horses body cavity by their large abdomen.

Now TheHorse.com have reported that Kelmer has said: "We now have decent techniques to close the abdomen with confidence that the incision can hold."

This combined with the fact that dead tissue can now be isolated and removed surgically from the intestines, without the loss of the whole organ means that colic surgery is now slightly less risky than it was many years ago.

Finally, if any of you are English cricket fans, then here's an interesting piece of trivia for you. Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff one of England's best cricketers might have some pretty amazing achievements, but it's all thanks to a little horse help. Flintoff has a rather painful right knee and in order to maintain the physical fitness required to play international cricket he requires constant injections in the joint to reduce inflammation.

According to the website JustaTheory:
"The England medical team inject him with Ostenil, which is effectively a lubricating liquid, made by purifying bacteria that is originally found in horse entrails."

Ostenil is considered a safer alternative to steroids, since it doesn't carry the risk of permanent muscle and ligament damage, and it provides pain relief for up to two days after the injection is administered. The chemical is now completely synthesised by scientists in the lab, but originally the bacteria came from the horse's gut.

That's all for this week's round up, but don't forget to challenge yourself to our weekly trivia question - do you know the answer?

What is Urticaria?
1. An infection of the bladder
2. A type of internal growth, or tumour
3. A fly which can cause warbles
4. A rash, usually due to an allergic reaction

The answer can be found on my profile page by clicking here.