Kristine Urschel, PhD, assistant professor in Animal and Food Sciences at the University of Kentucky, has been awarded a two-year $100,000 grant by the Morris Animal Foundation. Her study will be supervised by David Horohov, PhD, William Robert Mills Chair in Equine Immunology at the Gluck Equine Research Center, and she will be assisted by PhD student Ashley Wagner.

Urschel is studying the change in protein synthesis rates as horses age in order to develop better feeding and management strategies for their later years so they will maintain muscle. In the two-part study investigators first will examine whole-body and muscle rates of protein synthesis in mature (approximately 8-14 years old) versus older (older than 20 years old) horses to document changes in synthesis rates over time. Then they will compare whole-body and muscle rates of protein synthesis in older horses exhibiting symptoms of equine Cushing’s disease and those without Cushing’s.

Urschel anticipates this will be the first in a series of studies during the next several years about protein synthesis in geriatric horses. The end goal of the research will be to “develop dietary or management strategies to maintain muscle and quality of life (in aging horses), be that through changes in diet, or the development of a low-impact exercise program, or some other management strategy,” she explained.

Urschel said because horses have become “part of the family,” more owners are retiring their horses, which are living into their late 20s and early 30s. This research could impact many horse owners, from those with large competition barns to those with a few horses in the backyard