Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

After introductions, the group discussed the workshop that the NE 2202 members organized at the Equine Science Society meeting. All agreed it was well attended, generated good discussion and attracted several new people to the annual meeting.

 For the upcoming year, Drs. Lawrence, Bradbery, and Coleman (Stephen) agreed to continue as the coordinators for the coming year. Laurie will submit the annual report.

We planned a couple of logistical goals/milestones. These were:

 To establish a OneDrive folder accessible to the group, where we can start sharing and collecting information. This would include methods, terms, and concepts that would help us have a standard reference and provide material for scientific review, extension, and teaching materials.

• Our next milestone was to plan for our next meeting (virtual) for early August.

 We discussed  several goals to work on/accomplish this year. These were:

 Add terms and definitions to our glossary for discussion at the August meeting – Due August 1^st, 2025

• Get Amy Biddle’s notes/outline for a methodology review paper. If available, these could be added to the OneDrive.
• At the August meeting, we will discuss the glossary and review article, as well as plan for the next annual business meeting.

 Some other ideas discussed: STEM education resources, Extension publications, and Webinars. We also discussed how we might structure our group as a consortium for the future to advance the equine microbiome, using the Earth microbiome or gut microbiome projects as a guide. We decided to focus on the goals listed above because they are perhaps more tangible and should give us a chance to build our group so that we can tackle these other objectives.

Short Term Outcome: Additional scientists participated in the annual meeting

Outputs: 

Publications:

 Carter MM, Leatherwood JL, Paris BL, Moore GE, George JM, Martinez RE, Karges K, Cox JR, Arnold CE, Glass KG, Bradbery AN, Rodiles A, Wickersham TA.  Influence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-1077 on the fecal pH, markers of gut permeability, fecal microbiota, and markers of systemic inflammation in sedentary horses fed a high-starch diet. J Anim Sci. 2025 Jan 4;103:skaf005.  https://doi:10.1093/jas/skaf005.

Geisheimer, C., Bennett-Wimbush and Mastellar, S. 2025. Does trailer loading stress influence horse fecal pH? J. Equine Vet. Sci. 148:97. https://doi.org/10.1016/jevs.2025.105521

Lee, A., Endfinger, A., Hayes S., and Lawrence, L. 2025. Effect of inulin on in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility using equine fecal inoculum. J. Equine Vet. Sci. 148:74. https://doi.org/10.1016/jevs.2025.105498

Mork, M., Conrad, M.B., Trauner, A., Hull, J., Hawkins, M, Robley, B., Larson, P., Pinkham, N., Wolfe, T, Wang, Q., Walk, S. and Bradbery, A. 2025. J. Equine Vet. Sci. 148:88. https://doi.org/10.1016/jevs.2025.105512

Moss CD, Wilson AL, Reed KJ, Jennings KJ, Kunz IGZ, Landolt GA, Metcalf J, Engle TE, Coleman SJ.  Gene expression analysis before and after the pelvic flexure in the epithelium of the equine hindgut. Animals (Basel). 2024 Aug 8;14(16):2303.https://doi:10.3390/ani14162303.

Whitehouse, C. and Lawrence, L. 2025. Age related effects on fecal particle size and composition. J. Equine Vet. Sci. 148:85. https://doi.org/10.1016/jevs.2025.105509

 Accomplishments

Workshop at Equine Science Symposium, Friday June 6, 2025. Ft. Collins CO

Straight from the horse’s mouth (gut, skin, reproductive tract, etc.): Investigating the equine microbiome.

Moderator: S. Coleman, Colorado State University

Panelists: C. Arnold, Texas Tech University, TX; J. Sones, and J. Metcalf, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, US

Each panelist introduced their research areas related to the equine microbiome. Dr. Metcalf described the Colorado State Microbiome Group, which encompasses animals and plants and offers a graduate certificate. The program coordinates workshops and centralizes laboratory resources across campus to facilitate data generation.

Dr. Sones’ program focuses on the microbiome of the reproductive tract in mares. She

is actively investigating the equine uterine, placental and vaginal microbiomes, but also uses other animal models in her work.  Her interests include the use of prebiotics and probiotics as potential interventions in sub-fertile mares.

Dr. Arnold’s research involves the role of the microbiome in relation to colitis, antibiotic associated diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disturbances in horses. She is interested in characterizing both the normal and abnormal communities, as well as the immunological interactions between microbes and their host.

Approximately 50 industry professionals, research scientists, graduate students and undergraduate students participated in the workshop. Participants posed a variety of questions and comments that generated discussion among panelist and attendees. Main themes included the importance of pairing accurate metadata with standardized sample collection, increasing understanding of basic microbial ecology, increasing the number of microbes that are identifiable and also defining their functional roles. The ability to characterize normal/typical communities as well as non-normal/atypical communities was emphasized. The factors that may result in variation within a community were discussed as possible research targets (diet, geographical region, age, etc). Clarity in terminology and communication with the public was also emphasized.

 Milestones

A 2025 workshop was organized and held

 Carter MM, Leatherwood JL, Paris BL, Moore GE, George JM, Martinez RE, Karges K, Cox JR, Arnold CE, Glass KG, Bradbery AN, Rodiles A, Wickersham TA.  Influence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-1077 on the fecal pH, markers of gut permeability, fecal microbiota, and markers of systemic inflammation in sedentary horses fed a high-starch diet. J Anim Sci. 2025 Jan 4;103:skaf005.  https://doi:10.1093/jas/skaf005.

Geisheimer, C., Bennett-Wimbush and Mastellar, S. 2025. Does trailer loading stress influence horse fecal pH? J. Equine Vet. Sci. 148:97. https://doi.org/10.1016/jevs.2025.105521

Lee, A., Endfinger, A., Hayes S., and Lawrence, L. 2025. Effect of inulin on in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility using equine fecal inoculum. J. Equine Vet. Sci. 148:74. https://doi.org/10.1016/jevs.2025.105498

Mork, M., Conrad, M.B., Trauner, A., Hull, J., Hawkins, M, Robley, B., Larson, P., Pinkham, N., Wolfe, T, Wang, Q., Walk, S. and Bradbery, A. 2025. J. Equine Vet. Sci. 148:88. https://doi.org/10.1016/jevs.2025.105512

Moss CD, Wilson AL, Reed KJ, Jennings KJ, Kunz IGZ, Landolt GA, Metcalf J, Engle TE, Coleman SJ.  Gene expression analysis before and after the pelvic flexure in the epithelium of the equine hindgut. Animals (Basel). 2024 Aug 8;14(16):2303.https://doi:10.3390/ani14162303.

Whitehouse, C. and Lawrence, L. 2025. Age related effects on fecal particle size and composition. J. Equine Vet. Sci. 148:85. https://doi.org/10.1016/jevs.2025.105509