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Effect of Conditioning Horses with Runs of 100 Meters at Near Maximal Speed Alone or in Combination with Low Intensity Exercise
Author(s) -
Signorini R,
Lascio N,
Brero L,
Genolet J,
Lindner A
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/evj.12267_28
Subject(s) - medicine , horse , conditioning , analysis of variance , blood lactate , repeated measures design , zoology , physical therapy , mathematics , heart rate , blood pressure , statistics , biology , paleontology
Introduction Exercising horses one, two, or three times per week during 6 weeks using two intervals with near‐maximal speed over 100 m elicited a decrease of VL a4, a widely accepted parameter of fitness and competitive success of horses (speed at which, under defined conditions, the blood lactate concentration reaches 4 mmol/l). Therefore, two field studies were performed to examine the possibility of avoiding decline in VL a4 with this type of exercise. Methods Study 1) 6 horses were submitted to the same exercise as above once per week during the first 2 weeks of a conditioning period ( CP ) adding one interval in each exercise session every 2 weeks for the following 6 weeks. Study 2) 6 horses did the same as horses in study 1 plus once per week an exercise bout at their individual VL a2 during 35 minutes. Before, every 2 weeks during, and 2 weeks after the CP , horses were subjected to standardized exercise tests to determine their VL a4 (and VL a2 where convenient) and maximal speed (speedmax). The effect of conditioning on VL a4 and speedmax was examined using two‐way repeated measures analysis of variance and Fisher's test. Results In study 1 mean VL a4 declined during the first 4 weeks of CP but increased to the initial level thereafter (P<0.05) while speedmax remained the same over time. In study 2 VL a4 decreased continuously (P<0.01) while speedmax increased (P<0.01). Conclusions The results might be important to train horses racing over different distances. Ethical Animal Research All procedures were approved by the Bioethical Committee of the University Nacional del Litoral, Esperanza, A rgentina. Sources of funding: Verein zur Förderung der Forschung im Pferdesport, G ermany, AVIGAN Alimentos Balanceados and Pellfood. Competing interests: none.