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Effect of conditioning horses every third day at v 10 on measures of fitness
Author(s) -
Lindner A.,
López R. A.,
Durante E.,
Hernandez H.,
Botta V.,
Sadaba S.,
Boffi F. M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1439-0396
pISSN - 0931-2439
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0396.2010.01053.x
Subject(s) - blood lactate , horse , zoology , heart rate , treadmill , conditioning , medicine , exercise prescription , physical therapy , mathematics , blood pressure , biology , statistics , paleontology
Summary This study examined the effect of exercising horses five times per fortnight with two bouts of 5 min duration at their v 10 with 2 days between consecutive exercise sessions. Five Anglo‐Arabian horses were treadmill‐conditioned for 6 weeks. A standardized exercise test (SET) was performed at the beginning of the conditioning period (CP) to determine the blood lactate‐running speed (BLRS) and the heart rate‐running speed (HRRS) relationship and the SET was repeated every 2 weeks. After each SET, the BLRS relation was used to calculate the horse’s speed (v = velocity), which produced a blood lactate concentration (LA) of 10 mmol/l (v 10 ) and 4 mmol/l (v 4 ). From the HRRS was calculated the speed at which the horses had a heart rate of 180 b/min (v 180 ). Each horse was then conditioned for the next 2 weeks five times at its individual v 10 for two 5‐min bouts. Exercise speed was individually adapted to the new v 10 every 2 weeks. In addition, horses were submitted to another SET prescription to determine the peak oxygen consumption (VO 2peak ) before, after 3 weeks and at the end of CP. The v 4 of horses increased during the CP (p < 0.05). v 180 did not change (p > 0.05). VO 2peak increased in the first 3 weeks of CP (p < 0.05) and levelled off afterwards (p > 0.05). The conclusion drawn was that exercising horses five times per fortnight at their v 10 for two 5‐min bouts with 2 days between consecutive exercise sessions improved v 4 and VO 2peak but not v 180 .