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Determination and repeatability of maximum oxygen uptake and other cardiorespiratory measurements in the exercising horse
Author(s) -
EVANS D. L.,
ROSE R. J.
Publication year - 1988
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/j.2042-3306.1988.tb01467.x
Subject(s) - cardiorespiratory fitness , heart rate , horse , treadmill , repeatability , vo2 max , medicine , cardiology , mathematics , physical therapy , blood pressure , statistics , biology , paleontology
Summary A rapid incremental treadmill exercise test was used to determine the repeatability of the following measurements in exercising horses: maximal oxygen consumption (V̇o 2 max), maximal heart rate (HRmax), velocity at a heart rate of 200 beats/min (V̇‐200), oxygen consumption at a heart rate of 200 beats/min (V̇o 2‐ 200), oxygen consumption at HRmax (V̇o 2 ‐HRmax), work rate at a heart rate of 200 beats/min (W‐200), work rate at HRmax (W‐HRmax) and treadmill velocity at HRmax (V‐HRmax). Six Standardbred geldings were exercised on three separate occasions on a treadmill set at an inclination of 6°. The exercise protocol was that each horse was exercised for 2 mins at 3 m/sec, after which the treadmill speed was increased by 1 m/sec every 60 secs, until the horse could no longer maintain its speed. A minimum of 24 h was allowed between repeated tests. No significant differences were found between the three means of any of the eight cardiorespiratory variables with repeated measurement. Variables with high coefficients of variation (>10 per cent) included V‐HRmax, W‐HRmax and V̇o 2 ‐HRmax. The V‐200, W‐200 and V̇o 2‐ 200 showed less variation. The V̇o 2 max showed good reproducibility, there being coefficients of variation ranging from 1.4 to 9.0 per cent. The individual horse values for V̇o 2 max ranged from 104 to 169 ml/kg bodyweight/min. Maximal heart rate was also highly reproducible and the coefficients of variation were less than or equal to 2.7 per cent in all horses. It is concluded that the measurement of V̇o 2 max has good reproducibility, but other estimates of maximal aerobic capacity are less precise.