ПОШИРЕННЯ І ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА СЕРЦЕВИХ ШУМІВ У СПОРТИВНИХ КОНЕЙ

The paper presents the research results dissemination heart murmurs among sport horses and their impact on the performance of the animals. The studies were conducted on horses Ukrainian, Hanoverian and Westphalian warmblood and English thoroughbred breed used in classical equestrian sport.The clinical studies included measurements of body temperature, counting pulse rate and breathing, rate, cardiac shock, cardiac tones and murmurs. The criteria for evaluation of heart murmurs were: time of appearance, location, intensity, belonging to the cardiac phase (systole or diastole). Heart murmurs evaluated on a scale of 1 to 6. The studies were conducted at rest and not earlier than 2–hours after exercise.Heart sounds were recorded in 64% of sport horses, but most of them had no clinical significance since only 6.7% of the studied animals was reduced performance. Most recorded systolic murmurs (mitral valve – 20% of horses, tricuspid valve – 24%, pulmonary artery – 8%, aortic valve – 4% of the animals), rarely diastolic (aortic valve – 8% of horses).Our studies suggest that the prevalence of heart murmurs in sport horses depends on the age of the animals, exercise, functional and morphological changes valvular heart caused by constant exposure to sports training and more. However, to confirm these findings required further investigation.