Topic:Horse Training
Horse training involves the systematic process of teaching horses specific behaviors and skills to enhance their performance and manageability. This process encompasses a variety of techniques and methods tailored to the individual horse's temperament, age, and intended use, such as riding, racing, or working. Training regimens aim to develop desired traits such as obedience, agility, and endurance while ensuring the horse's physical and mental well-being. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of horse training, including methodologies, behavioral outcomes, and the impact on equine welfare and performance.
[Adaptation to hypoxia as a factor enhancing work capacity]. The results of applying N. N. Sirotinin's concept of the use of hypoxic adaptation to enhance working capacity are given. There is evidence for the efficiency of adaptation of trotters to two hypoxias: to hypoxic hypoxia (in the midmountains) and to exercise hypoxia (during interval training under the conditions of Moscow) for increasing their performance. These studies demonstrated that in the midmountains, the trotters had more infrequent respiration, increased respiratory and minute respiratory volumes which were more obvious by the end of a monthly mountain stay. The monthly training of tr...
Patterns of health maintenance on Michigan equine operations. Data from two 12 month prospective monitoring programs that followed management, economics and animal health from randomly-sampled equine operations in Michigan were used to determine patterns of health maintenance. Health maintenance measures were grouped, and average uses per year were computed for the most-common measures reported: respiratory, Potomac Horse Fever, neurological and multiple-system vaccinations, deworming, and general farrier work. Factors examined for potential association with health maintenance measure use were numbers of equids and horse-days on the operation, average ag...
The significance of routine radiographic findings with respect to subsequent racing performance and longevity in standardbred trotters. A retrospective cohort study was made of the racing performance of trotters which had been subjected routinely to radiography before they started training and racing. Sixty-one per cent (148) of the 243 horses, foaled in 3 consecutive years, had one or more abnormal findings categorised into 5 relevant groups based on radiography, of which osteochondrosis (OCD) was the most specific diagnosis. Parameters used to reflect racing performance were: proportion of horses starting in races, number of starts per year, earnings per year, earnings per start and racing longevity. No significant associati...
Evaluation of young or unproven horses for potential exercise intolerance. The determination of poor performance in the young or unproven horse can be a difficult experience for the practitioner. This article describes an incremental exercise test that may be helpful in determining the cause of poor performance in horses when a complete physical examination and a lameness examination fail to elucidate the causes of poor performance. Included are values from normal yearling and 2-year-old horses that have undergone the incremental exercise test.
Exercise intolerance and poor performance in western performance and sprint horses. This article deals with the presenting histories, clinical examinations, and therapies of the causes of poor performance and exercise intolerance in the western performance horse and the sprint racehorse. The veterinarian's ability to diagnose and treat various pathophysiologic conditions that affect these horses is crucial to the major goals of a return to optimal performance and a long athletic career. Although these horses are a significant portion of most veterinary practices, there exists a minimal amount of information on their clinical evaluation and treatment. This article intends to f...
Use of statistical models to evaluate racing performance in thoroughbreds. To develop a statistical model to evaluate the influence of specific parameters on racing performance in Thoroughbreds. Methods: Survey. Methods: Racing records of Thoroughbreds performing in Louisiana from 1981 to 1985. Methods: Race results for 20 randomly selected days from 5 racetracks during 5 years were analyzed, using regression analysis. Results: The most influential parameter was distance raced. There were significant differences in racing performance among horses at different tracks. At the tracks examined, fast racing surfaces resulted in significantly faster finish times than good ...
Cardio-respiratory and plasma lactate responses to exercise with low draught resistances in standardbred trotters. Five Standardbred trotters performed treadmill exercise with incrementally increasing trotting velocities for 2 min intervals in three different tests until fatigue. Each test was performed with draught loads of either 10, 20 or 30 kilopond (kp). Each trotting interval was followed by 2 min periods at a walk without draught load. Recordings were made of heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), plasma lactate (PLA) and stride frequency (SF) at the end of each trotting interval. The HR increased to average values of 191 +/- 10,203 +/- 10 and 214 +/- 7 bpm and PLA increased to 3.8 +/- 0.7, 7.3 +/-...
[Course of blood levels of calcium, inorganic phosphate, alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid hormone and calcidiol (25-OH-D3) in one and two year old thoroughbred horses]. The present study was aimed to determine the contents of calcium, inorganic phosphate, parathormon, 25-OH-D3 and the activity of alkaline phosphatase in the plasma of one- and two-years-old thoroughbred horses. Data were obtained monthly from 44 one-year-old thoroughbred of 4 different studs from May during grazing-season and from October during stable-, resp. training-season up to april of the following year. Calcium, inorganic phosphate and the activity of alkaline phosphatase were measured with a photometric method and the concentration of PTH and 25-OH-D3 were determined with a radioimmuno...
Exercise intolerance in endurance horses. Endurance competition requires synchronism and development of metabolic and musculoskeletal systems. An understanding of the existence of performance-limiting factors may permit the detection of exercise intolerance that could lead to performance failure, fatigue, and exhaustion. New concepts for assessment of fitness have increased the understanding of individual capacities and deficiencies and the interaction of the different systems involved in exercise.
Changes in maximum oxygen uptake during prolonged training, overtraining, and detraining in horses. Thirteen standardbred horses were trained as follows: phase 1 (endurance training, 7 wk), phase 2 (high-intensity training, 9 wk), phase 3 (overload training, 18 wk), and phase 4 (detraining, 12 wk). In phase 3, the horses were divided into two groups: overload training (OLT) and control (C). The OLT group exercised at greater intensities, frequencies, and durations than group C. Overtraining occurred after 31 wk of training and was defined as a significant decrease in treadmill run time in response to a standardized exercise test. In the OLT group, there was a significant decrease in body wei...
High-speed exercise history and catastrophic racing fracture in thoroughbreds. To investigate the relation between several racing speed history characteristics and risk of fatal skeletal injury (FSI) in racing Thoroughbreds. Methods: 64 Thoroughbreds euthanatized during a 9-month period in 1991 at a California racemeet because of a catastrophic fracture incurred while racing (cases), identified retrospectively. For each race in which an FSI occurred, 1 control horse was randomly selected from the noncatastrophically injured participants. Methods: Racing and officially timed workout histories were obtained for each horse. Several history characteristics were calculated to...
Correlation between myofibrillar ATPase activity and myosin heavy chain composition in equine skeletal muscle and the influence of training. The histochemical myofibrillar ATPase (mATPase) method is used routinely for identification of equine skeletal muscle fiber types, but important problems have been observed with the subdivision of fast fiber population when using this method. To verify the use of this qualitative method, a number of equine muscle biopsies were analyzed with a combination of histochemical, immunohistochemical, electrophoretic, and morphometric techniques. The influence of training on these interrelations was also evaluated. Methods: Five young (2-3 years old) thoroughbred horses were intensively trained for 8 m...
Muscle biopsy as a tool for assessing muscular adaptation to training in horses. To describe an applied method for quantitative estimation of training condition in horses. Methods: 17 sedentary adult (5 to 14 years old) stallions of several breeds endurance trained for 3 months. Methods: Muscle biopsy specimens from 2 depths (20 and 60 mm) of the gluteus medius muscle were obtained before and after training and were analyzed for fiber type distribution, mean cross-sectional area, relative fiber area, and mean number of capillaries in contact with each fiber type relative to their mean area. Fiber types were designated as types 1, 2A, and 2B (high, low, and moderate myosin ...
Prerace venous blood acid-base values in standardbred horses. The administration of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or 'milk shakes' to Standardbred horses before racing is widespread. This study analysed nonrace day (CTL) and prerace venous acid-base values from Standardbred horses racing in Pennsylvania (PA) and New Jersey (NJ). Mean +/- s.d. CTL bicarbonate (HCO3) and base excess (BE) values, for a group of horses stabled during the 1993 racing season at Pocono Downs, Pennsylvania, were 28.6 +/- 1.9 and 2.6 +/- 1.7 mmol/l, respectively. In the same population of horses, mean +/- s.d. values for prerace HCO3- and BE values were 33.1 +/- 2.8 and 7.0 +/- 2.3...
Minimal redistribution of pulmonary blood flow with exercise in racehorses. We determined the spatial distribution of pulmonary blood flow at rest and during increasing levels of exercise (34, 59, and 90% of maximal oxygen consumption) in Thoroughbred racehorses (n = 4) using 15-microns fluorescent microspheres. After the horses were killed, the lungs were flushed free of blood, removed, air-dried at total lung capacity, and sliced into isogravitational planes, which were sampled in a systematic fashion for three-dimensional reconstruction. The fluorescence was measured for quantification of blood flow. Mean pulmonary blood flow heterogeneity (expressed as a coefficie...
Preventing equestrian injuries. Locking the stable door. The medical and sports literature databases were searched for equestrian sports-related injury published in English since 1980, together with conference abstracts and discussions with equestrian sporting bodies. This literature was critically reviewed, with emphasis on measures to prevent or control injury i.e. countermeasures. While there is considerable literature available on the epidemiology of injury incurred in most equestrian sports, there is little on the prevention of these injuries. Case-control or other studies evaluating the effectiveness of the countermeasures suggested by authors...
Use of the relationship between blood lactate and running speed to determine the exercise intensity of horses. Eight thoroughbred horses, trained for racing competition, were subjected to a standardised incremental speed test to determine the relationship between their blood lactate concentrations and running speed. Between 14 days before and 14 days after completing the standardised exercise test, the horses were timed for runs of 2000 to 6000 m. The blood lactate concentration after each run was measured and compared with the blood lactate concentration predicted from the individual horse's blood lactate-running speed relationship curve determined from the standardised exercise test. The relationship...
Effects of altered FIO2 on maximum VO2 in the horse. Although the horse is considered an elite athlete with a specific VO2max some 2-4 times higher than man, maximal O2 transport is compromised both by moderately severe arterial desaturation and by failure to extract all O2 from blood perfusing exercising muscle. This prompted the present study to ascertain whether correction of arterial desaturation would proportionally augment VO2max and, if so, would O2 extraction behave in a manner predicted by diffusional transport limitation. Six two year old thoroughbreds were exercised to VO2max on a treadmill each on three separate occasions breathing g...
Horseshoe characteristics as possible risk factors for fatal musculoskeletal injury of thoroughbred racehorses. To evaluate selected shoe characteristics as risk factors for fatal musculoskeletal injury (FMI) and specifically for suspensory apparatus failure (SAF) and cannon bone condylar fracture (CDY) of Thoroughbred racehorses in California. Methods: Case-control study. Methods: Thoroughbred racehorses (n = 201) that died of were euthanatized at California racetracks between August 1992 and July 1994. Methods: Shoe characteristics were compared between case horses affected by FMI (155), SAF (79), and CDY (41) and control horses that died for reasons unrelated to the appendicular musculoskeletal syste...
[Changes of serum enzymes, lactate and hemoglobin concentrations in the blood of young trotting horses due to training exertion]. Until the age of about 2 years, trotters normally grow up on pasture without any kind of training. In the stud farm Lindenhof (Templin, Germany), however, these first 2 years are used for a special fitness training for the young animals: 2-3 times a week, a group of the yearlings is forced to run a distance of about 1700 m on a track at an average speed of up to 10 m/s. Until now, little was known about changes of blood parameters which may occur during such special exercise. This study therefore investigated the activity of selected serum enzymes (aspartate-amino-transferase (AST), alanine-am...
Modified ventilated capsule for the measurement of sweating rate in the exercising horse. Modification of a ventilated capsule technique for the measurement of sweating rate (SR) is described for application in an exercising horse. The plastic capsule was sealed against the coat of the horse. Dry air was blown through the capsule over the skin and the change in absolute humidity (g/m3) between air entering and leaving the capsule was used to calculate SR. The effect of flow rate on the response characteristics of the system was investigated and measured over a range of sweating rates in a group of horses completing a short exercise test. Repeatability of SR measurements made at 2 s...
Muscle biopsy index for discriminating between endurance horses with different performance records. Biopsies were taken from three different depths of the gluteus medius muscle of 36 endurance horses aged between four and 17 years. Twenty of the horses were considered excellent performers according to their three fastest records in endurance events over the previous two or three years. The other 16 horses were moderate performers, with a mean racing speed < 3.5 ms-1 (in 120 to 180 km endurance rides), < 4.0 ms-1 (in 80 to 120 km endurance rides) or < 3.75 ms-1 (in 40 to 60 km endurance rides). The biopsy specimens were analysed for fibre type distribution (type I, IIA and IIB), fibr...
Character and duration of pharmacological effects of intravenous isoxsuprine. Isoxsuprine is a therapeutic medication used to treat navicular disease and other lower limb problems in horses and is one of the more frequently detected therapeutic agents in racing horses. In a crossover study, horses were administered isoxsuprine i.v. to determine the character and duration of its pharmacological effects. Isoxsuprine significantly increased heart rate 5-150 min following injection. Unrestrained activity following isoxsuprine treatment was significantly greater than control activity for 105 min after treatment. There was an apparent, although statistically nonsignificant, i...
Sweat fluid and ion losses in horses during training and competition in cool vs. hot ambient conditions: implications for ion supplementation. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine incremental and total sweat fluid and ion losses during and following (a) exercise training and (b) a treadmill Speed and Endurance exercise test (SEET) which simulated running speeds and distances required for each phase of an Olympic level (CCI****) 3-day-event in cool and hot ambient conditions and 2) determine the requirement for ion supplementation based on the calculated ion losses associated with these activities. Six exercise-trained Thoroughbred horses completed 2 weeks of exercise training in each of 2 ambient conditions: cool, dry (...
Acid-base and electrolyte effects of shortening steeplechase in a three-day-event. This study was designed to characterise the acid-base and electrolyte effects of shortening the distance required during steeplechase (Phase B) in the face of hot and humid weather conditions during a treadmill-simulated Speed and Endurance test. Eight conditioned Thoroughbred horses underwent 3 randomised permutations of a standardised exercise test on a high speed treadmill. Each test consisted of trotting at 3.7 m/s for 10 min (Phase A); galloping at 11 m/s (Phase B) for 4 (cool laboratory conditions), 3 (hot and humid), or 2 (hot and humid) min; trotting at 3.7 m/s for 30 min (Phase C); an...
Adaptations to daily exercise in hot and humid ambient conditions in trained thoroughbred horses. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine the effects of heat and high relative humidity (RH) on the clinical and physiological responses of horses during and after daily exercise training and 2) determine whether repeated exposure to, and exercise in, the heat would result in improved thermal tolerance (heat acclimation). Six trained Thoroughbred horses completed 1 h of submaximal exercise in cool, dry conditions (CD) and during a daily 4 h period of exposure to high heat and humidity (HH, room temperature = 33-35 degrees C, RH = 80-85%) for 22 days. Rectal temperature (Tre) and hear...
Dietary fat affects heat production and other variables of equine performance, under hot and humid conditions. Does dietary fat supplementation during conditioning improve athletic performance, especially in the heat? Fat adaptation has been used to increase energy density, decrease bowel bulk and faecal output and reduce health risks associated with hydrolysable carbohydrate overload. It may also reduce spontaneous activity and reactivity (excitability), increase fatty acid oxidation, reduce CO2 production and associated acidosis, enhance metabolic regulation of glycolysis, improve both aerobic and anaerobic performance and substantially reduce heat production. A thermochemical analysis of ATP generat...
Resistance training-induced increases in muscle mass and performance in ponies. The purpose of this study was to determine whether 8 wk of progressive resistance exercise training would produce increases in strength and changes in foreleg muscle characteristics indicative of hypertrophy in ponies. Two mature 3- to 6-yr-old, male ponies (188 +/- 16 kg) were taught to carry sheets of lead over their saddle region (wither) while walking on a level treadmill at 1.9 m.s-1. This initial familiarization period was followed by 8 wk of training (3 d per wk), in which the ponies performed a series of progressive sets of weight carrying to fatigue. Each workout started with a 2-min ...
Accumulation of uric acid in plasma after repeated bouts of exercise in the horse. Plasma concentration of uric acid, total peroxyl radical-trapping antioxidative parameter (TRAP), blood lactate concentration and plasma activity of xanthine oxidase (XO) were measured in six Standardbreed trotters after six bouts of exercise with increasing intensity on two separate days three days apart. Blood samples were taken immediately, 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 min after each heat and 2, 4, and 6 hr after the last heat. Exercise caused an increase in TRAP and in the concentrations of lactate and uric acid. Plasma uric acid concentration increased exponentially with respect to time after the...