Performance horses are equines specifically trained and conditioned for activities that require a high level of athleticism, such as racing, dressage, show jumping, and eventing. These horses undergo specialized training regimens to enhance their physical capabilities, including speed, endurance, agility, and strength. The management of performance horses often involves tailored nutrition plans, regular veterinary care, and specific conditioning programs to optimize their performance and minimize the risk of injury. This topic covers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the physiology, training methodologies, health management, and performance outcomes of these horses in various competitive disciplines.
Cheung E, Mills D, Ventura BA.There is concern amongst the public, equestrians, animal welfare organisations, and horse-sport governing bodies regarding the welfare of performance horses, but equestrian culture appears slow to change. The present study seeks to increase our understanding of human factors underlying the persistence of welfare-compromising management and training practices within the performance horse world. Individual, semi-structured interviews focused on equestrians' attitudes were conducted with 22 equestrians from classical equestrian disciplines in the US, Canada, and the UK. Interview transcripts were...
Douglas M, Williams J, Randle H.Recent research has highlighted the detrimental impact of an ill-fitting saddle on equine health, welfare and performance. A correctly fitting saddle may not fit if positioned incorrectly. Objective: This study assessed riders' ability to visually evaluate saddle position and examine factors that influenced accuracy of assessment. Methods: Survey participants were provided with photographs of a series of saddles on horses obtained from the lateral aspect of the left side of the horse. Saddles were either correctly positioned (n = 5), too far forward (n = 5) or too far back (n = 2). This was in...
Hopkins E, Whitrod S, Marlin D, Blake R.Noseband tightness has received increasing attention within equitation science, however, there is little research into how this effects equine behaviour or performance. Objective: 1) determine the peak pressures under noseband in vivo at three different tightness; 2) assess limb and back kinematics at different noseband tightness. Methods: Noseband tightness (n = 8 horses) was set using an International Society for Equine Science (ISES) taper gauge with the three settings being; "two fingers (2F)", "one finger (1F)" and "zero fingers (0F)". Peak pressure under noseband was determined using pre...
Chanutin SS, Elliott CRB, Fielding AS, Brown PM, McCreary CA, Bennet ED, Davis W.To provide performance data of warmblood jumping horses following colic surgery. Unassigned: This retrospective case series reviewed clinical records of 5 equine hospitals with the inclusion criteria of warmblood horses undergoing colic surgery between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2021, surviving to discharge, and being registered as a hunter or jumper with the US Equestrian Federation. Clinical data included age, sex, and lesion type. Performance data included discipline, jump height, number of starts, number of wins, and number of placings. Pre- and postoperative data were analyzed sepa...
Ding W, Gong W, Bou T, Shi L, Lin Y, Shi X, Li Z, Wu H, Dugarjaviin M, Bai D.The core objective of racehorse breeding is to enhance the speed and endurance of the horses. The Grassland-Thoroughbred is an emerging horse breed developed in northern China in recent years, characterized by excellent speed performance, enduring stamina, and strong environmental adaptability. However, research on the genetic characteristics within this breed and the genes associated with athletic performance remains relatively limited. We conducted whole-genome resequencing of Grassland-Thoroughbred F1, F2, F3, and the crossbred population (CY) and obtained a total of 4056.23 Gb of high-qual...
Knox AL, Fenner K, Zsoldos RR, Wilson B, McGreevy P.The off-the-track Thoroughbred's (OTTTB's) suitability for equestrian retraining and rehoming should always be subject to behavioral considerations. Certain attributes may be advantageous to a horse's racing performance but unfavorable to their prospects off the track. It is important to gain a non-biased understanding of how Thoroughbreds (TBs) in equestrian disciplines compare with other horses behaviorally, to minimize risks of poor welfare and safety outcomes. The current study used owner-reported information ( = 1633) from the Equine Behavior Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ)...
Ruspi BD, Bramlage LR, Ruggles AJ, Slone SA.To report the rate of survival, rate of return to racing, and quality of racing performance following surgical fixation of medial condylar fractures. Methods: Retrospective study. Methods: A total of 150 Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses surgically treated for medial condylar fracture (100 lag screw fixation, 50 plate fixation). Methods: Medical records, radiographs, and racing databases (2000-2020) were reviewed to collect signalment, fracture characteristics, fixation methods, survival rate, and complication rate. Change in racing performance was assessed using Wilcoxon rank sum tests...
Irving J, Pineau V, Shultz S, Ter Woort F, Julien F, Lambey S, van Erck-Westergren E.Equine gastric disease (EGD) is a common condition in performance horses (), potentially compromising behaviour, performance, and welfare. EGD is often attributed to high-starch, high-sugar feeds and limited forage. Evidence for diet-induced changes on digestive microbiota is lacking. Nine elite showjumping horses were housed at the same performance yard with standardised diet and management throughout the study. Horses were transitioned from a high-sugar and -starch (31%) feed to a low-starch and -sugar (16.5%) concentrate feed. Gastroscopies, blood, and faecal samples were taken pre- and 12 ...
Reemtsma FP, Giers J, Horstmann S, Stoeckle SD, Gehlen H.Plasma amino acid (PAA) concentration in horses vary according to the exercise type. This study evaluated the changes in PAA levels and the associated metabolites, urea and ammonia, following short-duration, high-intensity cross-country exercise in eventing horses. Twenty eventing horses participated in 55 rides at 14 international competitions (2* to 4* levels) across five venues in Germany and Poland. Blood samples were collected at four timepoints: before exercise (TP0), at 10 min (TP1), and at 30 min (TP2) post-exercise, as well as in the morning on the day after the competition (TP3). A t...
Walz KR, McCormick ME, Fedorka CE.Breed bias exists within many of the top disciplines of equestrian sport. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of breed on performance at the CCI5*-L level of eventing. To do so, the results of all CCI5*-L events from 2014 to 2024 were assessed. Initially, Thoroughbreds were compared to all non-Thoroughbreds, and this was followed by assessing the ten primary breeds. Data included penalties accrued in dressage, cross country, show jumping, and overall. Additionally, the likelihood of completing each phase was assessed. It was found that Thoroughbreds accrued mor...
Meistro F, Ralletti MV, Rinnovati R, Spadari A.Subtle locomotor asymmetries are common in horses and may go unnoticed during routine pre-race clinical inspections, particularly when based solely on subjective evaluation. This study aimed to describe vertical head and pelvic movement asymmetries in racehorses that passed official pre-race inspections at a traditional racing event. Twenty-four horses were analysed using a markerless AI-based gait analysis system while trotting in-hand and during lungeing in both directions. Asymmetry parameters (HDmin, HDmax, PDmin, and PDmax) were extracted from video recordings, with values ≥0.5 consider...
Liedtke AM, Meijer H, Horstmann S, von Reitzenstein C, Rump I, Kirsch K.Eventing is an Olympic equestrian discipline comprising dressage, cross-country, and show jumping, with the cross-country phase imposing the greatest physical demands on horses. This study presents a composite model to estimate energy expenditure during the cross-country phase, integrating physiological data (heart rate-derived VO2 and lactate-based anaerobic estimates) with external workload indicators (GPS-derived speed, elevation, and course complexity). Model development was based on 691 rides from 256 horses across 232 events at 2-star to 5-star competition levels. The analysis showed tha...
Zupan Šemrov M, Přibylová L, Gobbo E.Equine locomotion emerges from a dynamic interplay between morphology, biomechanics, and functional demands. This study examines the relationship between morphological measurements and gait kinematics in Lipizzan horses, a breed renowned for its diverse work tasks and standardized environmental conditions. These horses offer a unique opportunity to explore task-specific adaptations in biomechanics, with significant implications for breeding strategies and welfare practices. Unassigned: The study involved 71 healthy Lipizzan horses that were housed at the Lipica stud farm and performed various ...
Herkenhoff ME.MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are molecules that regulate gene expression by targeting the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of mRNAs. They are essential in numerous biological processes like growth, metabolism, and muscle development. miRNA research has become crucial in livestock breeding, offering solutions for improving animal health and productivity. This review focuses on miRNAs' roles in equine performance, reproduction, and disease, highlighting key findings and future applications in these areas. It discusses the use of circulating miRNAs (ci-miRNA) as biomarkers for athletic performance, particularl...
Maguire M, Brusie R.To determine the outcome of skeletally mature performance horses with subchondral bone cysts and fissures in the proximal aspect of the first phalanx treated by lag screw compression. Unassigned: Case records of horses that underwent lag screw compression to treat subchondral bone lesions in the proximal aspect of the first phalanx were reviewed. Performance horses > 5 years old with lameness referrable to the fetlock region; radiographic or other advanced imaging evidence of subchondral bone lesions, with no other concurrent cause for lameness; and at least 6 months of follow-up data were inc...
Kiełbik P, Witkowska-Piłaszewicz O.Iron is unquestionably an essential element of physical performance for horses, just as it is for many other animals, including humans. Although post-exercise equine iron deficiency is not a common problem, recent studies showed that equine athletes may be considered a model for human exercise physiology. Sports anemia among human athletes is a common nutritional issue and remains one reason for poor physical fitness. Thus, this study area needs comprehensive knowledge since iron homeostasis changes in equine athletes remain unrecognized. The current review aims to summarize studies describing...
Bonow S, Hernlund E, Eriksson S, Strandberg E, Gelinder Viklund Ã….Sweden has a strong tradition of insuring horses for veterinary costs, and orthopedic diagnoses are the most common for insurance claims. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in prevalence and risk of orthopedic diagnoses for Swedish warmblood (SWB) horses classified as jumping (J) or dressage (D) horses. Also, other factors that may influence orthopedic health were investigated, i.e., sex, birth cohort, and participation in young horse tests and competition. The data consisted of 15,619 insured SWB horses born between 2010 and 2020. Horses were classified as J or D horses acco...
Aragona F, Giannetto C, Piccione G, Arfuso F, Arrigo F, Costa A, De Caro S, Cannuli A, Fazio F.The present study aimed to investigate the effect of time of day and physical exercise on some inflammatory biomarkers (white blood cell count-WBCs, leukocyte subpopulation CD4 + and CD8 + cells, total proteins, Interleukins IL-6, IL-1β and Tumor Necrosis Factor TNFα) in trained saddle horses. Unassigned: Blood samples were collected from 10 horses before, immediately (following 5 min) and 1 h after the training session in the morning (am) and afternoon (pm). Unassigned: Statistical analysis showed increasing value of WBCs immediately and 1 h after exercise ( < 0.01: <â€...
Horan K, Pfau T.Racehorses and jockeys can incur injuries, not only during gallops, but also during routine trotting exercise to access gallop tracks or warm-up. Understanding how jockey position affects racehorse movement may influence safety, and this may vary across different surface conditions. This study used inertial sensing technology (XSens MTw sensors) and linear mixed models to quantify and determine the significance (p ≤ 0.05) of jockey riding position ('rising' versus 'two-point seat') and surface type (artificial, grass and tarmac) on: 1) time offsets between stance and flight phases; 2) ho...
Patricio CR, Winter GHZ, Garbade P.Spinal articular dysfunction disrupts normal neural function and may lead to stiffness, pain or poor performance. Back pain is common in equine athletes, and it is a common complaint by horse owners requesting chiropractic evaluations. Objective: To describe the prevalence of spinal articular dysfunction in showjumping horses. Methods: Retrospective analysis of clinical records. Methods: Records from 3 years of examinations in horses, from beginners to high-performance levels. Each horse had 30 spinal segments evaluated for the presence of dysfunctional articulations. Exams were performed by...
Avison A, Physick-Sheard PW, Pyle WG.This paper reviews the myocardial substrate of horses relative to that of humans and discusses the utility of performance horses as a model of exercise-associated cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in athletes. The coronary circulation is similar between the species while coronary artery anomalies and myocardial bridging appear to only be associated with athletic mortality in human athletes and not in performance horses. There are subtle differences in the histology of the sinus and atrioventricular nodes, of unknown clinical significance, while the His bundle is more highly innervat...
Domino M, Borowska M, Stefanik E, Domańska-Kruppa N, Skibniewski M, Turek B.In equine surface electromyography (sEMG), challenges related to the reliability and interpretability of data arise, among other factors, from methodological differences, including signal processing and analysis. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the filtering-induced changes in basic signal features in relation to the balance between signal loss and noise attenuation. Raw sEMG signals were collected from the quadriceps muscle of six horses during walk, trot, and canter and then filtered using eight filtering methods with varying cut-off frequencies (low-pass at 10 Hz, high-pass at 20 Hz...
Connysson M, Jansson A.It is generally accepted that plasma muscle enzyme activity of creatine kinase (CK) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) may increase in racehorses after exercise and racing, indicating muscle fibre damage and/or increased leakage from muscle fibres. However, other studies suggest that starch intake might influence plasma muscle enzyme activity reported postexercise. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different starch allowances on plasma muscle enzyme activity in Standardbred trotters in professional training. Seventy-six horses from five professional trainers were sampled pre- and po...
Findley JA, Bladon BM, O'Neill HD.Sagittal plane fractures of the proximal phalanx (P1) are commonly observed in the UK Thoroughbred racehorse, with the technique and outcome following standing lag screw fixation widely reported. Long frontal plane P1 fractures propagating from the central third of the proximal articular surface occur less frequently, with information concerning repair methods and outcomes currently lacking. Objective: To describe a surgical technique for standing lag screw fixation of long frontal P1 fractures and report on post-operative performance in a UK Thoroughbred population. Methods: Single centre ret...
Sohn Y, An SJ, Forbes E, Kim BS, Jeon HS, Ryu SH, Lee I.The lateral trochlear ridge of the stifle joint is highly susceptible to developing Osteochondrosis (OC)/Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) lesions. This retrospective study evaluated the medical and racing outcomes of 75 Thoroughbreds who underwent arthroscopic OCD removal at the Jeju Stud Farm Equine Hospital from 2015 to 2017. The analysis included medical records, radiographic assessments, and race performance data, comparing 75 horses that underwent surgery with 257 control horses selected as siblings from the same dam. The surgical group had comparable racehorse registration rates (89.3 %...
Chang X, Zhang Z, Yao X, Meng J, Ren W, Zeng Y.The equine lipid metabolism is activated during and after endurance exercise to provide energy in response to the metabolic and physiological changes in the body caused by prolonged exercise; however, the specific regulatory mechanisms remain controversial and identifying differential lipid metabolites associated with equine endurance is essential to elucidate these regulatory mechanisms. In this study, blood samples for lipid metabolomic analysis and biochemical indices were collected before and after a 26 km race from 12 Yili horses with different endurance performance. The biochemical res...
de Chiara M, Montano C, De Matteis A, Guidi L, Buono F, Auletta L, Del Prete C, Pasolini MP.Subjective evaluation of gait by official endurance veterinarians (OEVs) is used to determine 'fitness-to-compete' in horses participating in endurance competitions. Objective gait analysis systems could aid in quick and verifiable judgements. Objective: To assess the agreement between objective analysis of head and pelvis vertical movement asymmetry performed with a markerless artificial intelligence motion tracking system (AI-MTS) and subjective lameness assessment performed by an accredited FEI OEV to judge horse gaits. Methods: Cross-sectional. Methods: During three endurance competitions,...
Ding W, Gong W, Bou T, Shi L, Lin Y, Wu H, Dugarjaviin M, Bai D.Muscle fibers, as the fundamental units of muscle tissue, play a crucial role in determining skeletal muscle function through their growth, development, and composition. To investigate changes in muscle fiber types and their regulatory mechanisms in Mongolian horses (MG), Xilingol horses (XL), and Grassland-Thoroughbreds (CY), we conducted histological and bioinformatic analyses on the gluteus medius muscle of these three horse breeds. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that Grassland-Thoroughbreds had the highest proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibers at 78.63%, while Mongolian horses had ...
Pfau T, Stubbs NC, Kaiser LJ, Brown LE, Clayton HM.To determine whether body lean angle could be predicted from circle radius and speed in horses during lunging and whether an increase in that angle would decrease the degree of movement symmetry (MS). Methods: 11 medium- to high-level dressage horses in competition training. Methods: Body lean angle, head MS, and trunk MS were quantified during trotting while horses were instrumented with a 5-sensor global positioning system-enhanced inertial sensor system and lunged on a soft surface. Speed and circle radius were varied and used to calculate predicted body lean angle. Agreement between observ...
Parkin TD, Clegg PD, French NP, Proudman CJ, Riggs CM, Singer ER, Webbon PM, Morgan KL.Considerable variation in the rates of equine fatality at different racecourses draws attention to probable risk factors at the level of course or race that might be partly responsible. Distal limb fractures are the most common cause of equine fatality on UK racecourses and identification of risk factors for such injuries and subsequent implementation of intervention strategies could significantly reduce the total number of racecourse fatalities. Objective: To identify race- and course-level risk factors for fatal distal limb fracture in Thoroughbreds on UK racecourses. Methods: A case-control...
Li C, Li X, Guo R, Ni W, Liu K, Liu Z, Dai J, Xu Y, Abduriyim S, Wu Z, Zeng Y, Lei B, Zhang Y, Wang Y, Zeng W, Zhang Q, Chen C, Qiao J, Liu C, Hu S.As a domesticated species vital to humans, horses are raised worldwide as a source of mechanical energy for sports, leisure, food production, and transportation. The gut microbiota plays an important role in the health, diseases, athletic performance, and behaviour of horses. Here, using approximately 2.2 Tb of metagenomic sequencing data from gut samples from 242 horses, including 110 samples from the caecum and 132 samples from the rectum (faeces), we assembled 4142 microbial metagenome-assembled genomes (MAG), 4015 (96.93%) of which appear to correspond to new species. From long-read data, ...
Geburek F, Gaus M, van Schie HT, Rohn K, Stadler PM.Regenerative and anti-inflammatory effects on tendinopathies have been attributed to blood-derived biologicals. To date the evidence for the efficacy of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment of naturally occurring equine tendinopathies is limited. The purpose of this placebo-controlled clinical trial was to describe the effect of a single treatment of equine superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) disease with PRP on clinical and ultrasonographic parameters. Twenty horses with naturally occurring tendinopathies of forelimb SDFTs were randomly assigned to the PRP-treated group (n =...
Sykes BW, Bowen M, Habershon-Butcher JL, Green M, Hallowell GD.To date, risk factors for equine glandular gastric disease (EGGD) have not been described in Thoroughbred racehorses. Objective: To determine management factors associated with EGGD, identify clinical signs in affected horses, and compare these to equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD). Methods: The study was carried out on 109 Thoroughbred racehorses from 8 training yards (3 in the United Kingdom and 5 in Australia). Methods: Gastroscopic examination alongside a questionnaire regarding management, feeding, exercise, and health. Results: Management factors and clinical signs were different for...
Henderson AJ.This article posits that stereotypical behavior patterns and the overall psychological well being of today's performance horse could be substantially enhanced with care that acknowledges the relationship between domesticated horses and their forerunners. Feral horses typically roam in stable, social groups over large grazing territories, spending 16-20 hr per day foraging on mid- to poor-quality roughage. In contrast, today's elite show horses live in relatively small stalls, eat a limited-but rich-diet at specific feedings, and typically live in social isolation. Although the horse has been d...
Ricard A, Robert C, Blouin C, Baste F, Torquet G, Morgenthaler C, Rivière J, Mach N, Mata X, Schibler L, Barrey E.Endurance horses are able to run at more than 20 km/h for 160 km (in bouts of 30-40 km). This level of performance is based on intense aerobic metabolism, effective body heat dissipation and the ability to endure painful exercise. The known heritabilities of endurance performance and exercise-related physiological traits in Arabian horses suggest that adaptation to extreme endurance exercise is influenced by genetic factors. The objective of the present genome-wide association study (GWAS) was to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to endurance racing performance in 597 Ara...
Patterson-Kane JC, Firth EC, Goodship AE, Parry DA.To measure collagen fibril crimp angles and lengths as well as collagen fibril mass-average diameters in central and peripheral regions of the superficial digital flexor tendon of wild horses, to ascertain any age-related changes in either region in the absence of imposed galloping exercise. Methods: Measurements from a random cull of wild horses. Methods: Superficial digital flexor tendon samples were taken from 23 wild horses ranging in age from two to ten years. Methods: Horses were divided into 'young' (< 5 years, n = 10), 'middle-aged' (5 to < 10 years, n = 9) and 'ol...
Martin BB, Reef VB, Parente EJ, Sage AD.To determine results for horses undergoing a high-speed treadmill examination, including videoendoscopy of the pharynx and larynx before and during exercise, echocardiography before and after exercise, and electrocardiography before, during, and after exercise, because of poor performance. Methods: Retrospective study. Methods: 348 horses. Results: A definitive diagnosis was obtained for 256 (73.5%) horses. One hundred forty-eight horses had dynamic obstruction of the airway during exercise, 33 had clinically important cardiac arrhythmias alone, 22 had a combination of dynamic airway obstructi...
Tamzali Y, Marguet C, Priymenko N, Lyazrhi F.Equine gastric ulcers syndrome (EGUS) prevalence studies are rare in the endurance horse and none has been carried out to date in horses competing at high level. Objective: To determine the prevalence of EGUS in high-level endurance horses. Methods: Thirty endurance horses competing at high level were selected and submitted to 2 gastroscopic examinations. The first gastroscopy was performed during the interseason period, and the second during the competition season within 2-3 days following a ride of 90-160 km. Data related to housing, feeding, training system as well as age, breed and gender ...
Gerber V, Robinson NE, Luethi S, Marti E, Wampfler B, Straub R.Horses housed in conventional stable environments are exposed to high dust loads. Long-term exposure to inhaled dust may lead to subclinical airway disease. Objective: Airway inflammation and mucus accumulation are 1) common in asymptomatic well-performing sport horses, 2) increased in older compared to younger individuals and 3) correlated. Methods: Mucus quantity and quality (endoscopic scoring) and BALF differential cytology were assessed in 13 younger horses (mean age 5 years) and 13 older horses (mean age 15 years), which had no historical or clinical evidence of lower airway disease, wer...
Rivero JL, Ruz A, MartÃ-Korff S, Estepa JC, Aguilera-Tejero E, Werkman J, Sobotta M, Lindner A.This study examined the effects of the intensity and duration of exercise on the nature and magnitude of training adaptations in muscle of adolescent (2-3 yr old) racehorses. Six thoroughbreds that had been pretrained for 2 mo performed six consecutive conditioning programs of varying lactate-guided intensities [velocities eliciting blood lactate concentrations of 2.5 mmol/l (v2.5) and 4 mmol/l (v4), respectively] and durations (5, 15, 25 min). Pre- and posttraining gluteus muscle biopsies were analyzed for myosin heavy chain content, fiber-type composition, fiber size, capillarization, and fi...
Munsters CC, van Iwaarden A, van Weeren R, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM.Regular exercise testing in Warmblood sport horses may, as in racing, potentially help to characterise fitness indices in different disciplines and at various competition levels and assist in understanding when a horse is 'fit to compete'. In this review an overview is given of the current state of the art of exercise testing in the Olympic disciplines of eventing, show jumping and dressage, and areas for further development are defined. In event horses, a simple four-step incremental exercise test measuring heart rate (HR), lactate concentration (LA) and velocity (V) is most often used. In dr...
Bailey CJ, Reid SW, Hodgson DR, Bourke JM, Rose RJ.A retrospective case-control study was conducted to identify and quantify risk factors for serious musculoskeletal injury sustained at 4 Australian metropolitan racetracks. During the period of study (August 1988-July 1995) there were 196 cases from flat racing, 52 cases from hurdle racing and 53 cases from steeplechases. The incidences of fatal musculoskeletal injuries per start for flat, hurdle and steeple races were 0.06, 0.63 and 1.43% respectively. Logistic regression identified harder track surfaces, horses being older than age 3 years, one racecourse (Flemington) and jumping races as si...
Witkowska-Piłaszewicz O, Grzędzicka J, Seń J, Czopowicz M, Żmigrodzka M, Winnicka A, Cywińska A, Carter C.Assuring a high level of animal welfare is a critical aspect of contemporary animal husbandry. Equine athletes begin their careers at a very young age when they are still developing and they are both physically and mentally immature. Lack of scientific knowledge of the stress related to horse racing impedes the development of optimal training programs to attain equilibrium between the best sport results and optimal welfare. This study aimed to determine the influence of the intensity and type of physical activity on peripheral blood cortisol concentration. Thirty untrained Arabians, 9 enduranc...
Le Moyec L, Robert C, Triba MN, Billat VL, Mata X, Schibler L, Barrey E.During long distance endurance races, horses undergo high physiological and metabolic stresses. The adaptation processes involve the modulation of the energetic pathways in order to meet the energy demand. The aims were to evaluate the effects of long endurance exercise on the plasma metabolomic profiles and to investigate the relationships with the individual horse performances. The metabolomic profiles of the horses were analyzed using the non-dedicated methodology, NMR spectroscopy and statistical multivariate analysis. The advantage of this method is to investigate several metabolomic path...
Beerts C, Suls M, Broeckx SY, Seys B, Vandenberghe A, Declercq J, Duchateau L, Vidal MA, Spaas JH.Poor healing of tendon and ligament lesions often results in early retirement of sport horses. Therefore, regenerative therapies are being explored as potentially promising treatment for these injuries. In this study, an intralesional injection was performed with allogeneic tenogenically induced mesenchymal stem cells and platelet-rich plasma 5-6 days after diagnosis of suspensory ligament (SL) (n = 68) or superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) (n = 36) lesion. Clinical, lameness and ultrasonographic evaluation was performed at 6 and 12 weeks. Moreover, a survey was performed 12 ...
Tozaki T, Sato F, Hill EW, Miyake T, Endo Y, Kakoi H, Gawahara H, Hirota K, Nakano Y, Nambo Y, Kurosawa M.Myostatin is a member of the transforming growth factor-β family with a key role in inhibition of muscle growth by negative regulation of both myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Recently, a genomic region on ECA18, which includes the MSTN gene, was identified as a candidate region influencing racing performance in Thoroughbreds. In this study, four SNPs on ECA18, g.65809482T>C, g.65868604G>T, g.66493737C>T, and g.66539967A>G, were genotyped in 91 Thoroughbred horses-in-training to evaluate the association between genotype and body composition traits, including body weight...
Pfau T, Spence A, Starke S, Ferrari M, Wilson A.When animals carry loads, there is a proportionate increase in metabolic cost, and in humans this increase in cost is reduced when the load is elastically coupled to the load bearer. Major horse race times and records improved by 5 to 7% around 1900 when jockeys adopted a crouched posture. We show that jockeys move to isolate themselves from the movement of their mount. This would be difficult or impossible with a seated or upright, straight-legged posture. This isolation means that the horse supports the jockey's body weight but does not have to move the jockey through each cyclical stride pa...
Argüelles D, Carmona JU, Climent F, Muñoz E, Prades M.Two horses with acute tendinopathy of a superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) and three horses with chronic proximal desmitis of the suspensory ligament (PDSL) were treated by injecting autologous concentrates of their platelets into the lesions. The lesions were monitored ultrasonographically and clinically. There were significant ultrasonographic and clinical improvements in the two horses with SDFT, but no ultrasonographic improvements in the horses with PDSL; however, they improved clinically and became less lame. All the horses had returned to their pre-injury level of performance by s...
Kearns CF, McKeever KH, Abe T.Locomotion requires skeletal muscle to sustain and generate force. A muscle's force potential is proportional to its weight. Since the larger the muscle the larger its potential power output, a better understanding of the proportion of skeletal muscle a horse possesses may lead to a better understanding of horse performance. Several techniques exist to assess body composition, which include dual energy X-ray absorption, underwater (hydrostatic) weighing, derivation from total body water, bio-electric impedance, air displacement, body condition scoring, cadaver dissection and ultrasound. The re...
Clayton HM.Highly-trained dressage horses were studied to test the hypothesis that stride length is altered independently of stride duration in the transitions between the collected, working, medium and extended trot. Six well-trained dressage horses were filmed at a frame rate of 150 frames/s performing the collected, working, medium and extended trots in a sand arena. Temporal, linear and angular data were extracted from the films, with 4 strides being analysed for each horse and gait type. There were no significant asymmetries between the left and rights limbs or diagonals when data from the whole gro...
Gaffney B, Cunningham EP.Thoroughbred horses have been bred exclusively for racing in England since Tudor times and thoroughbred horse racing is now practised in over 40 countries and involves more than half-a-million horses worldwide. The genetic origins of the thoroughbred go back largely to horses imported from the Middle East and North Africa to England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Since the establishment of the Stud Book in 1791, the population has been effectively closed to outside sources, and over 80% of the thoroughbred population's gene pool derives from 31 known ancestors from thi...
Rhodin M, Gómez Alvarez CB, Byström A, Johnston C, van Weeren PR, Roepstorff L, Weishaupt MA.Dressage involves training of the horse with the head and neck placed in a position defined by the rider. The best position for dressage training is currently under debate among riders and trainers, but there are few scientific data available to confirm or disprove the different views. Objective: To evaluate the kinematic effects of different head and neck positions (HNPs) in elite dressage horses ridden at trot. Methods: Seven high-level dressage horses were subjected to kinetic and kinematic measurements when ridden on a treadmill with the head and neck in 5 different positions. Results: Com...
McBride SD, Mills DS.For optimal individual performance within any equestrian discipline horses must be in peak physical condition and have the correct psychological state. This review discusses the psychological factors that affect the performance of the horse and, in turn, identifies areas within the competition horse industry where current behavioral research and established behavioral modification techniques could be applied to further enhance the performance of animals. In particular, the role of affective processes underpinning temperament, mood and emotional reaction in determining discipline-specific perfo...
Tyrnenopoulou P, Diakakis N, Karayannopoulou M, Savvas I, Koliakos G.Regenerative medicine has become one of the most promising therapies of equine osteoarthritis. Platelet lysate (PL) is rich in bioactive proteins and growth factors that play a crucial role in tissue healing. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of intra-articularly injected autologous PL in equine athletes with naturally occurring osteoarthritis. Methods: Fifteen warmblood geldings aged 8-19Â years with osteoarthritis of the distal interphalangeal joint were included in this study. They were randomly divided into two groups; 10 horses received intra-articular injections of PL and 5 of normal s...
Gu J, MacHugh DE, McGivney BA, Park SD, Katz LM, Hill EW.The wild progenitors of the domestic horse were subject to natural selection for speed and stamina for millennia. Uniquely, this process has been augmented in Thoroughbreds, which have undergone at least 3 centuries of intense artificial selection for athletic phenotypes. While the phenotypic adaptations to exercise are well described, only a small number of the underlying genetic variants contributing to these phenotypes have been reported. Objective: A panel of candidate performance-related genes was examined for DNA sequence variation in Thoroughbreds and the association with racecourse per...
Physick-Sheard PW, McGurrin MK.A lack of information on normal heart rhythm at maximal effort hampers investigation of poor performance and sudden death in Standardbred racing. Objective: To characterize rhythm variations during scheduled racing in clinically normal Standardbred horses. Methods: Two hundred and eighty-eight Standardbred horses competing in 40 scheduled races at a Southern Ontario racetrack. Methods: Observational study, convenience sampling: Heart rhythm was monitored by ECG from harnessing to postrace recovery and assessed visually and by examining heart rate intervals. Rhythm variations were used as respo...
