Topic:Treadmill Exercise
Physiological and skeletal muscle responses to high-intensity interval exercise in Thoroughbred horses. The purpose of this study was to determine whether acute high-intensity interval exercise or sprint interval exercise induces greater physiological and skeletal muscle responses compared to moderate-intensity continuous exercise in horses. Unassigned: In a randomized crossover design, eight trained Thoroughbred horses performed three treadmill exercise protocols consisting of moderate-intensity continuous exercise (6 min at 70% VOmax; MICT), high-intensity interval exercise (6 × 30 s at 100% VOmax; HIIT), and sprint interval exercise (6 × 15 s at 120% VOmax; SIT). Arterial bloo...
Four Weeks of Incline Water Treadmill Exercise Can Contribute to Increase Epaxial Muscle Profile in Horses. Water treadmill (WT) exercise is a popular modality for the training and rehabilitation of horses. However, evidence-based literature regarding the use of WT exercise, particularly using inclines, is lacking. Unassigned: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of recurring inclined WT sessions on equine epaxial muscle development. Unassigned: Six horses completed 24 sessions of 15 minutes of WT activity over four weeks. Horses walked with water at the midcannon level at a treadmill incline of 4%. Back traces were measured at three and seven centimetres ventral to the dorsal midline at...
Acute exercise in a hot environment increases heat shock protein 70 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α mRNA in Thoroughbred horse skeletal muscle. Heat acclimatization or acclimation training in horses is practiced to reduce physiological strain and improve exercise performance in the heat, which can involve metabolic improvement in skeletal muscle. However, there is limited information concerning the acute signaling responses of equine skeletal muscle after exercise in a hot environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that exercise in hot conditions induces greater changes in heat shock proteins and mitochondrial-related signaling in equine skeletal muscle compared with exercise in cool conditions. Fifteen t...
The influence of different horseshoes and ground substrates on mid-stance hoof orientation at the walk. Horseshoes with modified contact surfaces combined with deformable ground substrates are used to change hoof orientation during mid-stance, for example, for therapeutic reasons. Objective: To measure the effect of horseshoes and ground substrates on sagittal and transverse plane hoof orientation at mid-stance using a dorsal hoof wall mounted triaxial accelerometer. Methods: In vivo experiment, randomised crossover design. Methods: Differences in sagittal and transverse plane angles between standing and mid-stance of the left front hoof of six horses walking with regular horseshoes, egg bar, to...
The effect of acute equine temporomandibular joint inflammation on response to rein-tension and kinematics. Although the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the major contact point between the reins in the riders' hand, the bit in the mouth, and the rest of the horse under saddle, the role of inflammation of this joint on equine locomotion and rein tension is unknown. Unassigned: To determine the effect of acute TMJ inflammation on rein-tension and horse movement when horses were long-reined on a treadmill. Unassigned: A randomized, controlled, cross-over design. Unassigned: Five horses were trained by one clinician to walk and trot on a treadmill wearing long-reining equipment instrumented with a rein...
Medical causes of poor performance and their associations with fitness in Standardbred racehorses. Poor performance is a multifactorial syndrome of racehorses, commonly associated with subclinical disorders, which can be diagnosed by exercise testing. Objective: Describe the prevalence of medical causes of poor performance in Standardbreds unassociated with lameness, and evaluate their relationships with fitness variables measured by exercise treadmill test. Methods: Hospital population of 259 nonlame Standardbred trotters referred for poor performance. Methods: The horses' medical records were retrospectively reviewed. Horses underwent a diagnostic protocol including resting examination, p...
Prediction of continuous and discrete kinetic parameters in horses from inertial measurement units data using recurrent artificial neural networks. Vertical ground reaction force (GRFz) measurements are the best tool for assessing horses' weight-bearing lameness. However, collection of these data is often impractical for clinical use. This study evaluates GRFz predicted using data from body-mounted IMUs and long short-term memory recurrent neural networks (LSTM-RNN). Twenty-four clinically sound horses, equipped with IMUs on the upper-body (UB) and each limb, walked and trotted on a GRFz measuring treadmill (TiF). Both systems were time-synchronised. Data from randomly selected 16, 4, and 4 horses formed training, validation, and test dat...
Heart rate variability during high-speed treadmill exercise and recovery in Thoroughbred racehorses presented for poor performance. Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis measures the inter-beat interval variation of successive cardiac cycles. Measurement of these indices has been used to assess cardiac autonomic modulation and for arrhythmia identification in exercising horses. Objective: To report HRV indices during submaximal exercise, strenuous exercise and recovery, and explore relationships with clinical conditions (arrhythmias, lameness, equine gastric ulcer syndrome [EGUS], lower airway inflammation and upper respiratory tract obstructions [URTOs]) in Thoroughbred racehorses. Methods: Retrospective, observational cr...
Tracing Acid-Base Variables in Exercising Horses: Effects of Pre-Loading Oral Electrolytes. Oral electrolyte supplementation may influence acid-base state during exercise due to the intestinal absorption of administered water and electrolytes used to mitigating sweat losses. This study examined the effect of pre-exercise electrolyte supplementation (3 and 8 L) on plasma acid-base variables at rest, during moderate intensity exercise and during recovery. It was hypothesized that electrolyte supplementation will result in improved acid-base state compared to the alkalosis typical of prolonged exercise. In randomized crossover fashion, four horses were administered 3 L or 8 L of a hypot...
Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome affects fitness parameters in poorly performing Standardbred racehorses. Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is a highly prevalent disorder in horses, which can be classified, based on the localization of the lesions, as Equine Squamous Gastric Disease (ESGD) or Equine Glandular Gastric Disease (EGGD). Although EGUS is recognized as a common cause of poor performance in racehorses, objective investigations about its relation with athletic capacity are lacking. Therefore, the present retrospective study aims to evaluate the associations between EGUS severity and some fitness parameters measured during an incremental treadmill test in Standardbred racehorses in trai...
Impact of Lower Airway Inflammation on Fitness Parameters in Standardbred Racehorses. Mild-moderate equine asthma (MEA) is a common respiratory disorder among racehorses, characterized by lower airway inflammation. Although it is generally agreed that MEA causes poor performance, contrasting results have been reported about the effects of tracheal mucus and the leukocyte populations of the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) on performance. This study aims to investigate the associations between airway inflammation and fitness parameters measured during an incremental treadmill test on Standardbred racehorses. For this purpose, the clinical records of 116 Standardbreds subjected to a ...
Determining Objective Parameters to Assess Gait Quality in Franches-Montagnes Horses for Ground Coverage and Over-Tracking – Part 2: At Trot. In gait quality assessments of horses, stride length (SL) is visually associated with spectacular movements of the front limbs, and described as ground coverage, while the movement of the hind limb under the body is supposedly essential to a longer over-tracking distance (OTD). To identify movement patterns with strong associations to SL and OTD, limb and body kinematics of 24 Franches-Montagnes (FM) stallions were measured with 3D optical motion capture (OMC) on a treadmill during an incremental speed test at trot (3.3-6.5 m/s). These measurements were correlated to the scores of ground cover...
Previous Exercise on a Water Treadmill at Different Depths Affects the Accelerometric Pattern Recorded on a Track in Horses. During a water treadmill (WT) exercise, horses change their accelerometric patterns. We aimed to analyze if these changes persist during terrestrial locomotion. Six horses were randomly subjected to 40 min duration WT exercises, without water (WW), at the depth of fetlock (FET), carpus (CAR) and stifle (STF), with a day off between them. Before and after 30 min after WT, horses were evaluated at walk and at trot on a track with a triaxial accelerometer fixed on the pectoral (PECT) and sacrum (SML) regions. The percent of change from baseline (before WT and after each exercise session) were cal...
The Effects of an External Equine Nasal Strip on Thermoregulation During Exercise. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an external nasal strip on thermoregulation during submaximal exercise in Standardbred horses. While several studies have been conducted to determine the effects of the external nasal strip on airway resistance, exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage, gas exchange, and time to fatigue in maximally exercising horses, the effects of the nasal strip on equine thermoregulation have not yet been examined. It was hypothesized that the application of an external nasal strip would alter central venous temperature (T), skin temperature (T), and exe...
Effect of Lactate Minimum Speed-Guided Conditioning on Selected Blood Parameters of Horses. During exercise, equines can suffer severe water and electrolyte imbalances depending on the intensity and duration. In this sense, conditioning aims to promote adaptations to the organism in order to maintain cardiovascular and thermoregulatory stability during exertion. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of conditioning guided by lactate minimum speed (LMS) test on the blood osmolality of horses. We hypothesized that after conditioning the blood osmolality would vary less during exercise and that LMS could be used in equine conditioning program. Ten Arabian horses were evaluated before ...
Effect of Clenbuterol on Muscle Activity During Exercise in Standardbred Horses. Clenbuterol (β agonist) is a commonly administered bronchodilator in race and performance horses. While long-term administration can alter exercise performance and muscle properties, little is known about its effects on these parameters following short-term administration. A single dose of clenbuterol (0.80 µg/kg) was expected to alter muscle activity of the extensor carpi radialis, semitendinosus, and longissimus dorsi during submaximal exercise. Eight mature Standardbred horses exercised for 2 minutes at 5 m/s on a high-speed treadmill following clenbuterol dosing (clenbuterol) or no dosin...
Determining Objective Parameters to Assess Gait Quality in Franches-Montagnes Horses for Ground Coverage and Over-Tracking – Part 1: At Walk. Ground coverage and over-tracking are two gait quality traits describing the forward movement of the front respectively the hind limbs in relation to stride length and over-tracking distance. To investigate the complex interplay of different movement patterns in ground coverage and over-tracking, limb and body kinematics of 24 Franches-Montagnes (FM) stallions were measured with 3D optical motion capture (OMC) on a treadmill during an incremental speed test at the walk (1.4-2.0 m/s). The significance and amount of explained variance of kinematic parameters on stride length and over-tracking di...
Effect of Water Depth on Limb and Back Kinematics in Horses Walking on a Water Treadmill. Water treadmill (WT) exercise is frequently used for training/rehabilitation of horses. There is limited study into the effect of water depth on limb/back kinematics warranting investigation. The objective was to determine the effect of walking in different water depths, at the same speed, on limb/back kinematics measured simultaneously in a group of horses. Six horses (age:15 ± 6.5 years) completed a standardized WT exercise session (19 minutes duration; speed:1.6 m/s; water depths: 0.0/7.5/21.0/32.0/47.0 cm). Ten waterproof light-emitting-diode tea-light-markers and reflective-spheres were ...
Association between dynamic upper airway obstructions and fitness parameters in Standardbred racehorses during high-speed treadmill exercise. To evaluate the association between the severity of dynamic upper airway obstruction (DUAO) and selected fitness parameters in Standardbred racehorses measured by treadmill test. 191 Standardbred racehorses that underwent a standardized diagnostic protocol for poor performance evaluation between 2002 and 2021 at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, University of Milan. Horses underwent a diagnostic protocol including clinical examination, lameness evaluation, laboratory analyses, ECG, resting upper airway endoscopy, metabolic incremental treadmill test, high-speed treadmill endoscopy, postexercis...
The Use of Percutaneous Thermal Sensing Microchips to Measure Body Temperature in Horses during and after Exercise Using Three Different Cool-Down Methods. The frequent monitoring of a horse’s body temperature post strenuous exercise is critical to prevent or alleviate exertional heat illness (EHI) from occurring. Percutaneous thermal sensing microchip (PTSM) technology has the potential to be used as a means of monitoring a horse’s body temperature during and post-exercise. However, the accuracy of the temperature readings obtained, and their relationship to core body temperature are dependent on where they are implanted. This study aimed to document the relationship between core body temperature, and temperature readings obtained using PTSM...
Modelling fore- and hindlimb peak vertical force differences in trotting horses using upper body kinematic asymmetry variables. Differences in peak vertical ground reaction forces (dFz) between contralateral forelimbs and hindlimbs are considered the gold standard for quantifying weight-bearing lameness. However, measuring kinematics for the same purpose is more common and practical. Vertical movement asymmetries (VMA) of the horse's upper body have previously been correlated to fore- and hindlimb lameness. But the combined response of head, withers and pelvis VMA to fore- and hindlimb dFz has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Deriving the kinetic responses from kinematics would help the interpretation and understa...
Ultrasound evaluation of digital flexor tendons of jumping horses undergoing treadmill training. This study aimed to perform ultrasonographic evaluation of the digital flexor tendons of jumping horses undergoing complementary training on a treadmill. Fifteen Brazilian Sport horses were divided into two groups: Group I with 7 animals in physical training complementary to the standard training at the Brazilian Army's Riding School; and Group II with 8 animals in standard training used in the Brazilian Army's Riding School. Complementary training was performed on a treadmill on an inclined plane. Ultrasonographic images were taken at the beginning and at the end of training. The left thoraci...
Gait quality scoring data of Franches-Montagnes stallions at walk and trot on a treadmill by experts of the breed and their reliability. This article presents the data obtained from the scoring of 24 stallions of the Franches-Montagnes (FM) horse breed by six experts of this breed. The experts scored six traits at walk and eight at trot from the video recordings of these stallions walking and trotting on a treadmill during an incremental speed test. The scores were given on a scale of one to nine. All experts scored the same videos twice (two scoring tests) with a time interval of two years, and without feedback from the first scoring. Video sequences were presented in a different order between first and second scoring. The int...
Profiling the Aerobic Window of Horses in Response to Training by Means of a Modified Lactate Minimum Speed Test: Flatten the Curve. There is a great need for objective external training load prescription and performance capacity evaluation in equestrian disciplines. Therefore, reliable standardised exercise tests (SETs) are needed. Classic SETs require maximum intensities with associated risks to deduce training loads from pre-described cut-off values. The lactate minimum speed (LMS) test could be a valuable alternative. Our aim was to compare new performance parameters of a modified LMS-test with those of an incremental SET, to assess the effect of training on LMS-test parameters and curve-shape, and to identify the optim...
Associations between Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH) and Fitness Parameters Measured by Incremental Treadmill Test in Standardbred Racehorses. Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) is a condition affecting up to 95% of racehorses, diagnosed by detecting blood in the trachea after exercise and/or the presence of hemosiderophages in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALf). Although EIPH is commonly associated with poor performance, scientific evidence is scarce. The athletic capacity of racehorses can be quantified through some parameters obtained during an incremental treadmill test; in particular, the speed at a heart rate of 200 bpm (V200), and the speed (VLa4) and the heart rate (HRLa4) at which the blood lactate concentrati...
β-Hydroxy β-methylbutyrate supplementation to adult Thoroughbred geldings increases type IIA fiber content in the gluteus medius. Consumption of β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate (HMB) alters muscle composition and metabolism leading to strength and agility improvements in human athletes. To determine if HMB affects athletic performance and muscle function in horses, Thoroughbred geldings were fed a control (CON; n = 5) or HMB (n = 6) supplement for 6 wk prior to completing a standardized exercise test (SET). Gluteus medius (GM) muscle biopsies were obtained before the SET for fiber typing. Heart rate, biceps femoris (BF) and semitendinosus (ST) surface electromyograms (EMG), and fore and hind limbs metacarpophalangeal joint ...
Equine spinal kinematics derived from different riding positions during asymmetrical bareback riding. Hippotherapy in patients with neuromuscular dysfunction creates high focal pressure on the pony's back due to bareback riding and an asymmetrical riding position. This study aimed to investigate the acute effect of asymmetrical bareback riding on the pony's spinal kinematics, blood lactate, serum creatine kinase, heart rate, and temperament score. Eight ponies were selected, and they were walked on a treadmill for 45 min on each experimental day, including warm-up (5 min), weight-loading by mannequin (30 min), and cool-down (10 min) sessions. During the weight-loading session, three different ...
Evaluation of Cardiac Arrhythmias before, during, and after Treadmill Exercise Testing in Poorly Performing Standardbred Racehorses. The incidence of significant arrhythmias in sport horses and knowledge about their exact influence on athletic performance need to be clarified. The aims of the present study are to report the prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias during maximal treadmill exercise in poorly performing Standardbreds, and to investigate the possible relationship of demographic, cardiac and performance indices on premature complexes (PCs). Electrocardiographic Holter recordings before, during and after treadmill exercise testing of 158 poorly performing Standardbreds were analyzed retrospectively. Fifty horses did no...
A randomised, controlled trial to determine the effect of levothyroxine on Standardbred racehorses. The use of thyroid supplement is pervasive in athletic horses although its effects on measures of performance are not known. Objective: One purpose of this study was to determine whether supra-physiologic doses of levothyroxine affect the velocities at which blood lactate was greater than 4 mmol/L (V ) and heart rate was over 150 (V ) and 200 (V ) beats per minute respectively. Additionally, a survey of post-race blood samples was also conducted to determine whether high thyroxine concentrations were common in racehorses. Methods: A randomised, crossover, trial was performed in six healthy St...
Continuous versus discrete data analysis for gait evaluation of horses with induced bilateral hindlimb lameness. Gait kinematics measured during equine gait analysis are typically evaluated by analysing (asymmetry-based) discrete variables (eg, peak values) obtained from continuous kinematic signals (eg, timeseries of datapoints). However, when used for the assessment of complex cases of lameness, such as bilateral lameness, discrete variable analysis might overlook relevant functional adaptations. Objective: The overall aim of this paper is to compare continuous and discrete data analysis techniques to evaluate kinematic gait adaptations to lameness. Methods: Method comparison. Methods: Sixteen healthy ...