Changes in running velocity at heart rate 200 beats/min (V200) in young thoroughbred horses undergoing conventional endurance training.

This research paper examines the impact of conventional endurance training on running velocity at 200 beats/min heart rate (V200) in young thoroughbred horses and shows how V200 changes in young horses during the initial training phases.

Overview of Thoroughbred Horse Training

• The research begins with an assertion regarding the importance of endurance training in the early phases of training young Thoroughbred horses. This consists of low-intensity exercise, such as trotting and slow canter, to enhance the horses’ aerobic work capacity.
• It is widely accepted within the study of equine physiology that maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) is one of the most reliable measures of aerobic work capacity. However, measuring VO2max in young horses is challenging due to the need for specialized equipment like a treadmill, and the requirement for the animal to acclimatize to the treadmill.

Practical Evaluation of Aerobic Work Capacity

• For practical reasons, the study posits the preference of using parameters that can be recorded easily during daily training, such as heart rate (HR).
• It cites Persson (1983) who suggested that measuring V200 (running velocity at HR of 200 beats/min) provided useful information to evaluate the aerobic work capacity of horses, and that it correlated well with VO2max in treadmill exercise tests.

Investigating the Changes in V200

• Previous research by Yamano et al. (1993) and Kobayashi et al. (1999) observed changes in V200 in 2-year-old Thoroughbreds undergoing conventional training from April to August. They found that V200 significantly increased with increasing training intensities.
• However, the current study points out that there have been limited reports regarding changes in V200 in young Thoroughbred horses during the beginning phases of training – from breaking in to endurance training.
• The paper concludes by presenting their observations on changes in V200 in young Thoroughbreds during these early stages of training.