Effect of blood lactate-guided conditioning of horses with exercises of differing durations and intensities on heart rate and biochemical blood variables.

This research explores the impact of three different exercise programs on heart rate, lactate concentration, plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentration, and alanine concentration in horses, showing that none of the programs had substantial effects, possibly due to insufficient exercise stress or lack of workload increase during the programs.

Objective and Methodology

• The primary goal of the study was to investigate the effects of three types of lactate-guided exercises on fitness parameters in horses, as measured by:
  • Heart rate
  • Blood lactate levels (also known as [LA])
  • Plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentration
  • Alanine concentration
• The researchers carried out this investigation with six two-year-old Haflinger stallions over several weeks of conditioning periods followed by weeks without any exercise training.
• The horses were assigned to one of three different conditioning programs developed based on lactate-speed relation. These programs varied in duration and intensity.
• Several performance tests were conducted at different intervals in each conditioning period to monitor heart rate during exercise and measure the concentrations of lactate, FFA, and alanine in the horses’ blood.

Research Findings

• The study found that all three exercise programs did not significantly affect the velocity at the point when blood lactate concentration reaches 4 mmol/L (v(4)) and the velocity at a heart rate of 200 beats/min (v(200)). This suggests that these parameters were not directly influenced by the type or intensity of physical training performed by the horses.
• Interestingly, while blood lactate levels increased after exercise, this elevation lessened over the course of the conditioning period. Similarly, there was a mild trend towards a decrease in the average heart rate during exercise.
• Plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentrations were notably higher after exercise in all programs, but they were not impacted before exercise. Furthermore, FFA levels did not vary significantly amongst the different exercise programs.
• Lastly, although alanine concentrations in the horses’ plasma increased after all exercise regimens, there were no observed differences between the three training programs. Further, alanine levels before exercise did not change substantially across all conditioning periods.

Conclusion

• The research concluded that the use of lactate-guided exercise types employed in this study had minimal effects on overall fitness indicators in horses.
• Researchers speculated that this could be due to the exercise stress being too minimal, or because the workload was not progressively increased during the conditioning periods.