A consort-guided randomized, blinded, controlled clinical trial on the effects of 6 weeks training on heart rate variability in thoroughbred horses.

Background: Fitness assessment of horses remains challenging. Heart rate variability (HRV) can be used to monitor human athlete's training, but its value is unknown in horses.

Hypothesis: The linear domain HRV variables are affected by fitness.

Oxygen consumption, locomotory-respiratory coupling and exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage in horses during the Paso Fino gait.

Background: Workload associated with the high frequency Colombian Paso Fino gait has not been evaluated.

Objectives: To determine the oxygen consumption (V̇O), heart rate (HR), stride frequency: breathing ratio, and hematology associated with the Paso Fino gait, including whether exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) occurs.

Animals: Eleven Paso Fino horses.

Workload and spirometry associated with untethered swimming in horses.

Background: Swimming has been used empirically for rehabilitation and conditioning of horses. However, due to challenges imposed by recording physiological parameters in water, the intensity of free swimming effort is unknown.

Objectives: Measure the physiological workload associated with untethered swimming in horses.

Field-training in young two-year-old thoroughbreds: investigating cardiorespiratory adaptations and the presence of exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage.

Background: Comparatively little is known regarding the initial cardiorespiratory response of young racehorses to training. The objectives were to compare physiological parameters before and after introductory training and determine whether young Thoroughbreds show endoscopic signs of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH). Ten Thoroughbreds (20-23 months) underwent 12-weeks of introductory training, including weekly speed sessions.

A CONSORT-guided, randomized controlled clinical trial of nebulized administration of dexamethasone and saline on lower airway cytokine mRNA expression in horses with moderate asthma.

Background: Nebulized administration of dexamethasone on cytokine regulation in horses with moderate asthma has not been investigated.

Objective: To investigate the changes in expression of inflammatory cytokine mRNA after nebulized administration of dexamethasone treatment of horses with moderate asthma.

Animals: Horses with naturally occurring moderate asthma (n = 16) and healthy control horses (n = 4).

Training vs. racing: A comparison of arrhythmias and the repeatability of findings in Thoroughbred Chuckwagon racehorses.

Arrhythmias are commonly reported in exercising horses, however due to regulatory constraints electrocardiograms (ECGs) are acquired during training but not competition, raising questions about the repeatability of findings. The aims were (1) compare training and competition arrhythmias and (2) describe the repeatability of arrhythmias during maximal-intensity exercise. A convenience sample of 52 healthy Thoroughbreds (aged 8.

Upper airway endoscopy in exercising horses: Findings in 164 barrel racing horses with respiratory clinical signs and/or poor performance.

Barrel racing involves sprinting through a cloverleaf pattern in under 20 s. The prevalence of upper airway obstructions (UAO) in barrel racers is unknown, thus a retrospective analysis of 164 client-owned horses referred for overground endoscopy (OGE) between 2014 and 2022 was performed. Referring complaints included respiratory noise, cough, epistaxis, behaviour (owner reported stress/anxiety, refusal to enter arena, excessive head shaking), and/or poor performance.

Topography of the respiratory, oral, and guttural pouch bacterial and fungal microbiotas in horses.

Background: The lower respiratory tract microbiota of the horse is different in states of health and disease, but the bacterial and fungal composition of the healthy respiratory tract of the horse has not been studied in detail.

Hypothesis: The respiratory tract environment contains distinct niche microbiotas, which decrease in species richness at more distal sampling locations.

Objective: Characterize the bacterial and fungal microbiotas along the upper and lower respiratory tract of the horse.

Free Swimming and Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage in Endurance Horses: A Preliminary Study.

Swimming is used for rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries and for conditioning to improve equine fitness. However, there are anecdotal reports that suggest that tethered swimming can induce epistaxis, likely secondary to exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH). The objective of this observational, prospective study was to investigate if EIPH occurs during intensive free-swimming training sessions (5 × 70m) using 15 endurance horses.

Stride frequency derived from GPS speed fluctuations in galloping horses.

Changes in gallop stride parameters prior to injury have been documented previously in Thoroughbred racehorses. Validating solutions for quantification of fundamental stride parameters is important for large scale studies investigating injury related factors. This study describes a fast Fourier transformation-based method for extracting stride frequency (SF) values from speed fluctuations recorded with a standalone GPS-logger suitable for galloping horses.

Kinematic Analysis During Straight Line Free Swimming in Horses: Part 2 - Hindlimbs.

Background: Swimming is used for rehabilitation and conditioning purposes in equine sports medicine. We described the swimming kinematics of the equine forelimbs in Part 1. The aim of Part 2 is to assess stifle, tarsus, and hind fetlock joints kinematics in swimming horses.

Kinematic Analysis During Straight Line Free Swimming in Horses: Part 1 - Forelimbs.

Swimming is used for rehabilitation and conditioning purposes in equine sports medicine despite the lack of understanding of equine swimming kinematics. The aim of this study was to assess forelimb joints kinematics (elbow, carpus, and fetlock) in swimming horses. The specific objectives were 1- to calculate and compare joint angles in swimming vs.

Prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias and R-R interval variation in healthy Thoroughbred horses during official Chuckwagon races and recovery.

The prevalence and severity of cardiac arrhythmias in healthy racehorses undergoing competition is not well defined. The aim was to characterize arrhythmias in Thoroughbreds participating in official Chuckwagon races and to determine normal beat-to-beat (R-R) variability during supramaximal exercise. Electrocardiograph (ECG) recordings were obtained during pre-race, race, and active-recovery from 82 clinically healthy Thoroughbreds.

Validation of a Rapid Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Colorimetric Evaluation for Assessing the Severity of Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage in Horses in Field Conditions.

Diagnosis and assessment of severity of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) relies on postexercise visualization of fresh blood in the airways via tracheobronchoscopic examination (TBE) and/or counting erythrocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALFRBC). Determining the BALFRBC is more sensitive than TBE but its usefulness is hampered by the need to have BALFRBC counted at a laboratory. We explored the feasibility of evaluating the severity of EIPH by using a color chart comprised of five shades of red and matching those colors with the color of BALF immediately following collection.

Equine Asthma: Current Understanding and Future Directions.

The 2019 Havemeyer Workshop brought together researchers and clinicians to discuss the latest information on Equine Asthma and provide future research directions. Current clinical and molecular asthma phenotypes and endotypes in humans were discussed and compared to asthma phenotypes in horses. The role of infectious and non-infectious causes of equine asthma, genetic factors and proposed disease pathophysiology were reviewed.

Topography of the respiratory tract bacterial microbiota in cattle.

Background: Bacterial bronchopneumonia (BP) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in cattle. The nasopharynx is generally accepted as the primary source of pathogenic bacteria that cause BP. However, it has recently been shown in humans that the oropharynx may act as the primary reservoir for pathogens that reach the lung.

Comparison of physiological demands in Warmblood show jumping horses over a standardized 1.10 m jumping course versus a standardized exercise test on a track.

Background: A greater understanding of exercise physiology and biochemistry is required for the sport horse disciplines, including show jumping. Conditioning of horses for show jumping is empirical because they are primarily trained on flat ground, however the equivalent workload between jumping and flat work is currently unknown. The objectives of the study were therefore to compare the physiological demands of Warmblood show jumpers over a standardized 1.

A wireless endoscopy capsule suitable for imaging of the equine stomach and small intestine.

Background: Capsule endoscopy offers a new method for visualization of the gastrointestinal mucosa in horses where other imaging technologies have diagnostic limitations.

Objectives: To (1) test the feasibility of using this novel endoscopy capsule to visualize intestinal mucosa in horses, including an objective assessment of image quality, (2) assess how changes in preadministration preparation affect the transit time and the amount of gastrointestinal mucosa visualized, and (3) describe intestinal mucosa lesions in healthy horses.

Animals: Five healthy adult horses.

Efficacy of dexamethasone, salbutamol, and reduced respirable particulate concentration on aerobic capacity in horses with smoke-induced mild asthma.

Background: Mild asthma in horses decreases racing performance and impairs gas exchange. The efficacy of treatment on performance is unknown.

Hypothesis: Treatment targeting lung inflammation improves O peak in horses with mild asthma.