Abstract
BackgroundThe Heavy Horse Pull is a competition where teams of two horses pull an increasingly heavy sled for a short distance. Similar to human wrestlers, some horses may undergo rapid weight change in order to enter a lower weight category. The objectives were to study the physiological effects of this practice as well as of the pulling competition in draft horses.ResultsFifty horses were divided into light-, middle- and heavyweight categories based on their arrival weights and competed 1–3 days after. Body weight was measured upon arrival and pre-competition. Blood was sampled for chemistry and high sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hscTnT) at arrival, pre- and post-competition in 34, 26 and 20 horses, respectively. Body weight increased significantly between arrival and pre-competition for light (7.2% (Median: 62.8Kg (41.7–77.0)) and middle (8.6% (Median: 80.5Kg (62.7–90.9)) weight categories. Change in body weight was correlated (r = 0.69, p = 0.002) with competition ranking for middleweights. The ratios of weight pulled to team body weight were 2.7 (1.9–2.8), 2.6 (2.5–2.6) and 2.4 (2.2–2.5) for the lightweights, middleweights and heavyweights, respectively. Blood chemistry indicated hemoconcentration on arrival in the middleweight and lightweight horses. Hemoconcentration was not seen on arrival in some horses with marked rapid weight change. Overall, no chemistry parameter changed between pre- and post-competition. The hscTnT stayed within normal range post-competition.ConclusionsWhile horses arrived to the event with indications of hemoconcentration, they appeared to have sufficient time to rehydrate prior to competition, and the effects of the competition were reversible within 3 h.
Highlights
The Heavy Horse Pull is a competition where teams of two horses pull an increasingly heavy sled for a short distance
Previous work examined the physiological effects of sustained pulling in Draft horses [6, 7], the workload efforts, physiological demand and metabolic stress of the Heavy Horse Pull are drastically different since it is at a much higher intensity, but for a much shorter duration
Body weight changes Arrival and pre-competition weight was recorded for 50 out of 52 horses competing in the Heavy Horse Pull competition (1 team of 2 horses in the lightweight division missed pre-competition weighing)
Summary
The Heavy Horse Pull is a competition where teams of two horses pull an increasingly heavy sled for a short distance. Teams of two draft horses pull a weighted sled over 14 ft at increasing load until a maximum is reached. Similar to many human sports, horses compete within a specified weight division and undergo mandatory weigh-ins to ensure equal and fair competition. The physiological response to short term high intensity resistance pulling in heavy horses is unknown. The effects of a high intensity short duration exercise on the myocardium are unknown in horses but have been shown to induce a leakage of cardiac troponin in human athletes [8]. We reported that high sensitivity cardiac troponin (hscTnT) can be increased in racehorses with upper airway obstruction while racing [9]. This may be due to myocardium damage or increased permeability of myocardial membranes or release of cardiac troponin through vesicles [10–12]. We hypothesized that hscTnT increases in draft horses competing in pulling events
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