Abstract
BackgroundMost Friesian horses reach their anaerobic threshold during a standardized exercise test (SET) which requires lower intensity exercise than daily routine training. Aim: to study strengths and weaknesses of an alternative SET-protocol. Two different SETs (SETA and SETB) were applied during a 2 month training period of 9 young Friesian dressage horses. SETB alternated short episodes of canter with trot and walk, lacking long episodes of cantering, as applied in SETA. Following parameters were monitored: blood lactic acid (BLA) after cantering, average heart rate (HR) in trot and maximum HR in canter. HR and BLA of SETA and SETB were analyzed using a paired two-sided T-test and Spearman Correlation-coefficient (p* < 0.05).ResultsBLA after cantering was significantly higher in SETA compared to SETB and maximum HR in canter was significantly higher in SETA compared to SETB.The majority of horses showed a significant training response based upon longitudinal follow-up of BLA. Horses with the lowest fitness at start, displayed the largest training response. BLA was significantly lower in week 8 compared to week 0, in both SETA and SETB. A significantly decreased BLA level after cantering was noticeable in week 6 in SETA, whereas in SETB only as of week 8. In SETA a very strong correlation for BLA and average HR at trot was found throughout the entire training period, not for canter.ConclusionsYoung Friesian horses do reach their anaerobic threshold during a SET which requires lower intensity than daily routine training. Therefore close monitoring throughout training is warranted. Longitudinal follow up of BLA and not of HR is suitable to assess training response. In the current study, horses that started with the lowest fitness level, showed the largest training response. During training monitoring HR in trot rather than in canter is advised. SETB is best suited as a template for daily training in the aerobic window.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-017-0969-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Most Friesian horses reach their anaerobic threshold during a standardized exercise test (SET) which requires lower intensity exercise than daily routine training
Comparison blood lactic acid (BLA) and heart rate (HR) in SETA versus SETB BLA levels at start of the SETs were less than 0.8 mmol/ L for every horse in every week during the study
Analysis of the BLA in SETA and SETB revealed that the blood lactic acid time profile significantly differed between the two different SETs
Summary
Most Friesian horses reach their anaerobic threshold during a standardized exercise test (SET) which requires lower intensity exercise than daily routine training. Two different SETs (SETA and SETB) were applied during a 2 month training period of 9 young Friesian dressage horses. The latest few years, there is an increasing interest of horse riders to objectively measure fitness and training response in horses being trained. For this purpose telemetric devices are used, de Bruijn et al BMC Veterinary Research (2017) 13:49. In a previously performed study, it was demonstrated that unlike warmblood horses, Friesian horses tend to reach their anaerobic threshold during a SET test (SETA) which requires lower intensity exercise than daily routine training. A tendency towards familial clustering with respect to the physiological response to that SET test was reported and a genetic background for poor performance was suggested for certain Friesian breeding lines [8]
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