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

Abstract

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 1.10 m course vs a 600 m standardized incremental exercise test on flat ground, and to report reference field test values for competitive show jumping horses. In this prospective field study, 21 healthy, actively competing Warmblood show jumping horses were assessed to determine physiological variables after a standardized jumping course at 6.4 m/s (average speed) and track standardized incremental exercise test at 5 m/s, 8 m/s and 11 m/s. Heart rate, velocity, blood lactate, blood pH, pCO2, bicarbonate, PCV and TP concentrations were recorded. V200, V170 and VLa4 were calculated. Parametric statistics were performed on analysis of all 21 horses' variables. Results: Contrary to exercise at 5 m/s and 11 m/s, cantering at 8 m/s did not induce any significant difference in blood lactate, mean heart rate or mean venous blood pH compared to after completion of the jumping course. Conclusions: Jumping a 1.10 m course demands a statistically similar workload to cantering around a flat track at 8 m/s. This study will help to test fitness and design conditioning programs for Warmblood show jumping horses.

Proposed Protocol for Field Testing of Endurance Fitness of Young Labrador Retrievers

“…These tables factor in the time used for the performance or distance covered in a certain time [ 48 , 49 , 65 , 66 ]. In horses, typically measured physical parameters in fitness field tests are HR, HRR, and BL [ 26 , 27 , 67 , 68 ]. These also apply to canine endurance tests performed on a treadmill, with the addition of body temperature as a typically measured variable [ 36 , 59 , 69 , 70 ].…”

Monitoring Performance in Show Jumping Horses: Validity of Non-specific and Discipline-specific Field Exercise Tests for a Practicable Assessment of Aerobic Performance

“…Another interesting finding of the present study was that older horses exhibited significantly higher blood lactate concentrations in response to the same competition level than younger horses. Léguillette et al (2020) observed higher lactate values in response to a standardized track exercise in more experienced horses and suggested that this observation may be explained by a shift toward a higher proportion of anaerobic muscle fibers in horses trained for higher levels of show jumping competitions. However, in the present study, age did not necessarily coincide with the current level of performance.…”

“…Based on the relationship between velocity, heart rate and blood lactate concentration during such tests, different fitness indices such as the V La4 which is considered to be a good predictor of aerobic capacity can be calculated (Couroucé-Malblanc and van Erck-Westergren, 2014). Most research on field exercise testing has focused on Standardbred trotters (Couroucé, 1999;Couroucé et al, 2002) and Thoroughbred racehorses (Davie and Evans, 2000;Gramkow and Evans, 2006;Vermeulen and Evans, 2006), but only few studies have investigated the usefulness of field exercise tests for horses competing in the Olympic equestrian disciplines (Munsters et al, 2014;Léguillette et al, 2020). Moreover, exercise tests evaluating physiological response to a prescribed speed and duration of exercise, as typically used in race horses, may be inadequate for evaluating the physical and technical capabilities required in show jumping.…”

“…Moreover, exercise tests evaluating physiological response to a prescribed speed and duration of exercise, as typically used in race horses, may be inadequate for evaluating the physical and technical capabilities required in show jumping. Léguillette et al (2020) found that show jumpers would have to gallop at speeds of approximately 8 m/s (480 m/min) in order to experience the same internal load as during jumping over a course with 110 cm high fences. In the present study, only half of the horses reached blood lactate concentrations in excess of 4 mmol/L galloping at 500 m/min for approximately 2.5 min during the last step of SET track .…”