Abstract

The exercise performed by Thoroughbred (TB) and Standardbred (SB) racehorses is similar. Nevertheless, warm-up regimes seem to differ between trainers of the two breeds. The aim of this study was to collect some preliminary results on warm-up strategies used by trainers of SB and TB in Sweden and the physiological response to two warm-up regimes of practical relevance. A questionnaire was answered by eight and nine SB and TB trainers, respectively, and showed that the SB trainers tended to perform longer warm-ups than TB trainers. In the exercise study, a long and a short warm-up (LWU and SWU) were designed by two trainers (SB and TB, respectively) and performed prior to an intensive exercise session. The study showed that the recovery period in the LWU trial in SBs was prolonged compared with the SWU trial and associated with increased body temperature (39.6 plus or minus 0.3 versus 39.1 plus or minus 0.1 deg C 15 min post-exercise), heart rate, and breathing frequency (66 plus or minus 10 versus 55 plus or minus 6 beats min-1 and 86 plus or minus 11 versus 56 plus or minus 6 breaths min-1 15 min post-exercise). In addition, the body weight loss was increased by 129% compared with the SWU. In the TB trial, the post-exercise breathing frequency was higher following SWU compared with LWU (97 plus or minus 7 versus 71 plus or minus 8 breaths min-1 15 min post-exercise), indicating increased anaerobic metabolism. Although this study involves few animals, it indicated that the LWU for TBs and the SWU for SBs was most beneficial

Keywords

horses; warm-up

Published in

Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology
2005, Volume: 2, number: 4, pages: 219-224
Publisher: CABI Publishing

SLU Authors

• Jansson, Anna

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Veterinary Science
Animal and Dairy Science


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/6976