APPLICATION OF A COMBINED GLOBAL POSITIONING AND HEART RATE MONITORING SYSTEM IN JUMPER HORSES DURING AN OFFICIAL COMPETITION - A PRELIMINARY STUDY

作者：Bazzano Marilena; Giudice Elisabetta; Rizzo Maria; Congiu Fulvio; Zumbo Alessandro; Arfuso Francesca; Di Pietro Simona; Bruschetta Daniele; Piccione Giuseppe^*

来源：Acta Veterinaria Hungarica, 2016, 64(2): 189-200.

DOI：10.1556/004.2016.019

• Blood lactate
• global positioning system
• heart rate
• horse
• physical exercise

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a combined global positioning system (GPS)/heart rate (HR) monitoring system is a valuable tool to assess, step by step, the physiological response of HR and its relationship with speed in healthy horses competing in an official show jumping class. Six mares performing a standardised warm-up and jumping course were monitored using a HR/GPS device. Venous blood lactate (BL), assessed before and after exercise, showed a significant increase (P = 0.0004) following the physical effort. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant changes in HR throughout the experimental period. The analysis of HR data recorded during the warm-up jumping stage showed significantly higher HR (P = 0.001) in the recovery period compared to the related jumping phase. Shifting the fence height from 100 cm to 125 cm during the warm-up jumps was also found to cause a significant increase (P = 0.016) in HR. According to these preliminary results, the simultaneous logging of heart rate and speed has the potential to be a reliable and powerful technique for field testing that can help in the monitoring of the horse's response to jumping effort during training and competition.

• 出版日期2016-6