People often hop on a treadmill without giving safety a second thought, but putting a horse on a treadmill is a different story. While treadmills aren’t uncommon in veterinary hospitals and are gaining popularity in nonclinical settings for exercise or conditioning purposes, some owners, trainers, and veterinarians often question the safety of these implements. A team of researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia recently evaluated the safety of high-speed treadmills and found that, overall, few injuries occur to horses during treadmill exercise.

"During the past 20 years treadmill exercise testing has played an important role in both the study of equine exercise physiology and the investigation of poor athletic performance," explained Samantha Franklin, BVSc, PhD, MRCVS, senior lecturer in physiology at the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, and lead researcher on the study. "However, it has been suggested that some trainers and veterinarians may be reluctant to refer horses for treadmill exercise testing because of fears that horses may be at increased risk of musculoskeletal injury during treadmill exercise."

Franklin explained that treadmill exercise testing enables veterinarians to diagnose abnormalities that are not evident at rest: "In general, the benefits far outweigh the risks since an accurate diagnosis is essential before appropriate treatment recommendations can be made."

To determine the prevalence and types of injuries suffered in conjunction with high-speed treadmill exercise, Franklin and her team examined 2,305 records from 2,258 horses that underwent high-speed treadmill exercise testing at nine locations in the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium