A good understanding of heart rate dynamics during exercise is crucial in evaluating physical effort intensity and, consequently, horse fitness, Piccione said. | Photo: iStock

“The simultaneous logging of heart rate and speed from each horse proved to be a reliable and powerful technique for field testing that can help in monitoring, step-by-step, the horse’s response to the jumping effort during both training and competition,” said Giuseppe Piccione, PhD, of the University of Messina Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

“This could ensure that horses receive a suitable training load for their ability and potentially minimize the risk of injury,” he said. “Matching up horses of similar ability or fitness may allow for a more balanced training approach. It could also help eliminate training sessions that fail to provide sufficient training stimulus. Moreover, this approach might allow us to quantify objectively how a horse is coping with its training exercises or the emotional stress of a competition and to assess the degree of compliance of the horse that will in turn contribute to improving animal welfare and athletic performance.”

In their study, Piccione and his fellow researchers fitted six mares with heart-monitoring systems and GPS units that they wore during warm-up and competition in an event held in Sicily