Cardiovascular response to exercise and training in the horse

The quality of the overall response to exercise in the horse is very similar to that seen in man and laboratory animals; differences are mainly quantitative and persist when relative body weight is taken into account. The apparently greater flow capacity of the equine muscle bed during maximal whole-body exercise implicates the extent of central circulatory adaptations as the limiting factor in performance but implies a role for increase in arteriolar capacitance/muscle capillarity as an appropriate response to intense endurance training. The blood oxygen-carrying capacity of the horse is often quoted as the major component of the animal's superior aerobic work capacity, although the measured maximal a-vO2 for the horse is only 2 to 3 ml greater than that found in elite athletes. In fact, comparison of published performance data for man and the horse reveals that improved a-vO2 accounts for 23 per cent of the difference, and increased Qc accounts for the remaining 77 per cent of the superior oxygen consumption in the horse. The extent to which the horse can increase Qc and muscle blood flow appears to represent its major adaptations for maximal aerobic performance. It is frequently observed that there have been far greater improvements in human athletic performance than in that of the race-horse, and this difference is usually attributed to the application of scientific training methods to the athlete. It has also been suggested that the horse may have reached the limit of its adaptive ability. The horse has a maximal oxygen pulse of at least 0.6 ml per kg per beat compared with 0.35 for man, a 90 per cent whole body oxygen extraction, and an 80 to 90 per cent higher muscle blood flow, with an overall capability of increasing Vo2 max by 35 times. These represent levels that would appear to be difficult to improve upon. However, insufficient research has been performed to firmly state true maxima for the horse, and current research does not reveal to what extent the horse is capable of responding to even conventional training methods. The relative improvement that such research could reveal would provide some objective guidance to the extent to which further improvement could be anticipated. A consistent finding in the majority of studies reviewed is the tendency for results to show a lack of statistical significance, which is particularly frustrating for a researcher when the trends are consistent with the initial hypotheses. This tendency arises because of small group sizes and inherent variability in the test population.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)