Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Pump up the volume? Heart performance in endurance horses explored

Horsetalk.co.nz - Full Article

October 11, 2016
Horsetalk.co.nz

Researchers have explored the heart performance of endurance horses with Arabian bloodlines, finding only a weak relationship between career kilometers and the dimension of the left ventricle – the powerful cardiac chamber that pumps blood out to the body.

The study team in France focused on 340 endurance horses, of which 201 were purebred Arabians, 100 were part-bred Arabians, 24 were Anglo-Arabians, and 15 were categorized as “others”.

Echocardiographic measurements were recorded between 2011 and 2014 during field exercise tests and at the annual finals of the French National Championships for young endurance horses.

The field tests were organised by the research group for all interested endurance horse owners four times a year. Only horses aged between four and six and with at least one purebred Arabian parent were included in the study.

The researchers wanted to examine the relationship between body dimensions, body weight, and other parameters on heart dimensions in the horses as assessed through the imaging. Their findings have been reported in the journal, BMC Veterinary Research...

Read more: http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2016/10/11/pump-volume-heart-endurance-horses/#ixzz4MnJWbSUo

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