Intensity and Duration of Exercise During Early-Season Training and Competition in Three-Day-Event Horses – Part Two: Training
J.D. Pagan1, K. O’Neill1, N. Ireland1, and M. Davies2
Kentucky Equine Research, Versailles, Kentucky, USA1 and ClockitEQ, Ltd, Perth, Western Australia2
Thirty-four horses (21 Warmbloods and 13 Thoroughbreds) were used in a two-month study (February and March, 2015) to determine the duration and intensity of exercise during early season training. The horses were divided into 5 different competition levels based on early-season competition goals (5 Novice, 5 Training, 5 Preliminary, 8 Intermediate, and 11 Advanced). All horses trained in Ocala, Florida.
Measurements
Heart rate, velocity, distance, and altitude were measured in the horses during every training session. These measurements were collected using a smartphone app, KER ClockIt Sport (Kentucky Equine Research), which was installed on the rider’s iOS phone. A Bluetooth-equipped heart-rate monitor (Polar H7) was used to measure and transmit HR to the phone app. At the conclusion ofeach exercise session, data were uploaded to a web-based database where it was stored for later analysis.