Hypoxic exposure results in physiological adaptions and enhanced human athletic performance. However, few reports exist regarding responses of horses to similar conditions. The goals this preliminary work were evaluate whether could be acclimated a hypoxic chamber (HC) monitor their Trial 1: Two 4-yr-old Thoroughbreds used establish protocols for adaptation the HC. Horses stalled HC 8 10 h/d wh...

Thoroughbred, a relatively recent horse breed, is best known for its use in horse racing. Although myostatin (MSTN) variants have been reported to be highly associated with horse racing performance, the trait is more likely to be polygenic in nature. The purpose of this study was to identify genetic variants strongly associated with racing performance by using estimated breeding value (EBV) for...

BACKGROUND Horses show compensatory head movement in hindlimb lameness and compensatory pelvis movement in forelimb lameness but little is known about the relationship of withers movement symmetry with head and pelvic asymmetry in horses with naturally occurring gait asymmetries. OBJECTIVES To document head, withers and pelvic movement asymmetry and timing differences in horses with naturally...

BACKGROUND Cardiac troponin-I assays have been validated in horses.'High-sensitivity' cardiac troponin assays are now the standard in human cardiology. OBJECTIVE Appropriately validate the'high-sensitivity' cardiac Troponin-T (hscTnT) assay for clinical use in horses, establish reference intervals, determine the biological variation, and demonstrate assay utility in selected clinical cases. ...

Bone mineral density contributes to bone strength, and can be measured accurately in the distal limb of growing or training young horses. In training horses, changes occur within less than 3 months, and consist of trabecular thickening in the subchondral area and specific areas of the body of the epiphysis of longbones and the cuboidal bones. In the growing horse, variation in mineral density b...

OBJECTIVE Evaluation of exercise effects in racehorses is important in horseracing industry and animal health care. In this study, we compared metabolic patterns between before and after exercise to screen metabolic biomarkers for exercise effects in thoroughbreds. METHODS The concentration of metabolites in muscle, plasma, and urine was measured by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectro...

BACKGROUND A "high-sensitivity" cardiac troponin-T (hscTnT) assay recently has been validated for use in horses and is a specific biomarker of myocardial damage. Postexercise release kinetics of cTnT utilizing the hscTnT assay have yet to be established in horses. OBJECTIVES To determine: (1) cTnT release kinetics in racing Thoroughbreds after a high-intensity 5/8th mile Chuckwagon race; (2) ...