Clinical pathology in the racing horse: the role of clinical pathology in assessing fitness and performance in the racehorse.
Clinical pathology is frequently used in racehorses to screen for "fitness" to race and to screen for disease that may affect performance. The role of clinical pathology in exercise testing of racehorses is important, especially in the area of blood lactate responses to exercise. This article discusses the use of resting and dynamic clinical pathology in the racehorse, especially in respect to investigation of the state of training (or fitness) and detection of subclinical performance-limiting disease.
McGowan
Catherine
C
Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, PO Box 57, Helsinki 00014, Finland. catherine.mcgowan@helsinki.fi
D000818:Animals; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000662:veterinary; D001947:Breeding; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000662:veterinary; D006400:Hematocrit / Q000662:veterinary; D006736:Horses / Q000097:blood* / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology; D013177:Sports