title: Application of a combined global positioning and heart rate monitoring system in jumper horses during an official competition - A preliminary study.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether a combined global positioning system (GPS)/heart rate (HR) monitoring system is a valuable tool to assess, step by step, the physiological response of HR and its relationship with speed in healthy horses competing in an official show jumping class. Six mares performing a standardised warm-up and jumping course were monitored using a HR/GPS device. Venous blood lactate (BL), assessed before and after exercise, showed a significant increase (P = 0.0004) following the physical effort. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant changes in HR throughout the experimental period. The analysis of HR data recorded during the warm-up jumping stage showed significantly higher HR (P = 0.001) in the recovery period compared to the related jumping phase. Shifting the fence height from 100 cm to 125 cm during the warm-up jumps was also found to cause a significant increase (P = 0.016) in HR. According to these preliminary results, the simultaneous logging of heart rate and speed has the potential to be a reliable and powerful technique for field testing that can help in the monitoring of the horse's response to jumping effort during training and competition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario dell'Annunziata , 98168 Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Marilena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bazzano
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina , S. Agata-Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giudice
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario dell'Annunziata , 98168 Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario dell'Annunziata , 98168 Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Fulvio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Congiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario dell'Annunziata , 98168 Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zumbo
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario dell'Annunziata , 98168 Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arfuso
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario dell'Annunziata , 98168 Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Di Pietro
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences and Morpho-functional Imaging, University of Messina , Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bruschetta
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Polo Universitario dell'Annunziata , 98168 Messina , Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piccione
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006736:Horses / Q000502:physiology*; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000662:veterinary*; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology*; D013177:Sports
keywords: Blood lactate; global positioning system; heart rate; horse; physical exercise