Equine Research

Increase bone density with excercise, not nutrition

Neilsen and Spooner of Michigan State did a post hoc study of research looking at changes in bone as a result of either nutrition or exercise. The interest in decreasing skeletal injury in horses is of course of great practical importance to horse owners and trainers. They found that it is exercise that causes improvements [...]

race stallions to win

Here is an abstract of research from Northern Arizona University finding that stallions were faster than both mares and geldings. Looking at the results for Thoroughbred, the stallions were lengths ahead of the mares at the 1600m (or less) races and there was twice as much difference between them at races over 1600m. Do racehorses [...]

Dietary Energy Source Affects Glucose Kinetics 2008

The type of feed the horse eats is what determines what fuel is available for the horse to use during exercise. So it is important to figure out the optimal diet for your horses. Although there has been research showing the benefits of fat supplementation over feeding grain in equine diets, many people still prefer [...]

Plasma Acid-Base Status 2003

A Quantitative Analysis of the Effects of Feeding and Daily Variation on Plasma Acid-Base Status in Resting Horses A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by KERRI JO SMITHURST, 2003 Conclusions: Daily variation in the measured blood constituents identified in this study was due to either feeding or [...]

Diurnal Review 2002

LITERATURE REVIEW by Kerri-Jo Smithurst, University of Guelph A Summary of the Effects of Feeding and Daily Variation on Acid-Base Status in Resting Horses Plasma acid-base state affects, and may also be a reflection of, the health of equine athletes. The physicochemical model, as developed by Stewart (1981), defines the blood constituents that effect or [...]

Intramuscular Lactate and High Intensity Exercise

Kerri-Jo Smithurst, Department of Human Biology, University of Guelph, September 2002 Abstract: Track racing relies heavily on the horse’s anaerobic metabolism to produce the speeds necessary to win. One widely accepted theory is that a major limiting factor to high intensity exercise is the production of lactic acid in the muscles. This paper examines the [...]