(947.2) Correlation of the pulse rate in horses at the start with the results of endurance ride

Poster Board Number: E471

Georgy Nikitin (Saint Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine), Boris Semenov (Saint Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine), Veronika Guseva (Saint Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine), Tatiana Kuznetsova (Saint Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine), Anna Nazarova (Saint Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine), Maria Ladanova (Saint Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine), Roman Khomenko (Saint Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine)

The study aimed to study the relationship between endurance ride and the pulse rate in sports horses. Well-trained horses have low heart rates. The research was carried out in 2021 at the World Championships for young riders and juniors in equestrian races in the Netherlands; the distance was 120 km. The competition was attended by 76 horses, mainly of the Arab breed, of different sexes. The rules of equestrian sport strictly limited the age of the animals. Horses no younger than 7 years old took part in the competition. The pulse counting was carried out at the start according to the rules described in the regulations of the International Equestrian Federation using a pulse oximeter. Heart rate data were compared between the two groups of horses ranked in the first and last 10 places. Statistical processing was performed with BioStat, AnalystSoft Inc., version 7, and the Mann-Whitney U test were used. At the preliminary veterinary control at the start, the pulse rate of the animals that took the first 10 places was in the reference range of 24-42 beats per minute, and the horses that took the last 10 places at the finish line had a heart rate in the field of 40-48 beats per minute. Based on the research, it was found that the successfully finishing horses that took the first 10 places had a pulse rate of 37.2 ± 0.5 beats per minute, and the horses that took the last 10 places had a pulse rate of 44.4 ± 0, 93. When comparing two samples using the Mann-Whitney U Test, we got P=0.0026. Thus, the difference between the pulse rates in the horses of the compared groups is statistically significant. Horses whose pulse rate at the preliminary veterinary inspection was in the reference interval of 24-42 beats per minute and averaged 37.2±0.5 showed the best result and took first places. On primary veterinary control, horses with a pulse rate of 40-48 beats per minute with an average of 44.4 ± 0.93 took the last places in equestrian distance race competitions.