Heart Rate Monitoring in Mangalarga Marchador Horses During a Field Marcha Test.

Measurement of heart rate (HR) and velocity before, during, and after training exercises under field conditions indicates health and fitness level and intensity of imposed physical effort and allows rapid adjustments in training and nutritional protocols, improving welfare of athletic horses. The aim of this study was to monitor HR of Mangalarga Marchador horses during a marcha field test. Fifteen Mangalarga Marchador horses were evaluated during an aerobic exercise (marcha) for 40 minutes using a HR monitor system with GPS (Polar RS800CX-G3). Results were analyzed through Polar ProTrainer 5 to record maximal heart rate (HRmax), average HR (HRmed), maximal speed (Vmax), average speed (Vmed), distance and HR and V oscillations throughout the physical effort. After 30 minutes of recovery, all animals were clinically re-evaluated. Variables were analyzed for normality with Kolmogorov-Smirnov test followed by mean comparison using ANOVA and Tukey test, considering P < .05. During the 40-minute exercise, Vmax was 3.75 ± 0.39 m/s, in a distance of 7.15 ± 1.06 km. Marcha gait influenced significantly HR (P < .0001) and, after 2 minutes of exercise, all animals reached values for speed and HR that did not change until the end of exercise trial. Results also showed a predominance of aerobic activity as animals worked mainly using 60%-70% of HRmax (∼140 beats/min). Heart rate monitoring during marcha test was a useful method to evaluate physical conditioning of athletic horses and intensity of exercise, which is helpful to improve performance and guarantee welfare of athletic horses kept under tropical conditions.