Exercise Physiology and Sports Medicine: Applications for Equine Internists

Presentation Description / Summary: There is increasing use of clinical exercise testing to determine the causes of poor performance. The various methodologies used during exercise testing have their basis in an understanding of normal physiological responses to exercise and how disease or abnormalities affect test results. A good understanding of how horses respond to exercise, and exercise conditioning, is fundamental to application of clinical exercise testing. Similarly, the informed use of on-board monitoring and remote monitoring of horses during exercise relies on this same understanding - normal responses to exercise and how these are affected, and can be detected, by various diseases or abnormalities. This presentation will provide a state of the art description of the responses of horses to exercise and to conditioning ("training").