Volume 58 (2008) Issue: 2008 No#4

Hematological modifications during official 1600 and 2000 meters trot races in standardbred horses

Author(s): Piccione G, Casella S, Monteverde V, Giannetto C, Caola G

Keywords:haematological parameters, horse, trot races, workload.

The authors studied the changes of some haematological parameters during two different workloads in Standardbred horses. Ten horses, clinically healthy, were divided into two groups of five subjects each. The two groups of Standardbred (Group A and Group B) had been separately and specifically trained to take part in the official 1600 and 2000 meters trot races, respectively. On each subject of Group A and Group B, red blood cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC), platelets (PLT), haemoglobin (Hb), haematocrit (Hct), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were recorded. Blood samples were collected from each horse at rest, after warm up, before racing, immediately after racing, 30 and 60 min after the end of the race. Twoway repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine significant differences. The statistical analysis, the ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni’s test, showed that during the experimental period, modifications observed for some haematological parameters are not related to the intensity and the type of exercise; only platelet reactivity is altered by different workload. Our results further confirm the data demonstrated previously.