Application of a combined global positioning and heart rate monitoring system in jumper horses during an official competition - A preliminary study

This study aimed to investigate whether a combined global positioning system (GPS)/heart rate (HR) monitoring system is a valuable tool to assess, step by step, the physiological response of HR and its relationship with speed in healthy horses competing in an official show jumping class. Six mares performing a standardized warm-up and jumping course were monitored using a HR/GPS device. Venous blood lactate (BL), assessed before and after exercise, showed a significant increase (P=0.0004) following the physical effort. One-way analysis of variance(ANOVA) showed significant changes in HR throughout the experimental period. The analysis of HR data recorded during the warm-up jumping stage showed significantly higher HR (P=0.0011) in the recovery period compared to the related jumping phase. The fence height was also found to determine a significant increase (P=0.0158) in HR when shifting from 100 cm to 125 cm jumps during the warm-up jumps. According to our results, the simultaneous logging heart rate and speed from each horse revealed a reliable and powerful technique for field testing that can help in monitoring, step by step, horse’s response to jumping effort during training and competition.