UCalgary researcher Dr. Renaud Léguillette shares fascinating insights from his work with world class competitive horses, including Spruce Meadows show jumpers and Calgary Stampede rodeo and chuckwagon horses. Renaud covers early disease detection and treatment, fitness assessments and preventative care strategies to optimize the health and success of performance horses.
Find out how horse owners and caregivers help equine athletes achieve higher, faster, stronger. Learn more at ucalgary.ca/explore/equinesports
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Powering Performance Horses: Keeping Equine Athletes in Top Form
1. Powering Performance Horses:
Keeping Equine Athletes in Top Form
Renaud Léguillette
Calgary Chair in Equine Sports Medicine
Associate Professor, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM)
3. Welcome
Webinar series by University of Calgary scholars
Information presented is a summary of the
scholars’ research
4. Renaud Léguillette, UCVM
Training
DVM: Paris, France, Maisons-Alfort Vet.
School (ENVA)
Clinical training/ specialty boards:
University of Montreal (internship/
residency: Equine internal medicine)
Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation
specialty boards (new college)
MSc: equine asthma
PhD: McGill University, Meakins-Christie
Laboratories on bronchial smooth muscle
in human asthma
5. Presentation objectives
Introduction to the incredible exercise physiology
of horse athletes: How do they do it?
What are the limiting factors?
What can go wrong: Throat, lungs, heart
How do we treat and help these horses?
6. All sorts of efforts:
Fast, Up, Sideways, Pulling …
7. How do these equine athletes do it?
Incredibly efficient in their movements
Can take-up a lot of oxygen (O2) from the air (respiratory)
And can deliver O2 to the muscles (cardiac)
Self “blood doping” system (O2 transportation)
Incredibly tolerant to running anaerobic (without O2)
8. Horse locomotor apparatus:
Built to run!
Muscle mass is UP: Less inertia/ Less energy lost moving the mass
Equine limb Human limb
9. Pulleys/ Spring system of the tendons and ligaments:
Passive accumulation of energy in extension returned in
flexion
Horse locomotor apparatus:
Built to run!
10. Pulleys/ Spring system of the tendons and ligaments:
Passive accumulation of energy in extension returned in
flexion
Horse locomotor apparatus:
Built to run!
15. Results: Incredible O2 consumption
VO2max: Per Kg
Average person Average horse
40-50 ml/kg/min >150 ml/kg/min
Elite human athlete ~80ml/kg/min Racehorse >200ml/kg/min
Human record 97.5ml/kg/min (18 yo Norwegian cyclist in 2012)
16. What is the limiting factor?
The respiratory system!
Horses are hypoxic at maximal speed:
“Diffusion limitation”:
• Very low PaO2: 70 mmHg (vs 92-99 mmHg at rest)
• Blood “flows too quickly” in the lungs
Horses are hypercapneic at maximal speed:
“Ventilation limitation”:
• Increased PaCO2: 50+ mmHg (vs 44 mmHg at rest)
• Locomotory:respiratory coupling.
23. We assess the upper airways with a camera:
Endoscopy
Static obstructions: Endoscopy at rest
Challenge of the dynamic obstructions:
• Only happen during exercise when high flows
• Completely normal at rest
What can go wrong?
Upper Airways
25. Dynamic upper airways endoscopy
DRS: Dynamic Respiratory Scope:
• First in Canada 5 years ago
• Contribution from Equine Foundation of Canada (Eldon Bienert)
27. Dynamic obstructions
DRS movie:
• Dorsal displacement of soft palate
• Laryngeal hemiplegia
• Axial deviation of arytenoepiglotic folds
• Retroversion of epiglottis
• Pharyngeal collapse
28. How do we help with these
problems?
Often a throat surgery (often general anesthesia)
Now options of laser surgeries (standing sedation)
Management (stress, bits, other problems)
29. What can go wrong?
Upper airways: Throat
Lower airways: Lung
30. What can go wrong?
Lungs: “Asthma”
“Equine Asthma”
Two non-infectious Diseases
Mild Severe
Inflammatory Airway Disease “Heaves”
(IAD) Recurrent Airway Obstruction
(RAO)
Coughing Labored breathing AT REST
Mucus/ nasal discharge Coughing
Decreased performance Severe: Not ridable
31. Horse asthma: Is it common in AB?
66
17 17
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Moderate Airway Inflammation Severe Airway Inflammation Normal
Percentage
Moderate Severe Normal
Percentage
66%
17% 17%
33. To detect Severe or moderate Inflammation: Did the
horse cough in the past? (sensitivity = 0.97)
COUGH is the key respiratory sign
Equine screening tools:
COUGH
Questionnaires are helpful to identify respiratory
problems but not good to differentiate Moderate vs
Severe Inflammation.
37. Equine mild asthma:
Immune system response
Cytokines (Immune mediators) identified in BAL: Difference between mast
cells and neutrophils mild asthma horses
38. Bronchoprovocation tests:
Histamine challenge to measure
the dose of histamine inducing
bronchoconstriction
How to document lung asthma in
research?
0
20
40
60
Day 0 Day 7 Day 15
Reactivity(%mg/ml)
*** *
Flow
Pressure
AmplificationAnalysisPrinting
Record
39. How to treat
lung inflammation/asthma?
The key is NOT to treat asthma
But to PREVENT exposure to dust/ allergens
40. Round hay bales -
“Digging” problem
Round hay bales:
2 times more likely to have
severe asthma
58
34
4142
66
59
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
RAO IAD Normal
Percentage
Round Hay Bales vs Square Hay Bales
Round…
Square…
42. How to treat
lung inflammation/asthma?
Treatments to decrease inflammation
Treatments to “open” the bronchi and decrease mucus
43. Systemic corticosteroids:
Dexamethasone
Most effective to less effective:
• Dexamethasone:
• high doses, then taper down, but keep for LONG term
• Isoflupredone (Predef 2X):
• IM injections
• Prednisolone:
• NOT prednisone (poor bioavailability)
45. Effects of inhaled steroids
on airway hypersensitivity
Fluticasone: Black
Dexamethasone: White
46. What can go wrong?
Upper airways: Throat
Lower airways: Lung
• Asthma
• “Bleeders” EIPH
47. “Bleeders”:
Exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH)
What is it?
• Horses can bleed from their lungs with high intensity exercise.
• Common in horses racing at high speeds (up to 80%)
• Often paired with poor athletic performance
How does it work? Not entirely sure
• Transmural stress and capillary walls ruptures
Pulmonary
Artery
hypertension
Aveoli
“vacuum”
49. How do you diagnose EIPH?
Endoscopy: 30+ mins post exercise
50. Study results: Barrel Racers: EIPH
170 endoscopies
>45% EIPH in tested Barrel racers
Only 5/ 77 EIPH had blood at nostrils:
Mostly internal bleeding
51. How can we treat EIPH?
No cure: Preventive measures. Active research field!
Treat lung inflammation
Decrease blood pressure
Decrease “vacuum” in lungs
52. What can go wrong?
Upper airways: Throat
Lower airways: Lung
Cardiac
56. Same prevalence as
other disciplines
VPCs are rare
during racing
Chuckwagons study
57. Can we detect and prevent
cardiac problems?
Goal: Find a marker of cardiac damage BEFORE racing
Validation of a new high sensitivity troponin assay
Collaboration with Dr. Seiden-Long (CLS)
Normal
Racehorses
58. Test to diagnose cardiac problem
post event
High sensitivity troponin after competition or clinical
signs
3-6hrs post is the best blood sampling time
No correlation with age
59. What did we learn?
Horses have incredible adaptations to run. Their limiting factor
is the respiratory system
Any nose or throat problem will affect airflow and athletic
capacity
Many horses have mild asthma, a few have severe asthma
Many high level horses have lung bleeding
Severe cardiac electrical problems are very rare
We have validated markers of cardiac muscle damage
60. Where do we go from now?
Technologies in the field. Field studies
We needed a portable system to measure VO2max and
just got it developed!
Critical to assess fitness
Critical to develop better & safer training protocols
Critical to test training options like water treadmill
We (and others) are working on the prevention of EIPH
64. Thank you
Horse owners for volunteering their horses in our
field studies.
Calgary Stampede
Events organizers
Linda Atkinson
Students and trainees:
• Summer students
• Graduate students
• Resident/ Interns
65. Upcoming webinars
Our Brains and Fatigue, October 4, 12-1 p.m. MST
No Pain No Gain? The Sociology of Sports, October
6, 12-1 p.m. MST
The Race to Prevent Running Injuries, October 11,
12-1 p.m. MST
Inside the Mind of an Olympian, October 13, 12-1
p.m. MST
Knocking Out Concussions in Sports, October 20,
10-11 a.m. MST
66. Thank you
Sign up for other UCalgary webinars,
download our eBooks,
and watch videos on the outcomes of our
scholars’ research at
ucalgary.ca/explore/collections
67. Other webinar topics
For ideas on other UCalgary webinar topics,
please email us at
exploreucalgary@ucalgary.ca
Editor's Notes
One of the first few UCVM faculty members in 2006 to develop curriculum and facilities. Research focus on respi and exercise physiology
Present/describe/interpret
This is a cross section of 1 nostril at 3 different flow rates for inhalation on top and exhlation on the bottom.
It is representing the weighted velocity contours, which is a ratio value compared with the nasopharynx.
We found that there wasn’t much change during inhalation at different flow rates. Inhalation is more concentrated along the medial line.
During exhlation we can see that airflow is not homogenius along the nostril.
At rest, greatest velocity occurs in the medial part. When they are at max, its better distributed though. When running, you can see its pushed more lateral.
(82 incomplete) – no fatal arrhythmias observed
Each arrhythmia was counted as its own event – most were individual but there were some patterns of 2-5 (don’t fit into the guidelines proving more studies need to be done in clinically healthy horses)
4235 arrhythmic events were recorded.
Arrhythmic events did not differ between day 1 and 2 and no fatal arrhythmias were observed.