Study: Cardiac Recovery Time Identified as Heritable Trait

Selective breeding could lead to horses more tailored for endurance and improve welfare and performance, scientists say.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

We already know that cardiac recovery time in endurance horses is related to their ability to perform well in races. But what we didn’t know—until now—is that recovery time is a heritable trait.

French researchers have determined that we could breed selectively for recovery time in endurance horses, as this trait gets passed on through genes.

“Cardiac recovery time in endurance racing appears to be strongly influenced by genetics, so a selection based on cardiac recovery time could be a supplemental physiological characteristic to take into consideration to improve the breeding selection of endurance horses,” said Eric Barrey, PhD, of AgroParisTech, the University of Paris-Saclay, and the French National Agricultural Research Institute.

However, for such a breeding opportunity to realistic, race organizers should record horses’ cardiac recovery time during events to obtain official data, he added

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Passionate about horses and science from the time she was riding her first Shetland Pony in Texas, Christa Lesté-Lasserre writes about scientific research that contributes to a better understanding of all equids. After undergrad studies in science, journalism, and literature, she received a master’s degree in creative writing. Now based in France, she aims to present the most fascinating aspect of equine science: the story it creates. Follow Lesté-Lasserre on Twitter @christalestelas.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
437 votes · 437 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!