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Skip Navigation LinksAll Horse Topics > Sports Medicine > Conditioning Young Athletes


Articles ( * = TheHorse.com members only )Date Posted
Study: Lactate Levels Could Guide Equine Conditioning Programs
Low-intensity exercise over long periods was an effective approach to conditioning horses as indicated by blood lactate levels measured in a new study. Blood lactate, the ionized form of lactic acid, which is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism, can provide an indication of a horse's fitness, but there was previously little information about ... Read full story
 11/17/2009
Condition Horses to Prevent Lameness  *
An athlete's body is trained to handle an amazing amount of work and stress. From runners to swimmers, all athletes train to handle the specific stress their sport requires. Unfortunately, it is still not uncommon for these athletes to injure themselves performing the very actions they trained for. This is also true of a horse's body. Many horses ... Read full story
 10/2/2009
Training Alters Stride in Racehorses  *
Training mature racehorses produces a decrease in the protraction (extension) time of the forelimb and might reduce the risk of training-induced injuries, said Marta Ferrari, DrMedVet, PhD, MRCVS, of Park Veterinary Centre in Watford, U.K, and colleagues at London's Royal Veterinary College in a new study. The researchers aimed to investigate the ... Read full story
 9/19/2009
Pilates for Horses?  *
Preliminary results from research suggest you can strengthen your horse's core muscles to help him be healthier, no matter his job in life. "One of the things we know from human medical research is that when people get back pain, the deep stabilizer muscles turn off. When the back pain goes away, these muscles don't turn on again. There is a very ... Read full story
 6/1/2009
AAEP 2008: Racehorse Exercise Predicts Bone Strength
Nearly 20% of fatal musculoskeletal injuries in Thoroughbred atheletes are due to complete humeral (forearm bone) fractures, which often occur early in training or following an prolonged layup. Rachel Entwistle, BS, of the University of California, Davis, discussed the wastage that occurs with humeral fractures in these atheletes at the 2008 American ... Read full story
 4/5/2009
Exercise's Effects Vary by Tendon Type  *
Researchers from the United Kingdom recently embarked on an 18-month exercise study to determine why the equine superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) is more prone to injury than the various other tendons located in the distal (lower) part of the limb. The group found significant changes in the composition of the SDFT in horses that were in high-intensity ... Read full story
 11/18/2008
Training Age and Soundness
Q: Does the fact that cutting horses are started so young have any effect on their future soundness? Is it best to wait another year before starting them in training? A: There has been no research completed to date that evaluates the incidence of athletic injuries in cutting horses relative to the ages they are started. Studies conducted on Thoroughbred ... Read full story
 10/1/2008
10 Principles of Exercise Physiology  *
Basic principles you can apply to your everyday training to boost your horse’s performance. Elite athletes are always looking for an edge over their competitors, and many times they find that edge by applying the science of exercise physiology to their training. From energy metabolism to the kinetics of joint movement, exercise physiology is geared ... Read full story
 6/1/2008
Detecting Latent Back Pain in Horses  *
Even if they can't tell you where it hurts, horses with back pain will soon be able to benefit from Scottish and Austrian research focusing on the long muscles of the equine back. In the article, which is slated for an upcoming edition of The Veterinary Journal, researchers reported that electromyography (EMG) readings on the longissimus dorsi muscles ... Read full story
 3/19/2008
Researchers: Early Exercise Might Benefit Future Tendon Health  *
Japanese researchers report in a recent study that applying structured exercise regimens early in horses’ lives can potentially alter the development of their tendons to benefit future athletic ability and limit tendon injury later in life. These results were based on the fact that exercise regimens didn’t appear to have deleterious effects on tendocytes, ... Read full story
 1/7/2008
Health Problems of Young Horses in Training  *
Young horses in training are vulnerable to a wide variety of problems--everything from respiratory disease to training injuries. These horses are often taken off the farm where they grew up, transported to training facilities where they experience a new environment, and exposed to other horses from various places. This commingling of youngsters means ... Read full story
 8/1/2007
Derby Trainers Going Against Convention  *
Several entries will have had long layoffs, something that was once unheard of Four horses have run just two prep races. Four others are coming in off long layoffs. And some didn't even race as two-year-olds. Conventional wisdom is out the window at this year's Kentucky Derby, a wide-open affair that could produce a winner whose trainer might just ... Read full story
 4/28/2007
Symposium Panel Addresses Question of Keeping Star Horses in Training  *
The loss of star racehorses in training and the negative effect it has on the sport was a hot topic during a panel discussion Dec. 5 at the 33rd Symposium on Racing & Gaming in Tucson, Ariz. A panel that included Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher and track executives Martin Panza of Hollywood Park and Georgeanne Hale of the Maryland ... Read full story
 12/6/2006
Bulking Up, Not Adding On  *
Although training might make your yearling look like a bodybuilder, that physique doesn't guarantee athletic prowess. Evolutionary factors--not early speed or exercise programs--determine the amount of fast-twitch muscle horses have as adults. Stephanie Valberg, DVM, PhD, professor of large animal medicine and director of the Equine Center at the University ... Read full story
 12/3/2006
ACVIM 2006: An Athlete's Heart  *
When it comes to the equine heart, size matters, says Lesley Young, BVSc, PhD, DVA, Dipl. ECEIM, DVC, MRCVS, who completed research on the topic while at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, Suffolk, United Kingdom. In her June 3 presentation at the 24th annual American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Forum held in Louisville, Ky., Young explained ... Read full story
 9/14/2006
Interval Training: A Better Option?   *
Musculoskeletal injury is the main cause of wastage in Thoroughbred racehorses worldwide, with nearly 30% of all fractures being pelvic and tibial stress fractures. California studies in the late 1990s suggested fast work increased the risk of injuries, while Kentucky studies implied high-speed exercise was protective. K.L.P. Verheyen, DVM, MSc, PhD, ... Read full story
 5/1/2006
Ponying for Exercise   *
Ponying is leading one horse from another. The pony horse is the one you are riding; the ponied horse is the one being led. Ponying is a good way to exercise a horse you don't have time to ride or one that can't be ridden. If you need to keep two horses fit, you can ride one and lead one, then switch horses during the ride to give them both the same ... Read full story
 6/1/2005
Early Jump Training Unnecessary  *
Training young horses for jumping at six months of age is ineffective and unnecessary, according to a Dutch study published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research. The effect of specific jump training on young horses' jumping technique was only short-term, and the research supports the common approach of waiting until age three before giving ... Read full story
 5/3/2005
Joint Cartilage Adaptation in Young Horses  *
It is widely believed that exercise and limb-loading in foals help joint cartilage functionally adapt to the rigors of athletic activity. In 2005, Dutch researchers set out to find out if they could verify the concept of functional adaptation of cartilage by measuring the biomechanical (the mechanics of biological activity) properties of cartilage ... Read full story
 4/22/2005
AAEP 2004: Vets Discuss Pre-Purchase Exams  *
The Dec. 5 open forum discussion of pre-purchase exams at sales covered several topics critical to consignors, buyers, and veterinarians at the 50th anniversary meeting of the American Association of Equine Practitioners in Denver, Colo. A task force headed by Dr. Criag VanBalen has created a video of endoscopic exams of throats showing what has been ... Read full story
 12/6/2004
Too Much, Too Soon? Just Right?   *
I think we have seen over and over again that it is beneficial to stress the bones of a horse when they are most adaptive. This optimal adaptive period would seem to be when the horse is still in an active growth stage. We have all seen many cases where a certain type of injury (e.g., apical sesamoid fractures in foals, coffin bone fractures in foals, ... Read full story
 10/1/2003
Steroid Effects on the Knees   *
During intensive training, young racehorses experience a thickening in the layers of bone under the cartilage of joints. These layers, called subchondral (located nearer the surface) and cancellous, become harder and better able to handle the rigors of training. Unfortunately, the process is painful, especially in the carpus (knee). Therefore, it is ... Read full story
 10/1/2003
Training Young Athletes  *
It sounds completely backwards, the idea that you might actually increase health risks by postponing training and competition until a horse is four or older. It goes against the ages-old and widely held belief that you cause damage by initiating work before a horse's skeleton matures. Yet research conducted from the 1980s through the present day has ... Read full story
 10/1/2003
Juvenile Bowed Tendons and Racing Prognosis  *
“Juvenile bowed tendons, or ‘baby bows,’ are not uncommon in yearlings and weanlings,” said Johanna Reimer, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ACVC (cardiology), of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., at the 2002 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention. In her presentation “Enlarged Superficial Digital Flexor Tendons in Immature ... Read full story
 12/17/2002
Exercise and Bone Development   *
Beneath the smooth surface of articular cartilage, subchondral bone gives structural support to joints. Normally, newborn foals have a lot of water in this layer, which is slowly replaced by calcium and collagen as the foal weights his joints. Research has shown that abnormalities in subchondral bone precede abnormalities in articular cartilage. Therefore, ... Read full story
 12/1/2002
Turnout Time for Warmblood Foals
I am being told by "professionals" that warmblood foals should be turned out a limited amount of time. The "professionals" were a farrier (who shoes Olympic-quality horses) and a respected veterinarian. Their reasoning is that warmblood babies grow too fast and this would slow his growth down. This colt is trying to canter in a 12-foot by 12-foot stall ... Read full story
 12/1/2001
Training Young Horses  *
Dr. E.E. Watson was a veterinarian of some repute for many years in the Midwest during the middle decades of the 20th Century. He not only treated racehorses, but he bred them, owned them, and trained them. One year in the late 1950s, he had a barn full of coughing, snotting, bucking 2-year-olds. He decided that he wouldn’t even break that year’s yearling ... Read full story
 9/18/2001
Young Foal Exercise
When do I start my foal on an exercise program? My champion show jumper just gave birth to a foal a couple of weeks ago, and I want to give him every advantage possible since I have plans for him to be my next champion show jumper. What type of exercise should I start him with, and when? An exercise program designed to build muscle mass is not ... Read full story
 6/1/2001
Sales Prepping Yearlings  *
As spring moves into summer, the primary focus of activity on many breeding farms is preparation of yearlings for sale. There isn't much scientific research on exercising horses at that young age, yet many farms are using forced exercise to make these youngsters look like little athletes rather than the gangly teenagers they are. While it is good that ... Read full story
 5/1/2001
Yearling Radiographic Studies  *
Radiographs of a yearling’s legs offer a unique glance into the horse’s athletic future, according to Albert Kane, DVM, MPVM, PhD, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University (CSU). At the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ recent convention, Kane presented findings of a ... Read full story
 2/1/2001
Starting 'Em Young (Young Horses in Training)  *
Everyone involved in the racing industry knows that one of the major problems in training horses is keeping them free from injury. Bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments are placed under considerable strain during training and racing, and it seems inevitable that, at one time or another, all horses will suffer some kind of musculoskeletal injury. "Wastage" ... Read full story
 1/1/2001
Foal Exercise Influences Final Muscoloskeletal System  *
Keeping a foal in a stall around-the-clock might keep his coat shiny and his body free of nicks and bumps from roughhousing with peers in the pasture, but in the long run, that could cause him serious problems as an active adult. P. René van Weeren, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ECVS, of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and his colleagues have determined that ... Read full story
 12/22/2000
Bone Formation With Exercise  *
Strong bones are essential if a horse is to perform successfully and still remain sound. Bones that are weakened by disease, injury, or inappropriate training regimens can result in catastrophic injury, as anyone involved with racing well knows. There are a number of elements involved in the production of strong bones. The two prime elements are proper ... Read full story
 6/1/1999
Feeding Yearlings  *
Yearlings are a funny bunch. Gangly and half-grown they're at that gawky stage where hips are higher than withers and where legs seem all knobby knees and hocks. Sometimes it seems that designing a correct feeding program for them is almost as awkward as the yearlings themselves. You want your youngsters to achieve their maximum height and full athletic ... Read full story
 5/1/1998
DOD: Developmental Orthopedic Disorders  *
Ask six veterinarians what causes developmental orthopedic disorders in foals and you might get six different answers. According to Tina Kemper, DVM, there could very well be six causes, and possibly more. Kemper specializes in equine internal medicine and recently shared her knowledge, research, and experiences during the bi-annual meeting of the ... Read full story
 9/1/1996




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