Electrocardiograms from different types of exercise in Eventing horses with and without cardiac signs.
Authors: Navas de Solis Cristobal, Solomon Claire, Durando Mary, Stefanovski Darko
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
# Editorial Summary Researchers from UC Davis conducted a prospective cohort study to assess whether single-lead electrocardiograms could be reliably obtained by riders and grooms during eventing training and competition, and to characterise exercise-induced arrhythmias in relation to workout type, cardiac history and exercise intensity. Over 1,000 ECGs were collected from 62 event horses across various training modalities, with 737 workouts (73.6%) achieving sufficient signal quality for analysis—demonstrating that field-based ECG monitoring is practically feasible when data can be transmitted to cloud-based systems for remote interpretation. Arrhythmias occurred in approximately one-third of workouts (33.9%), though complex arrhythmias were uncommon (1.8%), and peak heart rate and exercise duration emerged as significant predictors of premature complexes and arrhythmia presence, alongside a history of clinical cardiac signs and the specific type of workout. Notably, despite the high prevalence of rhythm disturbances detected, no horses experienced performance deterioration or collapse attributable to cardiac disease, highlighting a critical gap in our ability to distinguish clinically relevant arrhythmias from benign exercise-induced findings. This feasibility data supports wider implementation of remote ECG monitoring in event horses, though veterinarians need clearer diagnostic criteria to confidently counsel clients on which arrhythmias warrant intervention versus expectant management.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Eventing riders and grooms can reliably obtain exercise ECGs in field conditions—consider implementing remote cardiac monitoring programs for competition and training surveillance
- •Frequent arrhythmias (1 in 3 workouts) are common in eventing horses but rarely clinically significant; focus monitoring and veterinary assessment on horses with previous cardiac signs or high-intensity work rather than arrhythmia frequency alone
- •Establish clear clinical decision criteria with your veterinarian to distinguish benign exercise arrhythmias from those truly concerning for poor performance or sudden death risk
Key Findings
- •Single-lead exercising ECGs obtained by riders/grooms during training were 73.6% readable and feasible to record and transmit via cloud-based systems
- •Arrhythmias occurred in 33.9% of workouts (250/737), with complex arrhythmias rare at 1.8% (13/737)
- •Peak heart rate, exercise duration, previous cardiac signs, and type of workout were significantly associated with arrhythmia presence
- •No horses developed poor performance, collapse, or sudden cardiac death despite frequent arrhythmias, indicating clinical relevance criteria need further definition