The Effects of an External Equine Nasal Strip on Thermoregulation During Exercise.
Authors: Buchalski Francesca M, Rankins Ellen M, Malinowski Karyn, McKeever Kenneth H
Journal: Journal of equine veterinary science
Summary
# Editorial Summary: External Nasal Strips and Equine Thermoregulation Whilst external nasal strips have demonstrated potential benefits for airway resistance and exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage in horses, their effects on thermoregulatory capacity remained unexplored until this 2022 investigation. Buchalski and colleagues evaluated eight mature Standardbred horses performing submaximal treadmill exercise with and without an external nasal strip, monitoring core body temperature (Tcore), skin temperature (Tskin), and time to reach a Tcore threshold of 40 °C. The nasal strip produced no significant differences in core or skin temperatures during pre-exercise, exercise, or recovery phases, nor did it alter the exercise duration required to reach the 40 °C endpoint (nasal strip: 11.8 ± 1.5 minutes; control: 11.5 ± 1.1 minutes; P > 0.05). These findings suggest that practitioners should not anticipate nasal strips to enhance heat dissipation or delay thermal fatigue during submaximal work, though the study's relatively small sample size and focus on a single breed at one intensity warrants consideration when applying these results to diverse equine populations and exercise demands.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •External nasal strips have no measurable effect on heat dissipation or core temperature management during submaximal exercise, so their use cannot be justified based on thermoregulatory benefits
- •Horses exercising with or without nasal strips reach the same core temperature threshold in equivalent time, suggesting the strip does not influence exercise tolerance through temperature regulation mechanisms
- •Practitioners seeking to manage exercise-induced hyperthermia should focus on other environmental and management strategies rather than relying on nasal strips for thermoregulatory advantages
Key Findings
- •No significant difference in core venous temperature (Tcore) between nasal strip and control groups during pre-exercise, exercise, or recovery (P > 0.05)
- •No significant difference in skin temperature (Tskin) between nasal strip and control groups across all phases (P > 0.05)
- •No significant difference in exercise time to reach Tcore of 40°C between nasal strip (11.8 ± 1.5 min) and control (11.5 ± 1.1 min) groups
- •External nasal strips do not affect equine thermoregulatory response during submaximal exercise