Previous Exercise on a Water Treadmill at Different Depths Affects the Accelerometric Pattern Recorded on a Track in Horses.
Authors: Saitua Aritz, Castejón-Riber Cristina, Requena Francisco, Argüelles David, Calle-González Natalie, de Medina Antonia Sánchez, Muñoz Ana
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary Water treadmill training is increasingly used in equine rehabilitation and conditioning, yet questions remain about how exercise at different water depths influences subsequent terrestrial movement patterns. Researchers evaluated six horses using triaxial accelerometry at the pectoral and sacral regions during walk and trot on a track, both before and 30 minutes after 40-minute water treadmill sessions conducted without water, and at fetlock, carpus, and stifle depths. Whilst some accelerometric changes observed during water treadmill work persisted briefly into land-based locomotion, the most notable finding was a significant reduction in multiple movement parameters—including total acceleration, dorsoventral displacement, velocity and stride length—following exercise at stifle depth, particularly when measured at the sacrum. These reductions suggest genuine fatigue rather than simple movement adaptation, indicating that water treadmill work at greater depths imposes substantially greater muscular demand than shallower depths. For practitioners designing rehabilitation or conditioning programmes, this work supports careful progression of water depth intensity, particularly for unfit or recovering animals where excessive fatigue could delay recovery goals or compromise training outcomes.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Water treadmill depth significantly affects post-exercise locomotor patterns—stifle depth appears to induce fatigue; monitor unfit horses closely when using deeper immersion depths in rehabilitation programs
- •Post-water treadmill terrestrial exercise shows measurable biomechanical changes lasting at least 30 minutes; allow adequate recovery or modify training intensity accordingly
- •Accelerometric monitoring at pectoral and sacral regions can detect fatigue and depth-related training effects; consider this when designing progressive rehabilitation protocols
Key Findings
- •Water treadmill exercise at stifle depth induced reductions in accelerometric parameters and velocity that persisted during subsequent terrestrial trotting, suggesting fatigue effects
- •Dorsoventral, longitudinal and mediolateral accelerometric activities increased at pectoral region but decreased at sacrum after deepest water immersion
- •Stride length increased at sacrum but decreased after stifle-depth water treadmill exercise, indicating depth-dependent biomechanical changes
- •Some accelerometric pattern changes induced by water treadmill exercise remained evident 30 minutes post-exercise during track evaluation