The Use of Infrared Thermography (IRT) as Stress Indicator in Horses Trained for Endurance: A Pilot Study.
Authors: Redaelli Veronica, Luzi Fabio, Mazzola Silvia, Bariffi Gaia Dominique, Zappaterra Martina, Nanni Costa Leonardo, Padalino Barbara
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Infrared Thermography as a Stress Marker in Endurance-Trained Horses Infrared thermography (IRT) offers promise as a non-invasive method for detecting physiological stress responses in endurance horses, with eye and crown temperatures showing specific correlations to measurable stress indicators. Verifying this potential, researchers subjected eight horses to low-, moderate-, and high-intensity training sessions, measuring heart rate, blood parameters, serum cortisol, and surface temperatures at five anatomical sites (eye, crown, pastern, gluteus and longissimus dorsi muscles) before and after exercise. All physiological markers increased significantly following training (p < 0.05), with eye temperature correlating strongly to heart rate (p < 0.01) and crown temperature correlating strongly to cortisol levels (p < 0.01)—though notably, only heart rate and white blood cell count intensified proportionally with exercise intensity. These findings suggest that thermal imaging of specific anatomical points could become a practical tool for practitioners to assess training stress burden and individual coping capacity, potentially enabling early identification of horses unsuitable for competition or requiring workload modification. Whilst the pilot nature of this work limits generalisability, the non-invasive nature and apparent sensitivity of IRT warrants further investigation across larger populations and during actual competitive events to establish clinical utility and thresholds for safe training management.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Infrared thermography of the eye and crown may offer a non-invasive method to monitor stress response during endurance training without blood sampling
- •Eye and crown temperature changes could help identify horses struggling with training intensity or fitness levels before clinical problems develop
- •These preliminary findings suggest IRT could become a practical on-field tool for competition safety assessment, though larger validation studies are needed before routine adoption
Key Findings
- •Eye temperature correlated positively with heart rate (p < 0.01) after endurance training
- •Crown temperature correlated positively with serum cortisol (p < 0.01)
- •All studied parameters (HR, blood count, cortisol, body temperatures) increased after training (p < 0.05)
- •Only heart rate and white blood cells increased significantly with exercise intensity (p = 0.0016 and p = 0.0142)