Genetic Parameters of Effort and Recovery in Sport Horses Assessed with Infrared Thermography.
Authors: Bartolomé Ester, Perdomo-González Davinia Isabel, Sánchez-Guerrero María José, Valera Mercedes
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary Infrared thermography of eye temperature offers a promising non-invasive method for assessing how sport horses mobilise and recover energy during competition, with this study of 495 Spanish Sport Horses revealing significant genetic and sex-based differences in these physiological responses. Researchers measured temperature changes during an official performance test across five genetic lines and both sexes, finding that stallions consistently demonstrated superior recovery capacity compared to mares regardless of breeding origin. Whilst effort and recovery phases showed strong positive correlation—horses that elevated eye temperature substantially during exertion also exhibited greater post-exercise temperature recovery—the relationship with actual competitive ranking was inverse and modest, suggesting that faster recovery alone does not guarantee superior sporting outcomes. Heritability estimates for both effort and recovery phases were medium to high (indicating substantial genetic influence), with a moderate positive genetic correlation between the two traits, implying that selective breeding for improved recovery characteristics is feasible without compromising effort capacity. For practitioners, these findings suggest that thermographic monitoring could complement existing fitness and stress assessment protocols, whilst breeders should consider recovery phenotype as a selection criterion alongside traditional performance metrics.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Infrared thermography of eye temperature is a practical, non-invasive tool to assess horses' effort and recovery capacity during sport performance
- •Sex differences in recovery exist (stallions recover better than mares), which may inform individual conditioning and recovery protocols
- •Genetic selection for improved effort-recovery traits is feasible, allowing breeders to improve sport performance potential through selective breeding programs
Key Findings
- •Stallions showed better recovery than mares after sport testing regardless of genetic line
- •Strong positive correlation (p < 0.001) found between effort phase and recovery phase eye temperatures
- •Higher eye temperature increase during effort correlated with better ranking position (p < 0.01)
- •Heritabilities for effort and recovery showed medium-high values with medium positive genetic correlation, indicating genetic basis for selection