Open AccessArticle
Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability of Amateur Show Jumping Horses Competing on Different Levels
by
1,*
, 1 and 2
1
Department of Feed and Food Biotechnology, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, Böszörményi út 138, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
2
Department of Hippology, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Szent István University Kaposvár Campus, Guba Sándor 40, 7400 Kaposvár, Hungary
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Mandy Paterson, Jane M. Williams and Gillian Tabor
Received: 11 January 2021
/
Revised: 25 February 2021
/
Accepted: 1 March 2021
/
Published: 4 March 2021
Simple Summary
The increase in the heart rate and various heart parameters play an important role in assessing the fitness of sport horses. The fitness of a horse, that particular horse’s competition routine, and the resulting lower stress affect various cardiac parameters. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the phases of competition (warm-up, resting period, show jumping course riding, cool-down) and the difficulty of a course (100, 120, 130 cm) on the heart rate and selected heart rate variability parameters of show jumping horses. The heart rate was monitored with a “Polar Equine heart rate monitor” before, during, and after a show jumping course was completed. Neither analysis of the average heart rate nor that of the maximum heart rate were able to detect a statistically proven difference among competition levels. In contrast, according to heart rate variability measures, such as maximum RR intervals, SD1, RMSSD, pNN50, and %VLF picked up differences in workload level. It has been confirmed that lower-class show jumping (up to 120 cm height) is not a strenuous exercise for horses.