Previous Exercise on a Water Treadmill at Different Depths Affects the Accelerometric Pattern Recorded on a Track in Horses.

During a water treadmill (WT) exercise, horses change their accelerometric patterns. We aimed to analyze if these changes persist during terrestrial locomotion. Six horses were randomly subjected to 40 min duration WT exercises, without water (WW), at the depth of fetlock (FET), carpus (CAR) and stifle (STF), with a day off between them. Before and after 30 min after WT, horses were evaluated at walk and at trot on a track with a triaxial accelerometer fixed on the pectoral (PECT) and sacrum (SML) regions. The percent of change from baseline (before WT and after each exercise session) were calculated. Total, dorsoventral, longitudinal and mediolateral accelerometric activities and dorsoventral displacement increased with the accelerometer in PECT but decreased after WT at STF. Velocity increased with the accelerometer in PECT but decreased with the accelerometer in SML, particularly after WT at STF. A reduction in stride frequency was found with the accelerometer in PECT. SL increased with the accelerometer in SML but decreased with WT at STF. Some accelerometric changes that happened on WT remained shortly in terrestrial locomotion. The reduction in some parameters after WT at STF depth seems to indicate fatigue. This should be considered in training or rehabilitation programs for unfit animals.

The Use of the Water Treadmill for the Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries in the Sport Horse.

In recent years, exercise on a water treadmill has come to have great relevance in rehabilitation and training centres for sport horses. Its use exploits certain physical properties of water, related to the fundamental principles of hydrodynamics, such as buoyancy, viscosity, hydrostatic pressure, and water temperature. These properties together with deliberate specification of the depth of the water and the velocity of the treadmill provide a combination of parameters that can be varied according to the purpose of the rehabilitation or training programme, the disease to rehabilitate, or the healing phase. In the current article, kinematic adaptations to exercise on a water treadmill and the direct application of such exercise to the rehabilitation of superficial and deep digital flexor tendon and accessory ligament injuries and back and joint diseases are described.

Clinical efficacy of clodronic acid in horses diagnosed with navicular syndrome: A field study using objective and subjective lameness evaluation.

Navicular syndrome, a common cause of equine forelimb lameness, is associated with pathological changes in the navicular bone. Consequently, administration of bisphosphonates (BPs) has been advocated in order to modify the rate of bone turnover. The present study aimed to assess the clinical efficacy of intramuscularly administered clodronic acid for the treatment of 11 horses with clinical and radiographic findings compatible with navicular syndrome. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 5 of the 11 horses. The animals were treated with an intramuscular dose of clodronic acid of 765 mg/horse, administered over three separate injection sites. Before and at 7, 30 and 90 days after treatment, horses were subjected to lameness and accelerometric evaluations. A clinical improvement was observed in 6 of the 11 horses. These 6 horses showed a mean reduction of two degrees in lameness score. Accelerometry in these horses revealed increased velocity, stride length, stride regularity and dorsoventral displacement of the gravity of centre together with a reduction in stride frequency, suggesting a gait improvement. This study demonstrates that intramuscular clodronic acid can be useful for lameness reduction in some horses with navicular syndrome.