Long-term creatine supplementation improves the aerobic capacity of horses

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of long-term oral supplementation of creatine on the physiological responses to aerobic training. Twelve purebred Arabian horses were submitted to aerobic training for 90 days, with and without creatine supplementation which consisted of the daily administration of 75g of creatine monohydrate mixed into the ration for 90 days of training. Physical conditioning was conducted on a high performance treadmill and training intensity was stipulated by calculating the V4 (velocity at which blood lactate reaches 4mmol L-1) determined monthly for each animal. The individual intensity of physical force at 80% of aerobic threshold was established. An incremental exercise test was used to set the individual V4. After a warm up period of 4 min at 4m s-1, the speed was increased at 2min intervals to 6, 8 and 10m s-1. The blood samples were collected 15s before the end of each step to determine the concentration of lactate, packed cell volume, hemoglobin and red cell values. The results demonstrated a significant increase (P<0.05) in V4 in the groups that received creatine supplementation for 60 days or more when compared to the animals without creatine supplememntation. The other hematological variables were similar to all groups. The results showed that the prolonged creatine supplementation may have a beneficial al effect on the equine athletic performance.

Effect of age on heart rate, blood lactate concentration, packed cell volume and hemoglobin to exercise in Jeju crossbreed horses

“…As concerns heart rate, heart rate is less than 42 beats per minute when the horse is in a stable status [ 6 ]. While heart rate may increase to 200 bpm in accordance with the intensity of exercise [ 24 ], once it exceeds the maximum heart rate, it does not increase though a fast exercise speed.…”

Cardiac Changes after Lactate-Guided Conditioning in Young Purebred Arabian Horses

“…On the other hand, when 90 day training was applied to purebred adult (8.6 ± 3.3 years old) Arabian horses at 80% of V 4 with monthly velocity adjustment, no significant increase in V 4 was observed in animals that did not receive supplementation, a parameter that was being evaluated in the referred study. However, the authors used horses that were kept inactive in a paddock for eight months [32]. Some degree of previous conditioning might have contributed to the insignificant increase in V 4 since the intensity and period of conditioning were greater than those applied in the present study and the work conducted by Trilk et al [21].…”

“…The animals were kept in a paddock; however, the voluntary activity had no relevant effect on fitness, given that it was not a regularly repeated exercise and the workload did not increase. The physical training employed was considered efficient since V 4 increased by 31%, a value greater than that observed in other studies [18,21,31,32]. Furthermore, there was also an increase of 28.84% in V 2 .…”

Avaliação da intensidade do treinamento em equinos no laço comprido

“…Os níveis de lactato plasmático, aumentaram de acordo com o aumento do esforço físico imposto ao animal, concordando com os valores apresentados em Simões, et al, (2003), Ferraz, et al, (2006 e Gomide, et al, (2006).…”