Controlling horse heart rate as a basis for training improvement
Introduction
Until the 1980s, limited innovations had been introduced in equine training methods (Gabel et al., 1983) and consequently, athletic horse performances has improved only a little in the last century (Fregin and Thomas, 1983). During the last decades however, the evolution in sensors and sensing techniques has created new possibilities and nowadays it is possible to measure variables such as heart rate and speed on-line on animals in general (e.g. Kettlewell et al., 1997) and on horses more specifically (e.g. Rietmann et al., 2004, Hebenbrock et al., 2005), even in field conditions. For the athletic horse, lactate concentrations together with heart rate responses to speed are important indicators for determining the level of training, health status and physical fitness of horses (Art et al., 1994, Couroucé, 1999, Couroucé et al., 2000, Hebenbrock et al., 2005). With the development of these sensors it becomes more and more important to develop integrated systems which can collect, process and utilise the information (Frost et al., 1997, Aerts et al., 2003b). By coupling sensors for on-line measurement with compact wearable processors (e.g. PDA) and on-line modelling/control algorithms, it should be possible to monitor and even control physiological variables in real-time (Aerts et al., 2003a, Aerts et al., 2003b, Jovanov et al., 2003). Applied to the athletic horse, such an advanced control approach could be used to help trainers and riders in training their horses in a more optimal way in terms of welfare and performance.
In this research, the objective was to explore the possibilities of using modern model-based algorithms in combination with on-line measurements to control the heart rate of horses (bpm) on-line by means of the control input running speed (km/h).
Section snippets
Horses
In this research, in total five horses were used. During the period of the experiments, all horses were kept on the pasture. In winter time, each horse was fed additionally with 4 kg roughage and 1.5 kg concentrates per day. Water was available ad libitum. The first horse (horse 1, brown Belgian Warmblood mare, aged 5 years) was ridden three to four times a week by Riders 2 and 3 (cf. Riders) and was used for dressage, jumping and military. The second horse (horse 2) was a brown Selle Français
Modelling heart rate response
Many authors have investigated the relationship between heart rate and speed in horses. In most cases, these relationships were quantified in a statistical or descriptive way (e.g. Manohar, 1994) or based on (non-) linear regression analysis (e.g. Evans and Rose, 1988). Although dynamic responses to changes in effort levels were measured (Muñoz et al., 1999) the transients in heart rate were not quantified as such. For model-based controlling purposes however, the model should be able to
Conclusion
In this work, it was demonstrated that the combination of on-line measurements of biological signals with advanced control algorithms enable control of complex physiological processes such as heart rate. In the future, such an approach could be used for adjusting the work load of the horse during training, better balancing the immediate needs of horse (welfare) and trainer (performance).
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