Treadmill Endoscopy on Racehorses

Barnmouser Ash · Grand Prix

Treadmill Endoscopy on Racehorses

Nikki Salo · Grand Prix

I certainly think that it is beneficial to the horse! All grades, levels of riding/disciplines and just about every aspect of the horse can be affected by respiratory problems. I think that we have been able to identify certain aspects of what causes a respiratory issue in the horse (such as dusty bedding, poor ventilation, poor conditioning etc.) but I feel that the industry as a whole hasn't caught on to it yet and is doing a disservice to their horse to a degree by not understanding the what/why and hows of the respiratory system.

I also believe that any degree of continuing research on the topic can be a benefit to all horses, regardless of work load and age. If we can learn how to better manage the horse at a young age, the likely hood of a horse developing something like heaves as an older equine can be lessened. Improving the performance of the horse also has its merit in this research, although I think it is more difficult to isolate the respiratory alone for two reasons: the horse's respiratory system is something of a marvel when you really get into it (some racehorses don't even take a breath over a 1/4mile race, yet at the drop of a hat all horses in extreme exercise will have respiratory bleeding -- often never making it to the nasal passage, but still happens), and my second reason is how the different breed's muscle mass is made up and how this influences their respiratory system (anaerobic vs aerobic muscle mass). All in all, yes I think this research is a benefit on many levels aww

Barnmouser Ash · Grand Prix

Well said! I, too, believe this technology is under-used and it's a shame. As you stated, this kind of technology is beneficial to finding problems otherwise unseen in "existing" (or shall I say, more frequently used?) testing techniques. I think this is something fairly easy to acquire and use, and has a lot of potential to help examine a lot of problems we may not even know exist. It just makes sense to promote its use, I think?

Nikki Salo · Grand Prix

I believe when it comes to horse health and how we manage our equines, it is a bit stone-aged in the sense that for a long long time we have been perfecting how to ride and how the horse moves in certain situations (disciplines), but research going into the inner workings of the horse is a fairly new sport. We are just starting to break into the whys and whats of the horse and how it functions on the inside, very exciting I think!