Kentucky Equine Research has spent more than 30 years studying equine fitness and exercise physiology. In that time, we’ve identified specific measurable parameters indicating a horse’s relative level of fitness. Heart rate is a key indicator that is strongly correlated to these other parameters, some of which are more difficult to measure in the real world. Therefore, heart rate is an ideal way to assess the fitness of a working horse in real time.
Previous research has shown that eventing horses’ lactate levels are much higher during competition than normal training, indicating that typical training is insufficient to attain the level of fitness needed to compete without physiologic stress.
Workload relates strongly to nutrition in that energy is the nutritional factor most influenced by training and work. The amount and source of energy required is determined by the horse’s temperament, duration of exercise, and intensity of exercise. Most feeding guides base horse requirements by whether their discipline is considered light, moderate, or intense. But one horse’s conditioning program may be far more (or less) intense than another competing at the same level.
KER ClockIt Sport enables you to objectively measure each horse’s actual workload to make better individual feeding choices. In future iterations, KER ClockIt Sport will interface directly with KER’s MicroSteed Ration Wizard to give updated feeding recommendations based on the individual horse’s actual workload.