Endurance eliminations: Researchers probe risk factors

By Horsetalk.co.nz on Apr 11, 2014 in News, Research

British researchers investigating risk factors and the reasons for the elimination of horses from endurance races have revealed the first evidence that faster speeds decrease the likelihood of completion.

However, their research was unable to detect an association between speed and specific reasons for elimination.

Annamaria Nagy and colleagues at the Centre for Equine Studies, part of the Animal Health Trust, have been following several lines of research into endurance horse eliminations, with their findings published in the Equine Veterinary Journal.

Around 40-45 percent of horses are eliminated from international endurance rides globally for various reasons, the researchers said.

One strand of the research involved analysis of FEI endurance rides involving 30,741 horse starts, in a bid to identify risk factors for elimination for lameness, elimination for metabolic reasons, and the likelihood of completion.

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