Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 19, 1991 TAG: 9103190489
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Rosie, a 3-year-old Arabian mare, is one of about 50 horses used for teaching and research in the university's animal-science department and one of eight being used for the diet study.
The $80,000 treadmill inside a climate-controlled barn is the most sophisticated on the market and one of only nine in the world, associate professor Tom Meacham said.
For five years, the animal-science department has been evaluating different diets to determine their ability to increase the strength, endurance and speed of horses.
This study, which will be completed by the end of April, is the first using the treadmill. It allows a horse to run up to 34 mph while attached to wires measuring its heart rate. And it enables researchers to give the same exercise regimen to all eight horses being tested.
Lynn Delambert, a graduate student doing her thesis on equine nutrition, said the horses are led through "classic interval training."
When the horse gets on the treadmill, which is about 4 feet wide and 15 feet long, a research assistant holds the bridle strap. Another student holds a stop watch and keeps an eye on the monitor above the treadmill, which shows how fast the horse goes, how fast its heart pumps and how long the workout lasts.
The horse begins with a walk and the treadmill slowly increases speed until it forces the animal to trot, then gallop, then trot and walk again.
The each do the 30-minute workouts two days in a row and then rest two days.
Four of the horses are being fed a normal diet of chopped hay with vitamins and minerals and four have 10 percent fat added in the form of corn oil.
Researchers also take a specimen of blood after the workout to analyze the levels of glucose, fatty acids, cholesterol and carbohydrates - all potential fuels for the horse, Meacham said.
The premise of the study, he said, is that the extra fat added to the diet will be a more efficient fuel for the horses than carbohydrates.
"They're using dietary energy rather than stored reserve energy," Meacham said.
Fat in the diet may be particularly beneficial to horses that run in long steeplechase events and 100-mile endurance runs such as the one every June in the northern Shenandoah Valley, Meacham said.
Endurance races are growing in popularity around the country, he said. "We're looking at a lot of horses that could be benefited by this."
The diet may help thoroughbreds running races of two miles or less, but it's too early in the research to tell, Meacham said.
The study is partially funded by the horse industry, which contributes $664 million a year to the state's economy, according to a 1988 study at Virginia Tech. The annual contribution is expected to grow to $1.1 billion after legal horse racing begins.
Several counties have taken advantage of a new state law that allows voters to approve pari-mutuel betting, but Meacham said race tracks probably won't be built until the General Assembly allows off-track wagering.
Now that the university has the treadmill and is showing its use as a research tool, Meacham said the department may draw funding for further studies from companies interested in going into the specialty feed business.
"We have the capacity to test horses at a pretty wide range of exercise regimens, which is something we've not been able to do before," he said.
by CNB