Valutazione dell’effetto del lavoro e dell’efficacia di un integratore polifunzionale in cavalli trottatori in allenamento precoce

he athletic training of young horses, is considered as a very stressful moment for the young horses, but the metabolic engagement at this time is still mostly unclear. For this reason, we studied the physiologic changes in young Standardbred horses, performing early training, and we assessed the efficacy of a new supplement, designed for athlete horses at this stage containing an herbal extract of Schizandra chinensis. Six Standardbred horses were studied using a Latin square design, with horses randomly allocated either to the treatment or the control group to assess the effect of training (time and moment of blood collect) and of supplement. The daily work caused statistical difference for: RBC, Hb, PCV, RDW, ALB, NEFA, lactic acid (for control group), PLT, PT, glucose, TG, K (for treatment group) and a statistical difference for GGT in the treatment group. Significant effects were also found in the training moment for Na, Cl, K, PT, ALB, GPT, GLU. As to the effort test data, statistical differences were found for the training factor, for V200 and HR4. We can conclude that the very first stages of training in Standardbred trotters can be a stressful moment for young horses as to metabolic engagement, and the use of a sport horse designed supplement can be advisable to help the horse and to prevent stress.