J Vet Sci. 2004 Sep; 5(3): 259-262   
 

Echocardiography and electrocardiography as means to evaluate potential performance in horses.

Carlos Lightowler1, Giuseppe Piccione2,*, Elisabetta Giudice3, Gerardo Romei del Olmo1, Maria Laura Cattaneo3.
 

1Departamento de Medicina, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, 1427-Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2Dipartimento di Morfologia, Biochimica, Fisiologia e Produzioni animali, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Messina, 98168-Messina, Italia. Giuseppe.Piccione@unime.it
3Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche veterinarie, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Messina, 98168-Messina, Italia.
4Departamento de Medicina Preventivay Salud Publica, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, 1427-Buenos Aires, Agentina.
 

Prediction of potential performance is one of the goals of exercise physiology investigations. When Selecting a horse for competition, one of the main objectives is to choose the one that predictably will reveal a competitive aptitude above the average. The horses used in this study underwent a two-dimensional echocardiography study and a conventional 3 leads electrocardiogram. The results show that heart score is not an appropriate index to evaluate the heart size in the horse. On the other hand, there are currently more suitable and accurate procedures such as echocardiography that allow performing a clear anatomical evaluation and accurate measurement in order to calculate LVMM and to predict performance.