04/10/2018
Have you ever wanted to know why your horse breathes in a certain, rhythmical way when galloping?🐎
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The horse breathes in rhythm with every gallop stride. During the suspension phase of the gallop stride, the organs contained within the abdominal cavity are pushed backwards and away from the diaphragm. This allows for increased lung expansion as the horse inhales. As the horse moves into the extension phase, the neck is lowered and the hindlimbs move backwards. This shifts the contents of the gut forwards pushing into the diaphragm and consequently forcing the air out of the lungs.
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“The respiratory system is a major limitation to the athletic performance of the equine athlete” (Hinchcliff et al., 2008). During exercise there is an increase in aerobic demands. Air intake is greatly limited in the horse as they are obligatory nasal breathers… meaning they can only breathe in from their nose, and not their mouth. Therefore, exercise-induced adaptive biological mechanisms such as this are crucial for performance and health.
