Biokinematics under competitive racing conditions in young standardbred trotters: a preliminary report

Abstract

With the aim of evaluating equine performance in competitive trotter horses under normal racing conditions data of stride length, stride frequency and mean horses speed were obtained from 50, 2-year-old Italian winner fillies during the racing and the sprint laps of competition. The enhancement of speed in the sprint lap was obtained by increasing both stride length and stride frequency. Stride frequency for the racing and the sprint laps were (mean +/- SD) 133.63 +/- 3.93 and 138.97 +/- 6.62 strides per minute, respectively and Stride length for the racing and the sprint laps were 7.17 +/- 0.17 and 7.30 +/- 0.11 m, respectively; mean speed was 48.18 +/- 1.09 km/hr. The usefulness of the kinematic assessments is discussed as is its potential reference for future indicators of performance.