What Determines Athletic Performance in Horses? Genetics, Training & Nutrition

Athletic performance in horses refers to a horse’s physical capacity to perform work, whether that means accelerating down the final stretch of a racetrack, clearing a technical jumping combination, or maintaining collection through a dressage test.

Performance depends on how well the cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, skeletal, and neurological systems work together under load. A horse with high athletic capacity can generate power, sustain effort, recover efficiently, and repeat that effort with a lower risk of fatigue-related setbacks.

A horse’s physical capacity is influenced by genetics and developed through progressive training. Appropriate nutrition, recovery, health care, and daily management also help the horse perform to its potential.

Performance may be limited by environmental conditions, pain, underlying health concerns, poor conditioning, inadequate recovery, digestive problems, or an unbalanced diet. Identifying and addressing these factors can improve performance and reduce the risk of injury or overtraining.

Keep reading to learn what athletic performance means in the horse’s body, how training and genetics shape it, how nutrition supports it, what commonly holds horses back, and how to track progress over time.

What Affects Athletic Performance in Horses?

Athletic performance refers to a horse’s ability to perform physical work, including tasks that require speed, power, endurance, precision, or a combination of these qualities.

The level at which a horse can perform this work depends partly on inherited traits, including conformation, muscle composition, aerobic capacity, and temperament.

Training also affects performance by improving cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength, coordination, and discipline-specific skills.

Conditioning is the planned use of progressive exercise to prepare a horse for the specific physical demands of its discipline. The type, intensity, and duration of exercise depend on the horse’s current fitness and the speed, power, endurance, and coordination required for its work. ^[1]

Body Systems & Physical Performance

Several body systems contribute to athletic performance, and a limitation in any one of them can hold a horse back regardless of how strong the others are.

These systems include: ^[2]

• Cardiovascular system: Delivers oxygen and nutrients to working muscles through the heart and blood vessels. A greater stroke volume allows the heart to pump more blood with each beat, supporting sustained exercise and recovery.
• Respiratory system: Moves air into and out of the lungs, transfers oxygen into the bloodstream, and removes carbon dioxide. During intense exercise, horses can move a greater volume of air through their lungs than most other land mammals.
• Muscular system: Uses cellular energy to generate force and movement. Different muscle fibre types support different types of activity, ranging from short, explosive efforts to prolonged exercise.
• Skeletal and connective tissues: Bones, tendons, and ligaments support the body, stabilize the joints, and transmit forces generated by the muscles. These tissues adapt more slowly than muscle, so exercise intensity must increase gradually.
• Neurological system: Coordinates movement, balance, timing, and proprioception, which is the horse’s awareness of its body position. A horse may have good cardiovascular fitness but still lack the neuromuscular coordination required for a specific movement.

Because these systems contribute in different ways, athletic performance is not defined by any single trait.

The qualities that make a horse successful depend on the demands of the discipline, the intensity of the work, and how well the horse has been conditioned for that specific job.

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How Athletic Performance Differs by Discipline

The physical traits that contribute to athletic performance vary depending on the sport. Racing and barrel racing prioritize speed and explosive power over short distances, drawing heavily on fast-twitch muscle fibers and anaerobic energy pathways.

In contrast, endurance riding requires high aerobic capacity, efficient thermoregulation, and the ability to sustain moderate effort for many hours.

Dressage and show jumping require strength, balance, coordination, and sufficient cardiovascular fitness to repeat demanding movements throughout a test or round. Reining and cutting require short bursts of speed and power combined with precise body control.

Because the physical demands vary by discipline, a conditioning and nutrition program built for a racehorse will not serve an endurance horse well, and the reverse is equally true. Knowing which systems matter most for a given sport is the first step in building a program that fits the horse’s job.

Table 1. Athletic demands by equestrian discipline

The Physiology of Exercise Performance in Horses

Fitness results from physiological adaptation. With consistent training, a horse becomes more efficient at delivering oxygen to working muscles, producing energy, coordinating movement, regulating body temperature, and recovering from exercise

Understanding these processes helps explain why certain training and nutrition strategies work, while others may not produce meaningful improvements.

Cardiovascular & Respiratory Capacity

Maximal oxygen uptake, often shortened to VO2_max, measures how much oxygen a horse’s body can use during intense exercise. It is one of the best indicators of aerobic fitness because it reflects how effectively the body delivers oxygen to working muscles and uses it to produce energy.

Horses have some of the highest VO2_max values recorded among mammals, highlighting their remarkable athletic ability. ^[3] Horses with greater lean body mass also tend to have higher VO2_max because more muscle can use oxygen during exercise. ^[4]

Training increases the efficiency of the heart, allowing it to eject more blood with each beat (stroke volume). This is why a fit horse’s resting heart rate tends to run lower than an unfit horse’s, even though both may reach similar maximum heart rates during peak exertion. ^[5]

The respiratory system adapts alongside it, with improved airway efficiency and gas exchange supporting the increased oxygen demand of working muscle. ^[4]

Blood volume also increases with consistent training, improving the horse’s capacity to transport oxygen and clear metabolic byproducts that contribute to fatigue. ^[4]. Horses also have a unique advantage during exercise: the spleen contracts to release additional red blood cells into the bloodstream. This temporarily increases the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity, helping deliver more oxygen to working muscles.

Together, these adaptations form the foundation that lets a horse work harder and recover faster as fitness improves.

Muscle Fiber Types & Energy Systems

Horse muscle contains a mix of fiber types, generally categorized as: ^[6]

• Type I fibers are slow to fatigue and rely on aerobic metabolism, which suits them to sustained work such as long trail rides or endurance competition.
• Type IIX fibers generate rapid, powerful contractions but tire quickly because they depend mainly on anaerobic metabolism.
• Type IIA fibers generate relatively fast contractions and have greater fatigue resistance than Type IIX fibers, supporting activities that require both speed and sustained effort.

Every horse is born with a genetically determined proportion of these muscle fiber types. Consistent, discipline-specific training can alter this balance between fiber types and metabolic characteristics, although the degree of change varies by age, breed, and muscle group. ^[6]

Training also causes changes within muscle cells, including increases in the number of mitochondria (the cell’s “powerhouse”) and capillary supply. These adaptations improve aerobic energy production and delay fatigue. ^[6]

This is part of why conditioning works best when it closely matches the demands of competition. A horse conditioned mainly with long, slow distance work is not automatically ready for the explosive power barrel racing demands, and a horse trained for racing on the flat is not in the right kind of shape to complete a 50-mile endurance ride.

Thermoregulation & Exercise Tolerance

Exercise generates a large amount of metabolic heat in working muscles. Only part of the energy used during muscle contraction produces movement; much of the rest is released as heat. Horses must dissipate this heat to avoid overheating.

Horses rely heavily on sweating as their primary cooling mechanism, losing significant amounts of fluid and electrolytes through sweat during exercise. ^[7]

This reliance on sweat makes horses especially vulnerable to heat stress in hot or humid conditions. Evaporative cooling from sweat becomes less effective as humidity rises.

As humidity increases, sweat evaporates more slowly, making cooling less effective. As a result, a horse working hard in hot and humid conditions may struggle to dissipate heat quickly enough, even when the air temperature seems only moderately warm. ^[7]

Horses expected to compete in a hotter climate should be acclimated beforehand. This may involve relocating before the event or gradually exposing the horse to similar heat and humidity during training. Heat acclimation improves the body’s ability to dissipate heat and tolerate exercise in hot conditions. ^[8]

Conditioning and heat acclimation can improve thermoregulation over time. A conditioned and heat-acclimated horse will dissipate heat more efficiently and show a smaller rise in core body temperature for any given workload than an unfit horse. However, heat tolerance still depends on weather, hydration, electrolyte balance, workload, and recovery time. ^[8]

Because heat tolerance directly affects performance, conditioning plans should account for environmental conditions and the horse’s response to exercise. Horses may need lighter work, longer cool-downs, more rest between efforts, or adjusted training times during hot or humid weather.

Genetics & Athletic Potential

Genetics influence several physical traits associated with athletic performance, including conformation, body size, limb proportions, gait, muscle mass, muscle fiber composition, aerobic capacity, and temperament.

These inherited differences can affect how quickly a horse accelerates, how much force its muscles generate, how efficiently it moves, and how long it can sustain exercise.

The effects of selective breeding are apparent across breeds. Quarter Horses have been bred for rapid acceleration over short distances and tend to possess muscle characteristics that favor explosive power but fatigue quickly. Thoroughbreds have been selected for speed over longer racing distances, while Arabians excel at prolonged aerobic exercise.

Several gene variants have been associated with athletic performance. For example, variants of the myostatin gene are associated with muscle fiber composition and whether a horse is better suited to sprint, middle-distance, or longer-distance racing. ^[9][10] However, MSTN is only one of many genes that contribute to athletic ability. ^[11]

Genetic suitability is specific to the type of work. Traits that help a Quarter Horse accelerate rapidly may not support the prolonged aerobic effort required for a 100-mile endurance ride. Similarly, a horse bred for endurance may not have the muscle mass or fast-twitch fiber composition needed to compete successfully in short sprint races.

Athletic performance is influenced by many genes rather than a single “performance gene”. Training can improve cardiovascular fitness, strength, coordination, and muscle metabolism, but it cannot completely change inherited characteristics such as skeletal structure or baseline muscle fiber composition.

Genetics therefore set a horse’s athletic potential, while training, health, nutrition, and management determine how much of that potential is realized.

The DMRT3 Gene & Gait Variation

One of the most studied genes related to equine locomotion is DMRT3, sometimes called the gait gene. Research has shown that a mutation in this gene affects limb coordination by altering how spinal circuits control gait patterns. The same mutation carries a documented positive association with performance in harness racing. ^[12]

The DMRT3 mutation is common in breeds selected for alternative gaits, including the Icelandic Horse, Tennessee Walking Horse, and Paso Fino. In gaited breeds, DMRT3 is linked to four-beat ambling gaits instead of a natural transition into trot or gallop. ^[12]

In trotting breeds such as the Standardbred, the same mutation is associated with the ability to maintain trot or pace at high speed without breaking into a gallop, a trait linked to harness racing performance. ^[12]

This single gene demonstrates how a small number of genetic variants can have a significant impact on movement patterns and, by extension, suitability for a given discipline.

Heritability of Speed, Stamina & Conformation Traits

Racing performance in Thoroughbreds has been studied for decades, and research confirms that traits such as race time and career earnings carry a genetic component. Heritability estimates for these traits usually fall in the low to moderate range depending on distance, track surface, and how performance is measured. ^[13]

This moderate degree of heritability means environment and management still account for a large share of how an individual horse performs. Two full siblings can diverge significantly in competitive success depending on differences in training, nutrition, injury history, and even who is riding or training them.

Conformation traits tied to athletic performance, including body shape, limb structure, and joint angles, also carry a genetic component. ^[14] However, these traits do not develop in isolation. Nutrition, exercise, and overall management during early life influence how the growing musculoskeletal system develops and adapts. ^[15]

A horse with excellent genetic conformation can still develop poor movement patterns without robust management and thoughtful training, which is why genetics is just one of many factors that influences athletic performance.

Athletic Performance Training Strategies

Training is the primary lever owners and riders have to influence a horse’s athletic performance. Training works by exposing the body to physical demands that lead to physiological adaptation.

The key is applying those demands progressively, so tendons, ligaments, and joints have time to adapt alongside the cardiovascular and muscular systems.

Conditioning & Periodization Principles

A well-designed conditioning program moves through distinct phases, typically starting with an aerobic foundation before progressing to strength work, discipline-specific skills, and competition preparation. This phased approach, often called periodization, lets each system adapt in the right order and lowers the risk of overloading tissue before it is ready. ^[16]

The earliest phase usually relies on long, slow distance work at the walk and trot, sometimes called legging up. This gradual approach builds cardiovascular fitness while giving bones, tendons, and ligaments, which adapt more slowly than muscle, time to strengthen safely. ^[16] Rushing this early phase is one of the most common causes of injury in young horses and horses returning to work.

As the aerobic base develops, training can progress toward more demanding work, including hill work, pole exercises, and discipline-specific skills. Each phase should build logically on the one before it, with workload increasing gradually rather than in large jumps.

A horse coming back from time off or recovering from injury needs an even more conservative version of this same progression.

Interval Training for Cardiovascular Fitness

Once a horse has an aerobic base, interval training becomes a valuable tool for building speed and power. This method alternates short bursts of higher-intensity work with recovery periods, letting the horse accumulate more total quality work than a single sustained effort would allow.

Comparative research in racehorses found that structured interval work can produce fitness gains comparable to more conventional training approaches. It also gives trainers greater control over the amount of physical stress placed on the horse during each session. ^[17]

Interval training also gives riders a practical way to track fitness gains over time. As a horse gets fitter, they can typically complete the same intervals at a lower heart rate or handle more demanding intervals at the same heart rate. Both signal that a conditioning program is working.

Strength, Topline & Postural Development

Strength and topline development go beyond bulk. A strong, well-developed topline improves a horse’s ability to carry a rider correctly, engage the hindquarters, and protect the spine and soft tissue from strain during athletic effort.

Exercises that encourage core engagement and correct posture, such as hill work, pole exercises, and controlled transitions, help stimulate this kind of functional strength over time.

Muscle adapts to this loading the same way it adapts to any consistent training stimulus, building the endurance and coordination needed to hold posture correctly through a full ride or test rather than fatiguing partway through.

Owners should build strength work gradually and match it to their horse’s current fitness level. A horse asked to hold advanced collection or perform demanding lateral work before it has the strength to do so correctly is more likely to develop compensatory movement patterns and soreness.

Recovery & Adaptation Between Sessions

Fitness gains do not happen during the workout itself. They happen during the recovery period afterward, when the body repairs muscle tissue, replenishes glycogen stores, and strengthens connective tissue in response to the training stimulus. ^[16]

Rest days built into a conditioning program are not wasted time. They are an essential part of adaptation, and skipping them consistently can blunt fitness gains or contribute to fatigue. The right ratio of work to rest depends on the horse’s age, fitness level, and training intensity.

Watching how a horse responds to work, including attitude, appetite, and how quickly heart rate returns to normal after exertion, helps guide decisions about when to push forward and when to back off.

A horse that recovers slowly or seems unusually tired after a normal workload may need more recovery time before adding further intensity.

Factors That Limit Athletic Performance in Horses

Even a well-bred, well-trained horse can underperform if they are struggling with an underlying health issue. Many common performance limitations show up gradually as reduced willingness, subtle changes in movement, or a training plateau.

Lameness & Musculoskeletal Pain

Lameness, even in a mild or intermittent form, is one of the most common reasons a horse fails to reach its expected level of performance. Owners may have difficulty spotting subtle lameness without a trained eye, since horses often compensate by shifting weight or shortening stride rather than showing an obvious limp.

Bone, tendon, and ligament tissue adapts more slowly to training than muscle does, so horses conditioned too quickly carry an elevated risk of the low-grade soft tissue strain that can lead to subtle lameness. ^[18]

Regular soundness exams, ideally involving both the rider or trainer and a veterinarian, help catch these issues before they become serious. A horse that seems to be plateauing despite a solid training program is often worth evaluating for pain before assuming fitness is the only piece missing.

Gastric Ulcers & Digestive Health

Equine gastric ulcer syndrome is remarkably common among horses in regular work. Estimates of ulcer prevalence vary by discipline and training intensity, ranging from roughly 40% in some sport horse populations to over 90% in racehorses in full training. ^[19]

Ulcers are associated with multiple stressors, including intense exercise, intermittent feeding schedules, high-starch diets, and the stress of travel and competition.

Research evaluating Standardbred racehorses found a measurable association between gastric ulcer severity and reduced fitness parameters during standardized exercise testing, suggesting ulcers do not just cause discomfort but may directly interfere with athletic capacity. ^[20]

Because ulcer symptoms can be subtle, including mild weight loss, girthiness, or a slight change in attitude under saddle, gastric health is often overlooked as a performance factor. ^[19]

Feeding practices that support natural digestive function, including frequent forage access and limiting long stretches without food, play an important preventive role alongside any veterinary treatment.

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Saddle Fit & Biomechanical Restriction

An ill-fitting saddle can restrict a horse’s movement and cause pain that is easy to mistake for a training or behavioral issue.

Research using pressure mapping technology has shown that reducing peak pressure under the saddle, particularly around the tenth to thirteenth thoracic vertebrae, is associated with measurable improvements in gait quality, even in saddles that had already been fitted according to standard guidelines. ^[21]

A saddle can look correctly fitted on a visual and hands-on check while still creating pressure points that affect how the horse moves. A horse’s back changes shape with fitness, muscle development, and age, so a saddle that fit well a year ago may no longer fit correctly today.

Saddle fit evaluations, ideally performed once or twice a year for horses in regular work, can help catch these changes before they affect performance.

Owners can watch for certain behaviors in their horse that indicate their saddle does not fit correctly, including:

• Reluctance to move forward
• Resistance to being girthed
• Uneven topline muscling
• A sudden decline in movement quality with no obvious lameness

Overtraining & Inadequate Recovery

Overtraining syndrome in horses is similar to overtraining in human athletes. It can cause ongoing fatigue and declining performance, even when the horse continues training or the workload increases. ^[22]

Recognized signs include: ^[22]

• Prolonged fatigue
• Reduced willingness to work
• Changes in appetite
• Changes in behavior

Overtraining tends to develop gradually, which makes it easy to mistake for a horse simply being difficult. Trainers sometimes describe affected horses as stale or sour, terms that point to the same underlying pattern of accumulated physical and mental stress rather than an attitude problem.

The most reliable way to prevent overtraining is to build adequate recovery into the training calendar from the start. Horses on intensive competition schedules benefit from periodic lighter weeks, varied training routines, and close attention to changes in performance, appetite, or demeanor.

Nutrition & Athletic Performance

Nutrition supports athletic performance by providing energy for exercise and the nutrients required for muscle function, tissue repair, hydration, and recovery.

As training intensity increases, a horse’s nutritional requirements may also increase, and a diet that is adequate for light riding may not meet the demands of a more intensive competition schedule.

Energy Sources for Performance Horses

Performance horses need adequate calories to support training and competition. Where those calories come from also matters.

The amount and type of energy required depend on the intensity and duration of exercise, the horse’s body condition, and the demands of the discipline.

High-quality forage should provide the largest portion of the diet. Forage is not only a source of fibre. Good-quality hay or pasture can provide a substantial amount of the energy and protein required for exercise while supporting normal digestive function.

A hay analysis can be used to estimate how much energy and protein the forage provides. Horses in heavier work may benefit from a more digestible, nutrient-dense forage, which can reduce the amount of concentrate required to maintain body condition and support performance.

When forage alone does not meet the horse’s energy requirements, additional calories can come from digestible fibre, fat, starch, or a combination of these sources:

• Digestible fibre: Ingredients such as beet pulp and soybean hulls are primarily fermented in the hindgut and provide energy without adding large amounts of starch. These ingredients are commonly included in performance feeds to increase calorie intake while maintaining a higher-fibre diet.
• Fat: Oils and other high-fat ingredients increase the calorie density of the diet without increasing starch intake. Fat is particularly useful for horses that struggle to maintain weight and for disciplines involving prolonged aerobic exercise.
• Starch: Cereal grains provide glucose from starch that can be stored as muscle glycogen. This makes starch useful for horses performing repeated high-intensity exercise, including racing and other disciplines that require speed or explosive power. However, large grain meals increase the amount of starch that may pass into the hindgut and disrupt normal fermentation.

The appropriate balance depends on the work. An endurance horse may obtain a greater proportion of its additional calories from digestible fibre and fat, while a racehorse or barrel horse may require more dietary starch to support glycogen-dependent exercise. Horses competing in show jumping, eventing, dressage, or reining may require a combination of these energy sources.

When starch is required, it should be provided in several appropriately sized meals rather than one or two large grain meals, aiming for no more than 1 gram of starch per kg of bodyweight in a single meal. ^[23] The starch in oats are generally digested more readily than that in unprocessed corn, while processing methods such as steam flaking and extrusion can improve the digestibility of corn and barley. ^[24]

Feeding schedules may also need to change around training and competition. The timing of forage and concentrate meals can affect digestive fill, blood glucose, insulin, and the energy sources used during exercise. Competition-day feeding should therefore be planned according to the duration and intensity of the event rather than assuming that a large grain meal immediately before exercise will improve performance.

Matching energy intake to workload, rather than assuming more calories automatically means better performance, helps maintain a healthy body condition. Both underfeeding and overfeeding can undermine performance, whether through inadequate fuel for the work being asked or excess weight that adds unnecessary strain on joints and soft tissue.

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Electrolytes, Hydration & Fluid Balance

Horses lose large volumes of fluid through sweat during exercise, making hydration and electrolyte balance important components of any performance nutrition program. Sweat contains sodium, chloride, and potassium, and prolonged or intense exercise can result in substantial losses of these electrolytes. ^[25]

Consistent access to clean water, a properly balanced diet, and electrolyte supplementation during periods of heavy work or hot weather help maintain normal fluid balance and muscle function. ^[25]

Dehydration and electrolyte imbalances can impair performance before obvious clinical signs develop. Early signs may include reduced performance, reluctance to work, or slower recovery after exercise. ^[25] A consistent hydration and electrolyte plan can help prevent these problems in performance horses.

For horses in regular training or competition, Performance XL Electrolytes provides electrolytes to replace those lost in sweat during intense exercise or hot conditions. It supports hydration, normal muscle function, and recovery after exercise. Provide 2 scoops in 4 liters of water before and after strenuous exercise or heavy sweating.

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• Supports exercise performance
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Protein & Amino Acids for Muscle Recovery

Exercise increases muscle protein breakdown and causes small amounts of damage to muscle fibers. The horse’s body responds by repairing existing tissue and producing new muscle proteins. This process contributes to increases in strength, muscle mass, and the ability to perform repeated work during training and competition.

Adequate protein intake is necessary for this response, but protein quality is also important. Dietary protein must provide sufficient amounts of the essential amino acids the horse cannot produce on its own.

If one essential amino acid is supplied below the amount required, muscle protein synthesis may be limited even when total protein intake appears adequate. ^[25]

Lysine is commonly considered the first limiting amino acid in equine diets, followed by threonine and methionine. These amino acids are involved in muscle protein synthesis, tissue repair, and maintenance of the topline. Requirements may be higher in growing horses and horses performing regular or intense exercise.

Protein and amino acid intake should be evaluated within the complete diet. High-quality forage may provide adequate protein for some horses, while others may require additional protein or amino acids because of forage quality, workload, growth, or difficulty maintaining muscle mass.

Horses in demanding training programs may benefit from additional amino acid support when the diet does not provide adequate amounts of key limiting amino acids.

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Antioxidants, Vitamins & Minerals

Exercise increases oxygen use and energy production in working muscles. These processes also increase the production of reactive oxygen species.

At normal levels, reactive oxygen species participate in cell signalling involved in adaptation to exercise and normal metabolic activity. However, excessive production can exceed the body’s antioxidant capacity and result in oxidative stress. ^[25]

Oxidative stress can damage cell membranes, proteins, and other cellular structures. In performance horses, inadequate antioxidant status may contribute to muscle soreness, slower recovery, and reduced ability to maintain performance during repeated exercise. Antioxidant nutrients help control reactive oxygen species and protect cells from oxidative damage.

Vitamin E is an important antioxidant in equine diets because it helps protect cell membranes, including those in muscle and nerve tissue. Requirements increase with exercise, and supplementation may be necessary particularly in horses with limited access to fresh pasture because vitamin E concentrations in forage decline when it is harvested and stored. ^[26]

Selenium also supports antioxidant function as a component of glutathione peroxidase, an enzyme that helps neutralize reactive oxygen species in cells.

Other vitamins and trace minerals support functions that affect athletic performance. Copper, zinc, and manganese contribute to connective tissue formation, bone metabolism, and antioxidant enzyme activity. B-vitamins participate in energy metabolism, while minerals such as magnesium are involved in normal muscle and nerve function.

These nutrients need to be provided in appropriate amounts and ratios. Supplying more than the horse requires does not necessarily improve performance and may interfere with the absorption or metabolism of other nutrients. A forage analysis and complete diet evaluation can help identify deficiencies or imbalances before supplements are added.

For horses in regular training, Mad Barn’s Omneity^® helps balance diets with essential vitamins, organic trace minerals, amino acids, and antioxidant nutrients. These nutrients support normal muscle and nerve function, connective tissue maintenance, immune function, and recovery from exercise.

A balanced vitamin and mineral program also helps ensure that deficiencies do not limit the horse’s response to training.

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Supporting Respiratory Function

Respiratory capacity is central to athletic performance because working muscles depend on a steady supply of oxygen. Even mild airway irritation can make it harder for a horse to move air efficiently, especially during intense exercise when oxygen demand increases.

For performance horses, respiratory support begins with the environment. Dust, mold, ammonia, poor ventilation, and fine particles from hay or bedding can irritate the airways and contribute to coughing, mucus production, or reduced stamina. Horses in regular work often benefit from low-dust forage, clean bedding, good barn ventilation, and consistent turnout whenever possible. ^[27]

Feeding practices can also affect the amount of dust and other particles a horse inhales. Soaking or steaming dusty hay, feeding from a low position, and keeping horses away from enclosed areas during hay handling may help reduce exposure. These changes are especially important for horses with a history of coughing, allergies, or equine asthma. ^[27]

However, not all respiratory concerns in performance horses are caused by airborne irritants. Horses performing strenuous exercise may also experience exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), which occurs when small blood vessels in the lungs rupture during exercise.

EIPH is common in racehorses and can also occur in horses competing in other high-intensity disciplines. Most affected horses do not show visible blood at the nostrils, but EIPH may be associated with reduced exercise tolerance or poorer performance. Veterinary examination after exercise may be required to identify blood in the airways and determine whether airway inflammation or another respiratory concern is also present. ^{[28] [29]}

Horses with suspected EIPH, unexplained coughing, reduced exercise tolerance, or blood at the nostrils should be evaluated by a veterinarian. Respiratory management may include the use of nebulizers, reducing airborne irritants and providing nutritional support for normal airway function, antioxidant status, and the respiratory demands of intense exercise.

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Proactive Care for Gut Health

Digestive health can affect athletic performance by influencing appetite, nutrient absorption, body condition, and comfort during exercise. ^[25]

Stomach discomfort is a particular concern in performance horses, especially when training, travel, competition, and changes in feeding routine increase the risk of gastric irritation or ulcers.

Affected horses may still appear outwardly healthy but show reduced appetite, weight loss, poor topline, dull attitude, girthiness, reluctance to work, or inconsistent performance. ^[20]

Performance horses are often exposed to several digestive stressors at once, including:

• Travel
• Competition
• Intermittent feeding schedules
• High-starch meals
• Stall confinement
• Changes in forage or routine
• Changes in herd groups

These factors can affect gastric health, microbial balance, and hindgut function, particularly when feeding practices do not adequately account for changes in workload or routine. ^[20][30]

Owners can reduce digestive stress by providing frequent or continuous access to forage, avoiding long periods without feed, making dietary changes gradually, and dividing concentrates into smaller meals.

Providing forage before exercise, travel, or competition can also help reduce the amount of time the stomach remains empty. Concentrates and supplements should be selected to meet exercise demands without providing excessive starch and sugar. ^[25][30][31]

Because many disruptions associated with training and competition cannot be avoided, proactive support for both the stomach and hindgut is an important part of maintaining digestive comfort, appetite, body condition, and consistent performance.

Mad Barn’s Visceral+ is formulated to support gastric health, hindgut function, microbial balance, and normal digestive comfort in performance horses.

Feeding Visceral+ daily can help performance horses maintain normal digestive function through training, travel, competition, and changes in routine so digestive discomfort is less likely to interfere with performance.

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Proactive gut care also means watching for subtle changes. A horse that becomes picky, loses condition, resists being girthed, develops loose manure, or shows a sudden decline in willingness or performance should receive a veterinary evaluation.

These signs are not specific to gastric ulcers, so feeding management, stress, training, and other possible health concerns should also be reviewed.

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Measuring Athletic Performance

Tracking objective fitness measures helps determine whether a conditioning program is improving performance and whether the workload is appropriate for the horse. Measurements are most useful when they are collected consistently and compared over time.

Heart Rate & Recovery Time Monitoring

Heart rate is one of the most accessible tools for tracking fitness. A normal resting heart rate for an adult horse generally falls between 30 and 40 beats per minute, and this baseline typically remains stable as fitness improves. ^[32]

Fitness is better assessed by measuring heart rate during exercise and monitoring how quickly it decreases afterward. When the same horse completes a similar workout under comparable conditions, a lower exercise heart rate or faster recovery can indicate improved cardiovascular fitness.

A horse whose heart rate returns close to resting levels within about 15 minutes is generally recovering well from the workload. Recovery that consistently takes longer than 30 minutes may indicate that the exercise exceeds the horse’s current fitness level. Heat, humidity, dehydration, pain, illness, and fatigue can also delay recovery, so results should be interpreted in context. ^[33]

Respiratory rate can be monitored by counting breaths for 15 seconds and multiplying by four. ^[32] After exercise, breathing should gradually return toward the horse’s normal resting rate. Slower recovery than is typical for that horse may indicate fatigue, heat stress, or insufficient conditioning for the work performed. ^[33]

Blood Lactate Testing

Blood lactate testing provides more detailed information about how a horse produces energy at different exercise intensities. Lactate concentrations increase when the demand for energy exceeds what aerobic metabolism can supply and the horse relies more heavily on anaerobic metabolism. ^[34]

Testing is usually performed during or shortly after a standardized exercise session. Trainers can compare the horse’s speed or workload at a given lactate concentration, as well as how quickly lactate levels decrease during recovery. As fitness improves, a horse may be able to work at a higher speed or intensity before blood lactate rises sharply. ^[35]

Repeated testing can help identify the horse’s lactate threshold, set appropriate training intensities, and measure its response to conditioning. Results are most reliable when the exercise protocol, sampling time, equipment, and environmental conditions remain consistent between tests. Lactate testing is most commonly used in racehorses and elite performance horses with guidance from a veterinarian or equine exercise physiologist.

Fitness Testing & Performance Benchmarks

Structured fitness testing also helps establish training benchmarks and track your horse’s progress over time.

Standardized warm-ups and exercise protocols, applied consistently, let trainers compare a horse’s response across different points in a training program. Field-based fitness tests, such as timed intervals over a known distance or standardized hill sets, offer a practical way to apply the same principle and track trends without specialized equipment. ^[36]

Testing under similar conditions, at similar times of day, and with a similar warm-up produces more reliable data and makes a genuine decline in fitness easier to distinguish from normal day-to-day variation.

Working With Veterinarians & Specialists

Owners and trainers can track many useful fitness indicators on their own. However, a veterinarian or equine sports medicine specialist brings tools that go well beyond what is practical at home.

Diagnostic imaging, gastroscopy, and standardized treadmill testing can identify subtle lameness, gastric ulcers, or cardiovascular limitations that might not be obvious from the ground.

Bringing a veterinarian in early, rather than only after performance has clearly declined, supports a more proactive approach. Regular checkups built into the training calendar help catch developing issues while they are still easier to address.

A collaborative approach involving the rider, trainer, veterinarian, and often an equine nutritionist tends to produce the most consistent results. Athletic performance is best supported when training, veterinary care, and nutrition are coordinated rather than managed separately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions about athletic performance in horses:

Summary

Athletic performance in horses reflects how well the body converts genetic potential, training, and nutrition into speed, power, endurance, coordination, and recovery. A complete performance program supports fitness while addressing health, workload, recovery, and discipline-specific demands.

• Multiple body systems contribute to athletic capacity, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, skeletal, and neurological systems
• Each discipline places different demands on the horse, so conditioning and nutrition priorities should match the work being performed
• Progressive training builds fitness while giving muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments time to adapt safely
• Performance diets should match workload while supporting energy supply, hydration, electrolyte balance, and muscle recovery
• Pain, ulcers, saddle fit issues, overtraining, and poor recovery can all reduce willingness, output, and consistency
• Heart rate, recovery time, fitness testing, and veterinary input help track progress and identify problems early