HORSES + WATER E quine pools are a great way to exercise and rehabilitate horses and are now a practice integrated into most trainers’ routines. Flemington’s pool facility is a hub of activity all year round, but when the weather warms up, its popularity goes up another notch. Integrating swimming into a thoroughbred’s conditioning and recovery routines is becoming common practice in horse training. For animals and humans alike, the benefits of cross-training for athletic performance, cardiovascular conditioning, and endurance are well known. When you combine training across swimming facilities, trackwork, horse walker, and other methods, the results can be great. Swimming horses has many benefits – it promotes aerobic fitness, lowers lactate levels, and elevates heart rate recovery. It can be a valuable tool in building up and maintaining a horse’s fitness with minimum shock impact on its legs. It allows a horse to regain or maintain its condition without causing undue impact or pressure on the hooves, legs, or abdomen, and it is an ideal exercise tool for those that have undergone leg or abdominal surgery, or who are recovering from laminitis. It’s also a useful way to build up strength and coordination. When walking in water, muscles are used differently than in track work. For example, to overcome drag in the water the quadricep muscles in the front of the thigh that accelerate the limb in the direction of movement must work harder. The hamstrings at the back of the thigh that normally decelerate the limb are used minimally. All of these things are taken into account by a trainer and the team.
2013 Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente loved Flemington’s equine pool, the pool is especially utilised by horse trainers during the warmer months. (Steve Christo/Corbis via Getty Images)
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