Iron Metabolism Modification During Repeated Show Jumping Event in Equine Athletes

In athletic horse the evaluation of iron status is of great importance to improve physical performance and health status of animal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes of iron indices following show jumping. Ten regularly trained Italian Saddlebred horses aged 7-8 years (mean body weight 467±12 kg) were subjected to three days jumping competition. Blood samples were collected at 5 time points: T0 (the day before competitions), T1 (immediately after exercise at day 1), T2 (immediately after exercise at day 2), T3 (immediately after exercise at day 3) and during the recovery period T4 (24 h after day 3). On each blood sample the values of red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin concentration (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), serum iron, ferritin, transferrin, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) and unsaturated iron-binding capacity (UIBC) were assessed. One-way repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a statistical significant effect of exercise (P<0.05) on all studied parameters. The application of Bonferroni’s post-hoc comparison showed a statistical significant increase in all studied parameters after exercise. These results provide new information about the changes in iron profile of jumper horse following exercise allowing for better evaluation of the health status and physical performance of this athlete horse.