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. 2022 Jul 21;12(14):1850.
doi: 10.3390/ani12141850.

Correlation between Ocular and Rectal Temperature with Intra Ocular Pressure in Horse during Exercise

Francesca Aragona  1 , Simona Di Pietro  1 , Francesca Arfuso  1 , Francesco Fazio  1 , Giuseppe Piccione  1 , Elisabetta Giudice  1 , Claudia Giannetto  1
Affiliations

Correlation between Ocular and Rectal Temperature with Intra Ocular Pressure in Horse during Exercise

Francesca Aragona et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the response to physical exercise of some ocular physiological variables (ocular temperature and intraocular pressure) in horses performing a jumping course in the morning (a.m.) or in the afternoon hours (p.m.), before and after the exercise, in correlation with the rectal temperature. Data collection was carried out on 14 clinical healthy Italian saddle horses. All horses were trained from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and from 19:00 to 20:00 p.m. according to a specific training program. Ocular temperature (OT), rectal temperature (RT) and intraocular pressure (IOP) were determined. Statistical analysis showed no differences between the results for the left and the right eyes. The application of two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a statistically significant effect of time (before vs. after) on IOP (p = 0.0001). RT and OT were statistically influenced by time of day and by experimental conditions (a.m. vs. p.m.) (p = 0.0001). Bland-Altman (B-A) testing showed an agreement between the values of RT and OT. Our results showed a correlation between increased body temperatures and IOP variations during exercise, so they can probably be considered indicators of athletic horses' physical fitness during exercise.

Keywords: exercise; horses; intraocular pressure; ocular temperature; rectal temperature.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of ocular temperature, intraocular pressure and rectal temperature measured in the a.m. and p.m. hours before (grey boxes) and after exercise (white boxes) in 14 horses. Statistical significance: p < 0.0001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bland–Altman plots of ocular temperature and rectal temperature, measured during a.m. hours before and after exercise, and during p.m. hours before and after the exercise. Average temperatures were plotted against differences with temperatures. Dotted lines represent upper and lower limits of agreement (ULAs and LLAs). The solid black line represents the mean difference or the bias.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Linear regression values between ocular temperature and rectal temperature during the a.m. hours before and after exercise and between ocular temperature and rectal temperature during the p.m. hours before and after exercise. Linear regression analysis between ocular temperature and intraocular temperature during the a.m. hours before and after exercise and during the p.m. hours before and after exercise. Linear regression analysis between rectal temperature and intraocular temperature during the a.m. hours before and after exercise and during the p.m. hours before and after exercise.
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