For nearly a decade, the health of horses has been better understood thanks to the work of Dr. Renaud Léguillette, DMV PhD, Calgary Chair in Equine Sports Medicine at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM).
Through research, student training and community collaboration, the Chair in Equine Sports Medicine has advanced the health, safety and performance of working horses, ensuring UCVM is considered a key player in the field of equine medicine.
Calgary Stampede: From research partner to real-world impact
Working with partners, such as the Calgary Stampede, Léguillette has access to high-performance equine athletes and this has enabled a team of colleagues, undergraduate and graduate student researchers, led by Léguillette, to make discoveries that are supporting equine health and welfare in tangible, long-lasting ways.
One example is the development of a high-sensitivity blood test that detects microscopic damage to the cardiac muscle; an early warning sign for potentially fatal cardiac events in horses. This test is now in use by the Calgary Stampede to help prevent sudden death in racehorses due to cardiac pathologies.
Advancing equine sports medicine globally
Established in 2017, the Chair in Equine Sports Medicine has earned international recognition, particularly for its research in cardio-respiratory physiology. Léguillette's team, in partnership with Dr. Warwick Bayly of Washington State University, is thought to be the only group in the world able to measure oxygen consumption in horses working on a track or in an arena.
Using a specialized portable mask system, developed by Léguillette and Bayly, researchers can monitor the workload of horses exercising with their rider in the field, with similar precision to human athletes.
Dr. Léguillette was the first researcher in North America to use a 'dynamic endoscope' to visualize inside a horse throat and detect pathologies that restrict airflow.
Other major contributions to horse health include:
- Discovering why racehorses can experience exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), a highly prevalent condition that poses challenges for the racing industry
- Studies on treatments for mild to moderate asthma, a condition that is highly prevalent in horses around the world, including in Alberta
- A unique study on wildfire smoke exposure and its effect on horse lung function
- Underwater ECG recordings of horse hearts, combined with oxygen consumption data, to inform conditioning protocols
- A study measuring workload for horses walking in a water treadmill, to help guide the industry in developing evidence-based water-treadmill protocols
Since becoming Chair in 2017, Léguillette has published close to 50 studies in peer-reviewed veterinary journals. Funds made available via the Chair in Equine Sports Medicine enable free access to the relevant academic and research journals for all.
Supporting the future of equine health
Beyond scientific discovery, the Chair in Equine Sports Medicine has played a pivotal role in training the next generation of equine health professionals with dozens of undergraduate and graduate students gaining hands-on experience under Léguillette's mentorship.
This combination of research, teaching, and real-world application is exactly what the Chair was designed to support.
"Thanks to this Chair and the generosity of its donors, we've been able to answer real-world problems faced by horse owners, trainers, and veterinarians," says Dr. Léguillette. "There's still so much more we can do."
