Article
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Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
The Spatiotemporal Characteristics of 0 – 24 Goal Polo
Version 1
: Received: 27 June 2019 / Approved: 3 July 2019 / Online: 3 July 2019 (11:54:40 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Best, R.; Standing, R. The Spatiotemporal Characteristics of 0–24-Goal Polo. Animals 2019, 9, 446. Best, R.; Standing, R. The Spatiotemporal Characteristics of 0–24-Goal Polo. Animals 2019, 9, 446.
Abstract
Global positioning systems (GPS) have recently been shown to reliably quantify the spatiotemporal characteristics of Polo, with the physiological demands of Polo play at low and high goal levels also investigated. This study aimed to describe the spatiotemporal demands of Polo across 0 – 24 goal levels. A player worn GPS unit was used to quantify distance, speed and high intensity activities performed. Data was divided into chukkas and five equine-based speed zones, grouped per cumulative player handicap and assessed using standardised mean differences. Average distance and speed per chukka increased in accordance with cumulative player handicap, with the magnitude of differences being Trivial – Large and Trivial – Very Large, respectively. Differences between time spent in speed zones 4 and 5 show a linear increase in magnitude, when comparing 0 goal Polo to all other levels of play (Small – Very Large; 6 – 24 goals, respectively). High intensity activities predominantly shared this trend, displaying Trivial – Large differences between levels. These findings highlight the increasingly demanding cardiovascular, anaerobic and speed-based needs of Polo ponies as playing level increases. Strategies such as high intensity interval training, maximal speed work and aerobic conditioning may be warranted to facilitate this development and improve pony welfare and performance.
Keywords
polo; GPS; pony welfare; horse
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Zoology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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