At the University of Florida's Equine Performance Laboratory, retired racehorses play an essential role in advancing medical and safety research for future generations of equine athletes. In the process, daily treadmill conditioning and the steady disposition required for the research are giving these off-track Thoroughbreds a major advantage as they transition into third careers.One of the program's star graduates is Awesome Valentine (Awesome Slew), who was known around the laboratory as Olive. The Florida-bred made three starts on the track before going to UF. She excelled during her time there, gaining social media popularity through a promotional video on Instagram. Upon graduating from the program this year at age six, she moved to the New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program's Ocala location, quickly winning over team members who are reportedly tempted to bring her home themselves.“She was meant to be an eventer,” said Dr. Sally DeNotta, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Florida and the Director of the Equine Performance Laboratory. “She has an incredible work ethic and could hardly wait to get on the treadmill and gallop every day. She's 16-plus hands and just so powerful. She will make a fabulous performance horse for someone. We knew the key to her success was to find an experienced rider who could tap into her energy and help her transition into her next career. That's where the partnership with New Vocations began, and it's been wonderful to watch her thrive in their program.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by University of Florida (@uflorida) While UF's Equine Performance Laboratory has been studying horse health for decades, a grant from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority allowed the lab to carry out a $1 million renovation and introduce a high-speed equine treadmill in 2024.Simulating the rigors of daily training on the racetrack, the treadmill enables researchers to gather data on how horses respond to various medications and supplements during exercise.Many of the horses used in the first research trial conducted last year were sourced with the help of Ocala-based 2-year-old trainer Dr. Barry Eisaman. Crucially, the research required young horses.“Rather than doing studies on older, retired horses who aren't working, we need studies on young exercising athletes because their physiology is different and their bone turnover is different,” explained DeNotta. “It's more relevant to what is actually happening in the active racing population.”The laboratory's initial study focused on the effects of chronic, weekly doses of Lasix on electrolyte homeostatic balance during active exercise. While the electrolyte findings proved unremarkable, secondary research into bone density and bone strength produced compelling insights.Researchers compared standard DEXA scans against the OsteoProbe system—a microindentation tool also used in human medicine that measures resistance directly on the cannon bone and examines molecular strength and mechanical strength. While all horses in the study showed an overall increase in bone strength and density from the treadmill exercise, those receiving weekly Lasix exhibited a less profound and more variable increase compared to the control horses.“Although not statistically significant due to group size, there appeared potentially to be an underlying trend that horses receiving Lasix may not have been able to adapt to exercise by increasing their bone density and strength in the face of Lasix affecting their electrolyte homeostasis and calcium balance,” DeNotta noted.UF researchers are currently authoring follow-up grant proposals to investigate these findings on a larger scale.Because the studies focus on young athletes, the nature of the program dictates that horses age out around six years old. Through a collaborative partnership with New Vocations, horses transitioning out of the lab are pointed toward a third career.Olive training on the treadmill | courtesy UF Equine Performance Laboratory “It's really a great opportunity not just for us, but for the horses,” DeNotta said. “These horses each have the potential to be someone's teammate or riding horse for many years to come, but only if we know how to keep them healthy and sound in their early career as racehorses. Those are the questions that our lab strives to answer.”Of the original cohort brought to the program, three horses have found new homes while Olive is in training at New Vocations. Eight horses are currently involved in research at the lab.For DeNotta, following the lives of former laboratory horses as they transition into third careers as sporthorses, trail mounts and companion animals is one of the most rewarding elements of the program.“It's been fun,” she said. “I get a lot of correspondence from their new owners with pictures of them jumping, doing trail hacks, and integrating into their barn. They've found these really wonderful landing spots in life. They're five or six years old. They have their whole lives ahead of them.”The post UF’s Equine Treadmill Prepares Horses for Life After Racing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.