The AERC research grants program was instituted by board action on accepting a donation to fund the "Pride Project" being conducted by Barney Fleming, DVM. The AERC Research Grants Committee was organized to handle such actions and to formulate policy for administering AERC research. In October of 2003 the board of directors approved a budget amount of $45,000 to be available for funding veterinary research proposals.

The AERC Research Grants Committee, under the chairmanship of Bob Morris, then formulated a charter and basic policies for the guidance of this committee. The principle considerations of this were:

1. AERC, according to its charter, is committed to supporting research intended to improve the sport of endurance, especially the welfare of the horse.

2. To fulfill that obligation, AERC should commit adequate funds available for research.

3. AERC should adopt a formula that will determine the amount of funds to be set aside for research, preferably an annual contribution to a permanent fund to be used for research as acceptable proposals are found.

4. AERC should continue to solicit research grants that will serve our purpose. The Veterinary Committee and the Welfare of the Horse Committee should develop research projects based on what we perceive to be our problem areas and seek researchers to do the research.

5. All research supported by AERC funding must be distributed to the membership in a form that can be understood by and benefit them.

An additional board action approved the committee charter and a provision was made to allocate an annual stipend of $50,000, or 25% of profit for the previous year, whichever is less, for the funding of such research grants as are awarded by the Research Grants Committee.

Currently we have four grants in place for a rather diverse range of projects:

"Can successful endurance performance be predicted by physiology? Relationship between a heart-specific regulatory protein (cardiac troponin I), electrocardiograms, and competitive performance in endurance horses," being conducted by Mary M. Durando, DVM, PhD, Dip ACVIM (internal medicine), Research Assistant Professor, section of sports medicine, University of Pennsylvania, New Bolton Center, Pennsylvania.

"Why Do Endurance Horses Fail to Finish: A Pilot Study." Principal investigators: Harold Schott, DVM, PhD, and John Kanene, DVM, MPH, PhD, Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Veterinary Medical Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

"Are horses responsible for invasive plants in the eastern United States?" Dr. Stith T. Gower, Department of Forest Ecology and Management, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

"Do risks of potassium supplementation depend on speed?" T.M. Hess, DVM, MS, PhD, Pratt Fellow in equine nutrition, Virginia Tech, Middleburg, Virginia.

Can successful endurance performance be predicted by physiology?

The first of the grants has been in place for one year. Researchers have gathered considerable information from endurance rides and endurance riders. Todd Holbrook, DVM, and Mary Durando, DVM, collected samples from their third and final ride at the Bluebonnet Classic in Decatur, Texas, in early April. "The ride and participants were great, as was the turnout," noted Dr. Durando. "Todd brought three veterinary students from Oklahoma State with him, and we needed all five of us to collect samples, we had so many!

"We recruited about 50 to 55 participants, and were able to get three time points (pre-, mid-, and finish) from the majority of the ones who completed the ride. Even the ones who pulled, we often were able to get a third sample at the time of the pull from them, for a total of around 145 samples.

"As this is a pilot study, we may not have sufficient numbers to draw final conclusions, but we hope to have gained much preliminary data and useful information," said Dr. Durando. "These types of studies can be rather difficult, because they require large numbers to be able to analyze the data. At least it should be a good starting point for other directions that may be helpful to pursue.

"The project team will be analyzing the data over the next several weeks," concluded Dr. Durando. "Our goal is to complete the analysis of data over the summer."

Why do endurance horses fail to finish?

The second of the research projects, by Hal Schott, DVM, is well underway. His researchers have been collecting rider surveys for the past six months, using a "failure to finish" survey form that was designed as a portion of the AERC funded grant. They plan to enter the data collected into Microsoft Access. This project will continue through 2005.

Dr. Schott reported, "Collection of the data [surveys] has progressed more slowly than we had originally hoped. Initially, the surveys were all completed via telephone interviews. The interview lasted 30 to 45 minutes and it proved somewhat difficult to schedule these interviews with riders. Subsequently, we started to mail the interview forms to riders with a follow-up telephone call once the survey has been returned. This method has proven to be more successful.

"We started the project in June 2004 by contacting ride managers (attempted to contact managers of all rides by both e-mail and telephone) about a week prior to the ride to request information about the ride (pulls, controls, and ride forms for both)," wrote Dr. Schott. "Some managers were highly cooperative while others were not.

"Clearly," noted Dr. Schott, "the project has to continue to gain enough numbers to be of any value. However, we are committed to completing the project and funding provided should allow us to continue with the project through 2005. Our current plan is to continue to survey all 2005 rides. In addition to a lack of compliance by all ride managers (about 25% of ride managers contacted have provided some ride data), a major limitation has been getting the ride managers to provide control horses for the horses that fail to finish. (Control horses are those preceding and following the pulled horse into a vet check -- the equines on each side of the pulled horse, not the ones pulled.) Further, when information was provided by ride managers, the completion rate of the survey forms has only been 50% to 60% for 50 mile rides and much lower for the 100 mile rides.

"To further illustrate the challenge of data collection," said Dr. Schott, "we have some 50 mile pulls for which we have two completed control survey forms yet we have been unable to get the survey completed by the rider of the pulled horse."

Are horses responsible for invasive weeds in the Eastern U.S.?

The study of invasive plant distribution is important to our sport. Many agencies are now requiring preventative measures affecting endurance riders' use of trails and the feeding of endurance horses.

Dr. Gower explained, "The project will show if horses are directly responsible for the distribution of noxious weed seeds and if so, to what extent. This project will be conducted in three to five widely separate locations used by endurance riders."

Recently, Dr. Gower shared a project update: "I have completed initial sample collection and redeployment of samples to the trail at LBL Express (Kentucky) and AHDRA (central Illinois). I have received great cooperation from riders and they seem to be pleased with the project." Dr. Gower's research continued at Biltmore Estates last month.

Do risks of potassium supplementation depend on speed?

The last grant was just awarded and Dr. Hess's research will be conducted this summer under endurance competition-like conditions. The study will include horses that are being used in competition. The horses in the study will be equipped with "on board" recording units and will have blood taken at particular intervals.

Conclusion

All of these research projects are directly related to endurance competition and some specifically involve riders and ride managers. It is to the advantage of all AERC members to take advantage of the field research whenever possible. The information realized is one of the ways we can further education amongst our membership and it is a rare opportunity that we should not let pass. The final results of each study will be published in the Endurance News for review by the AERC membership.

The AERC Research Grants Committee's grants now in place are to the maximum of funding available. We will be looking for additional sources of funding for further research. Resource opportunities we will be contemplating include grants, donations and endowments from private sources.

The Research Grant Committee members welcome all comments from AERC members regarding research projects and, especially, new fields of research that would be of interest to all endurance competitors. This research is for your benefit and your participation is greatly appreciated.