Abstract
In order to introduce swimming as an aid for the development of basic physical fitness or for rehabilitation in the convalescent stage of diseases of the legs, experiments were carried out to clarify (1) the effects of swimming exercises on horses, (2) the efficacies of swimming training in a workout designed, and (3) the safety and endurance of long-time swimming. From physiological and hematological observations, the following results were obtained. 1) The subjects performed 20-min swimming exercise and tolerated long time of 60-min swimming . 2) From the results of heart rate during swimming and some hematological parameters after swimming, it was presumed that the intensity of swimming might correspond to that of light running at faster trot or slower canter . 3) Swimming exercise was thought to be an aerobic exercise because of low lactate production . The magnitude of decrease in blood glucose immediately after swimming, however, was higher than that after running . Therefore, the energy requirement was presumed to be large in peripheral tissues. 4) Training effect was observed from the results of decrease in heart rate during swimming training and shortening of the recovery period in heart rate . It could be also presumed from the results of hematological observation. 5) The subjects tolerated 60-min swimming without considerable disturbance. It was presumed that the subjects might have obtained an endurance ability by the swimming training. 6) From these results, it was concluded that swimming training was applicable to the rehabilitation from diseases of the legs and also to the development of basic physical fitness.
