This year Professor Chris Proudman published the first paper to demonstrate associations between a foal’s gut microbiome and its future athletic performance and its future respiratory health. The emerging fields of the "omics" has been one of the most exciting branches of science in recent years. Whilst we're a little way off understanding exactly how to capitalise on this in practice, it's already evident that interventions such as antibiotics and probiotics could potentially have far-reaching impacts on future health and performance.

Links

Early-life gut bacterial community structure predicts disease risk and athletic performance in horses bred for racing (Leng, J., Moller-Levet, C., Mansergh, R.I. et al. 2024)

Horse Microbiome Research Group

Alborada Well Foal Study

The ALBORADA Trust

Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB)