Fig 1.
Player handicap (a), average riding speed (b), and covered distance of polo ponies during field-play competition. *indicates statistical significance between pairs of comparison at p < 0.05. P-1; horse played at number 1 position, P-2; horse played at number 2 position, P-3; horse played at number 3 position, and P-4; horse played at number 4 position.
Fig 2.
Percentage time spent in each heart rate (HR) zone in polo ponies at different field-play positions 1–4 (P-1, P-2, P-3, and P-4).
*Indicates interaction p-value of analysis. Different letters (a, b, and c) indicate the statistical significance among HR zones within particular field-play positions. ⋇ Indicates significant differences in HR zones between positions. Zone 1 (<70% HRmax: HR<154 bpm), Zone 2 (70–80% HRmax:155≤HR≤176 bpm), Zone 3 (80–90% HRmax: 177≤HR≤198 bpm), Zone 4 (90–95% HRmax: 199≤HR≤209 bpm), and Zone 5 (>95% HRmax: HR>210 bpm).
Table 1.
Biochemical and hematological parameters (mean ± SD) in polo ponies (n = 32) before and after low-goal polo competition.
Fig 3.
Modification in minimum HR (a), maximum HR (b), mean HR (c), and RR intervals (d) in response to exercise in polo matches. *Indicates the interaction p-value of all variables. a, b, c, and d letters indicate the statistical significance of each time point compared to the control at p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, and p < 0.0001, respectively. P-1; horse played at number 1 position, P-2; horse played at number 2 position, P-3; horse played at number 3 position, and P-4; horse played at number 4 position.
Fig 4.
Time domain analysis of HRV in response to exercise in polo matches, including standard deviation of RR intervals (SDNN) (a), square root of the mean squared differences between successive RR intervals (RMSSD) (b), relative number of successive RR interval pairs that differ by more than 50 msec (pNN50) (c), and stress index (d). *indicates the interaction p-value of all variables. a, b, c, and d letters indicate the statistical significance of each time point compared to the control at p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, and p < 0.0001, respectively. α, β, γ, and ε indicate significant differences in each time point compared to their controls in P-1, P-2, P-3 and P-4, respectively. P-1; horse played at number 1 position, P-2; horse played at number 2 position, P-3; horse played at number 3 position, and P-4; horse played at number 4 position.
Fig 5.
Changes in frequency domain analysis, including very-low-frequency band (VLF) (a), low-frequency band (LF) (b), high-frequency band (HF) (c), and LF/HF ratio (d) in response to exercise in polo matches. *indicates the interaction p-value of all variables. a, b, c, and d letters indicate the statistical significance of each time point compared to the control at p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, and p < 0.0001, respectively. P-1; horse played at number 1 position, P-2; horse played at number 2 position, P-3; horse played at number 3 position, and P-4; horse played at number 4 position.
Fig 6.
Total power spectrum (a), VLF/total power ratio (b), LF/total power ratio (c), and HF/total power ratio (d) in response to exercise in polo matches. *indicates the interaction p-value of all variables. a, b, c, and d letters indicate the statistical significance of each time point compared to the control at p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, and p < 0.0001, respectively. P-1; horse played at number 1 position, P-2; horse played at number 2 position, P-3; horse played at number 3 position, and P-4; horse played at number 4 position.
Fig 7.
Changes in respiratory rate (RESP) (a), standard deviation of the Poincaré plot perpendicular to the line of identity (SD1) (b), standard deviation of the Poincaré plot along the line of identity (SD2) (c), and SD2/SD1 ratio (d) in response to exercise in polo matches. *Indicates the interaction p-value of all variables. a, b, c, and d letters indicate the statistical significance of each time point compared to the control at p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, and p<0.0001, respectively. P-1; horse played at number 1 position, P-2; horse played at number 2 position, P-3; horse played at number 3 position, and P-4; horse played at number 4 position.