HORSETALK (paraphrased) – Brazil’s National Equestrian Centre will host more than 300 horses during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and is undergoing a major overhaul in readiness….The vast majority of these horses will have been flown into Brazil from around the world and transported to the centre, in Rio’s Deodoro district. [The equestrian center boasts numerous advances including a treadmill for the horses]. It has a top speed of 15m per second (54km per hour), and the all-important safety harness that can support 4.5 tons. It allows the vets to measure the horse’s heart-rate and breathing, and analyze its blood during and after exercise. As well as physiological assessment, the treadmill is used for training the horses. “They like galloping on the treadmill, especially in the summer, when it’s fresher in here with the air conditioning,” says Dr Queiroz, who teaches at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro ⁽⁵⁰⁾.