1. These animals will be healthy upon physical examination.
   
2. The animals will be serviceably sound and not had any or be giving any systematic or intraarticular medications. This includes all steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications such as phenylbutazone, flunixin meglumine and corticosteroids.
3. Training schedules and racing times are all similar and nearly in the same class of races.
4. All other physical therapy modalities and topical applications of counter-irritants discontinued at least seven days before the initiation of this project.

The study will last six weeks, have a two-week break to all equine subjects and then resume with the control group becoming the treatment group and the treatment group becoming the control group for another six weeks.

All twenty animals will be thermographed initially, and then at weekly intervals during the duration of the study. Blood samples will be taken initially from all of the animals and then repeated weekly until the conclusion of the study. These blood samples will be evaluated for a complete blood count and total serum chemistry analysis.

The complete blood count will have the following parameters tested:

1. RBC count
   
2. WBC count
   
3. Packed cell volume
   
4. The types of WBCs
   
5. In addition to all the normal tests

Serum chemistry analysis included:

• Albumin levels - 35 - 50% of the serum protein
  
• Alkaline Phosphatase levels - hepatic function
  
• BUN - renal function
  
• Calcium - calcium metabolism
  
• Creatinine - renal function
  
• Glucose - measured to monitor other diseases
  
• Magnesium - magnesium metabolism
  
• Phosphorus - phosphorus metabolism
  
• AST(SGOT)
  
• Serum protein -nutritive function
  
• Total bilirubin - hepatic function
  
• Sodium - electrolyte balance
  
• Potassium - electrolyte balance
  
• Chloride - electrolyte balance
  
• GGT - renal function
  
• CPK(CK)
  
• A/G ratio - albumin/globulin ratio: total protein values
  
• Globulin - calculated by subtracting the albumin conc. from the total
  Protein concentration
  
• Lipemic index - hepatic function
  
• Hemolytic index - a value that may affect other tests
• Icteric Index - hepatic function

The animals will randomly placed into two groups: a treatment group and a control group.

Those animals within the control group will not receive any treatments with the Thermotex™ therapy blanket during that portion of the study. The animals within the treatment group will receive treatment for thirty minutes each day just before exercise. The temperature control was placed on the high setting for ten minutes and then on low for the remaining twenty minute duration of the treatment.

Infrared thermographs and blood samples were taken every seven days for a total of fourteen weeks.