Comparative well-being of horses kept under total or partial confinement prior to employment for mounted patrols
| Autor: | Antonio Carlos Cunha Lacreta Junior, Raquel Silva de Moura, Pablo Trigo, Ticiana Meireles Sousa, Gabriela Oliveira Pessoa, Francisco D. Mesquita Neto, Joel Augusto Muniz |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Every other day
business.industry 05 social sciences 0402 animal and dairy science Blood count 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences 040201 dairy & animal science Animal science Food Animals Medicine 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Animal Science and Zoology 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology business Cortisol level Statistical software |
| Zdroj: | Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 184:51-58 |
| ISSN: | 0168-1591 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.applanim.2016.08.014 |
| Popis: | Horses kept in stables may exhibit undesirable behaviours and stress during police service. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of confinement, i.e., time in stalls, on horse behaviour and welfare employed by mounted patrols in urban areas. Eight adult horses were subjected to one of two types of confinement during 16 days, namely: total confinement (TC – 24 h in a stall) and partial confinement (PC – 12 h in a stall and 12 h free in a paddock); then the treatments were reversed. Mounted patrols were conducted in pairs, with one animal from each treatment group, for six hours every other day in a scheme of five 40-min rides interspersed with four 20-min rest periods. Animal behaviour was evaluated by applying direct coded focal observations (SA – standing alert, SC – standing calm, M – movement, EF – eating forage, DW – drinking water, V – vocalizing, SI – positive or negative social interactions, S – stereotypies, and O – others) for three time periods on non-work days, and during rest periods of the last patrol day for each experimental stage. Behaviours were assessed through a questionnaire (A – alert, C – curious, D – distracted, Dr – drowsy, SI – socially interactive, F – fearful, and N – nervous), by the military personnel during patrols. Heart rate (HR), HR variability (SDNN, VLF, LF, HF, and LF/HF), blood count, and cortisol levels were determined on the first and last non-work day and on the first, third, and seventh day of patrolling. The experiment was performed under a randomized block design, and the data were compared by Tukey’s test using SAS statistical software (P |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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