Original Research
Effect of the Work Performed by Tourism Carriage Horses on Physiological and Blood Parameters

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2014.12.018Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We propose to assess the welfare of working horses used for tourism carriages under field conditions.

  • We examine the use of physiological and blood parameters to assess a possible adaptation of horses to this type of work.

  • Physiological and blood parameters are possible useful welfare indicators in working horses.

  • Findings demonstrated the importance of an holistic approach for welfare assessment.

Abstract

Welfare of working horses is a matter of public concern, with scarce information on their possible physiological coping mechanisms. The aim of this study was to assess changes in possible physiological welfare indicators in working horses, as a result of pulling tourism carriages under field conditions. A descriptive field study of the work performed by tourism carriage horses and their physiological, hematological, and blood biochemistry implications was performed. For this, 10 tourism carriage horses were studied under normal working conditions. For description of work, speed, distance, and force were calculated. To assess welfare, physiological variables including heart rate, respiratory rate, rectal temperature, and hematological and blood biochemistry parameters were evaluated before, during, and after work. Results show that tourism carriage horses exerted a submaximal effort in terms of speed, force, and physiological variables assessed. The heart and respiratory rate showed significant increases (P < .05) after work, but recovered to basal values within the first 10 minutes. Blood variables did not show significant changes that could be related to poor welfare. Lactate and packed cell volume (PCV) were the only blood variables with significant differences across work (P < .05) with lactate decreasing over time and PCV increasing with work and returning to basal levels at 10 minutes after work. Physiological variables showed a possible adaptation to work by the carriage horses but were not sufficient to diagnose a welfare problem. Management practices and other animal-based indicators should be included in further studies to obtain a holistic conclusion.

Introduction

Working equines still play a crucial role in the provision of traction energy, and although it is difficult to find information on the economic impact of these animals in today's society, a large proportion of the world population still depends on them [1].

The management and use of carriage horses, as a tourism instrument in cities, has been recently highlighted as a matter of public concern in terms of the welfare of these equines [2], [3]. In many countries, animal rights advocates are pushing for the ban of activities that involve working horses, but often, no scientific evidence accompanies these petitions. There is scarce information on the welfare needs of this group of working horses, contrary to the available information on other types of working equids in developing countries [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], which encounter different welfare risks making it difficult to compare.

Normally, we would expect to see draught breeds pulling carriages for tourism, but in developing countries, it is common to see lighter crossbred horses performing this work [5]. This provides husbandry advantages for their owners who usually do not have incomes to maintain in proper conditions Percheron, Belgian, or other draught breeds as those reported by Rosser and Ardis [3] in South Carolina, or the Standardbreds, Morgans, and draught crossbreds used by Amish communities [9].

Working horses in Chile have been described as crossbreeds with morphology corresponding to speed type, with live weights between 300 and 400 kg and height's to the withers between 140 and 145 cm [5], [10]. The use of these lighter horses opens the question of whether they are physically adapted to perform this work without negatively affecting their welfare. The work performed by carriage horses develops physiological changes, as in any other physical activity, especially draught work that requires force and resistance for prolonged periods of time [11], [12]. All these changes are in favor of coping with increases in the demand of oxygen by muscles under aerobic exercise and include changes in cardiac, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and endocrine systems [11], [12], [13], [14], [15] and consequently allow the individuals to promote their welfare. The use of objective physiological indicators associated with changes in these systems could allow veterinarians to assess the welfare of these horses and ensure provision of evidence-based feedback on good husbandry practices to the owners. At the same time, reference values obtained abroad may not be fully applicable under local conditions because factors such as breed, environment, management conditions, and type of work are not the same [16], [17]; this is why it is important to have local data and when possible compare individuals with their own baselines.

This is why the aim of this study was to assess changes in classical physiological indicators of welfare as a result of the work performed by tourism carriage horses under real working conditions.

Section snippets

Animals

For the study, 10 carriage horses, five mares and five geldings, all light crossbreed with an average weight of 420 kg (380–500 kg), between 2 and 10 years of age were used and with a height to the withers of 148 cm in average. Body condition score (BCS) was assessed using a 0–5 scale, with two horses presenting a BCS of 2, and eight a BCS of 3. These horses are not allowed to work above 8 hours a day and must present a health certificate twice a year to the local authority (municipality).

Results

The tourism circuit traveled by the carriage horses ranged from 3.09 to 4.64 km, depending on the drivers decision on the route, with one driver not making the stop at the museum. These circuits were executed at a mean speed of 3.19 m/s (11.48 km/hr) being the highest speed achieved of 5.4 m/s (19.4 km/hr). The force required to take the carriage out of inertia and to maintain movement of the carriage differs and is shown in Table 1, being 1.07 kN (109 kgf) the maximum force required to

Discussion

Carriage horses, as other working horses, are usually associated with poor welfare and possible mistreatment by the general public. This perception by the community has led to petitions of replacement by motorized vehicles and bans on the use of working equines, such is the case for carriage horses in New York, USA [2], although there is a lack of research on horse-based tourism [19]. In the present study, we report a physiological adaptation to work in a group of carriage horses used for

Acknowledgments

Funding for this study is provided from FONDECYT Iniciación 11121467.

References (35)

  • T. Tadich et al.

    Husbandry and welfare aspects of urban draught horses in the south of Chile

    Arch Med Vet

    (2008)
  • C.E. Broster et al.

    The range and prevalence of pathological abnormalities associated with lameness in working horses from developing countries

    Equine Vet J

    (2009)
  • C.E. Reix et al.

    The range and prevalence of clinical signs and conformation associated with lameness in working draught donkeys in Pakistan

    Equine Vet J

    (2014)
  • K. Bennet-Wimbush et al.

    Characteristics and welfare of horses used for transportation in northeast Ohio

    Prof Anim Sci

    (2014)
  • M. Sáez et al.

    Morphological characteristics and most frequent health constraints of urban draught horses attending a free healthcare programme in the south of Chile: a retrospective study (1997-2009)

    Livestock Res Rural Development

    (2013)
  • R. Pérez et al.

    Biochemical and physiological parameters and estimated work output in draught horses pulling loads for long periods

    Vet Res Commun

    (1992)
  • V. Merino et al.

    Respuesta fisiológica y bioquímica del caballo de tiro a faena de aradura en suelos arroceros

    Arch Med Vet

    (1997)
  • Cited by (14)

    • Blood Profile, Hormones, and Telomere Responses: Potential Biomarkers in Horses Exhibiting Abnormal Oral Behavior

      2022, Journal of Equine Veterinary Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      For instance, control horses had significantly lower values in red blood cell parameters and higher leukocytes than horses administered with ascorbic acid after six hours of transportation. On the other hand, biochemistry parameters such as creatine kinase (CK) and aspartate transaminase (AST) are used to assess muscular damage in working horses [16,17]. However, the use of blood profiles to determine the stress level being experienced by an individual is rather limited.

    • Determining the Frequency of Discomfort-Related Behaviors Displayed by Horses When Pulling Carriages

      2022, Journal of Veterinary Behavior
      Citation Excerpt :

      The absence of aberrant vocalizations is congruent with the finding that there are similar levels of glucocorticoids of carriage horses during their working period vs. during vacationing at a farm (Mercer-Bowyer et al. 2017). Studies about physiological adaptations during pull work in horses (Vergara and Tadich, 2015) have shown that natural physical horse constitution enables them to perform draft activity with no detriment to their health. It is expected that a majority of horses will not display behaviors related to discomfort or distress during carriage pulling.

    • Evaluation of Blood Glucose and Lactate Concentrations in Mule and Equine Foals

      2021, Journal of Equine Veterinary Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      As glucose and lactate values can be dysregulated with critical illnesses, real-time assessment at stall side using a small amount of whole blood, instead of submitting samples to a laboratory to use plasma on benchtop equipment would be beneficial. Hence, portable analyzers, such as the Accutrend Plus (Roche Diagnostics, Basel, Switzerland) used for equids [21–23], would be an ideal alternative, as field testing would allow for fast and affordable glucose and lactate evaluations during the first hours of life. Moreover, it is important to know the dynamic patterns of variation in glucose and lactate of newborns, as these are different from adults [24], to differentiate healthy and compromised equid neonates at this critical period of life.

    • Observational Study of the Route's Characteristics of Tourism Carriage in a Tropical City

      2020, Journal of Equine Veterinary Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      Carriage observed in the present study can also be considered lower than the estimated load-pulling capacity of horses on low–friction coefficient surfaces (asphalt and cement) [6], which is between 4,000 and 5,000 kg for horses of 330 kg liveweight. Even when physical efforts performed by horses during carriage can modify their heart and respiratory rate, rectal temperature, and hematological and blood biochemistry parameters, all those physiological indicators recover their basal values after 10 minutes of resting from the carriage activity [7]. Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind that constant pull activity exerts a training effect, increasing the aerobic power capacity in the propulsion of hindlimb muscles [8].

    • Physiological responses in horses, donkeys and mules sold at livestock markets

      2018, International Journal of Veterinary Science and Medicine
      Citation Excerpt :

      Indeed, they be affected by the cumulative effects of all these factors [4,5]. Under such circumstances, the function of the stress response is to provide the energy required to cope with these challenges [6]. It involves activating two main physiological pathways: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortex axis (HPA) and the sympathetic-adrenal medulla axis (SAM).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text