Original ResearchEffect of the Work Performed by Tourism Carriage Horses on Physiological and Blood Parameters
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.
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