Welfare of horses used for urban patrol in Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil

PESSOA GO; MOURA RS; TRIGO P; JUNIOR LACC; MUNIZ JA; FERREIRA RD; SPILA DO; CUNHA F

Aracaju

Congreso; Reunião Anual da Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia; 2014

Sociedade Brasileira de Zootecnia

Confinement is a stress factor for horses, being important to adopt handling practices to improve the welfare of animals under that condition. The aim of this study was to assess the behaviors of horses at rest outside patrol service and at rest in four break periods during urban patrol in the central area of Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil, from September to December 2013. Eight horses (four females and four geldings; three of the Brasileiro de Hipismo breed and five crossbred animals; mean age 9.5 years and 500 kg BW) were used. They were kept in ventilated stalls (9m 2) under clay tile roofing, hard surface without bedding and with feed troughs for concentrate (4 kg day -1 ), hay and mineral salt (ad libitum), and waterers. They remained 16 days in one treatment (TC or PC) and then changed to the opposite treatment after a one day interval. Animals in TC left the stall only for patrol work. In PC, they were free to graze (53 m 2 ), from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., with access to waterers. All the animals worked in pairs from 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (14 km dia -1 divided into five stretches of 40 minutes in pace and four 20-minute break periods for rest), four days week -1 every other day. Trained researchers were located in a position that did not interfere in behaviors of the horses. The observers monitored the behaviors of the horses by focal animal sampling, for 60 consecutive minutes in three pre-defined times (6:00 to 7:00 a.m., 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.), for a total of 2,460 records animal -1 treatment -1 outside patrol service; and for 20 consecutive minutes in the four break periods on the last day of patrol, for a total of 80 records animal -1 treatment -1 . The behaviors assessed were stand alert (SA), rest standing (RS), movement (M), forage feeding (FF), drinking (D), acoustical expressions (AE), positive social behavior (PSB), negative social behavior (NSB), stereotypes (S) and others (O). Data were analyzed by the SAS program, and the percentage of frequency in each pre-defined time compared by the Tukey Test (P<0.05) after square root transformation. Main behaviors observed at rest outside patrol service were SA (TC: 16.71 to 39.31%; PC: 13.09 to 33.03%), RS (TC: 15.74 to 38.19%; PC: 12.24 to 31.99%) and FF (TC: 18.95 to 53.82%; PC:22.92 to 60.03%). There was an effect of the period of daily stall confinement on some behaviors (SA, RS, M, PSB, NSB, AE) in the three observation times (P<0.05). Animals under the TC condition exhibited more frequency of a behavior associated with boredom (SA) and less frequency of the activities observed from horses with the opportunity to express their social and grazing behaviors (RS, M, PSB, NSB, AE). There was a effect of the period of daily stall confinement on the behavior exhibited in the first break period (RS - TC: 41,88 vs. PC: 57,72), in the second break period (SA - TC: 49.48 vs. PC: 17.99; RS - TC: 38.69 vs. PC: 61.44) and in the fourth break period (M - TC: 1.84 vs. PC: 0.004) on the last day of patrol (P<0.05). The differences observed under these experimental conditions suggest that the adoption of handling practices, such as partial confinement with grazing and free access to forage for stabled animals, enhances the welfare of horses, which may prevent accidents during patrol service.