Krzysztof Bocian

Salivary Cortisol Levels in Horses and their Riders During Three-Day-Events

Abstract The group of 36 warm-blooded half-bred horses (18 stallions and 18 mares) and their riders (20 men and 16 women), who ended three-day-events, were selected for the study. The horses were aged 4 to 6 years, while the riders were 19 to 34-year-old. The saliva samples were collected after each phase of the competitions. The cortisol concentration was determined using an immunoassay method. The following factors were considered: type of competition, horse sex, and rider gender. In horses, the statistically important correlation was found between the results obtained for the dressage and cross-country, for the cross-country and show jumping, and for the dressage and show jumping. An analogous comparison for the riders suggests a statistically significant correlation between the data obtained for the cross-country and show jumping. Comparing the data of horses and their riders, a significant correlation coefficient was found for the cross-country group of woman and the dressage group of men. In conclusion, the salivary cortisol level in individual horses in each phase of three-day-event was found to be repetitive. Therefore, the salivary cortisol test is demonstrated to be a useful method to evaluate the horse response to each type of competition during three-day-events.

Differentiating horse walk and trot on the basis of inertial motion capture

This article describes a method for differentiating two types of horse gaits: walk and trot. Recognition of gait types is significant for different research branches. It is important in animal behavior analysis, gait and stride timing analysis, lameness detection, sports such as horse trotting and identifying opportunities for the use of horses. Research described in this article concerns detection of horse gait type on the basis of acceleration measurement with the use of inertial motion capture system. Two 6 DoF motion trackers were used for recording vertical acceleration of a horse trunk at the withers and at the lumbo-sacral junction. Developed method for gait type differentiation uses discrete Fourier transform and the analysis of local maximums of Fourier magnitude spectrum with LDA. Presented research results shows that it is possible to distinguish between two gait types mentioned above in automatic manner.

Length of winter coat in horses depending on husbandry conditions

This paper analyzes changes in the length of coat on selected body areas in horses and ponies kept under different husbandry (stable) conditions during the winter-spring period. The study included 12 Małpolski geldings and 12 geldings of Felin ponies aged 10-15 years. Horses were kept in two stables (six horses and six ponies in each stable). The type of performance, husbandry conditions and feeding of the studied animals were comparable. As of December 1, samples of hair coat from the scapula, sternum, back and abdomen areas of both body sides were collected seven times. The lengths of 20 randomly selected hair fibers were measured. Daily measurements of air temperature in the stables were also taken. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed using the following factors: the body part from where the coat was sampled, the subsequent examination and the stable as well as the interaction between these factors. The significance of differences between means was determined with a t-Tukey test. The relations between air temperature in the stable and hair length were calculated using Pearsons correlation. It was found that air temperature in the stable impacts the length of winter coat in horses and ponies. The effect of this factor is more pronounced in ponies; as in the stables with lower temperatures it produces a longer hair coat which is more evenly distributed over the body in comparison with horses. Keeping horses and ponies in stables with a low air temperature accelerates coat shedding by approximately 25 days. Coat shedding begins from the scapula area.