Avaliação fisiológica e sanguínea de equinos submetidos a exercícios em diferentes estações do ano

Abstract

Due to the increasing variety in equestrian sports and horse breeds, the evaluation of the physiology of animal exercise has become important. The horses are submitted to training in field conditions for the establishment of physical conditioning and even of nutritional programs of the animals. The concern with thermal stress is a reality, especially for athletes, whose value in the animal is higher. This study aimed to evaluate physiological and blood parameters of animals submitted to exercises in different seasons of the year. Ten Quarter Horse of different ages and sexes were used. The experiment lasted six days, three days in winter and three days in summer, forming a factorial 3x2 (three periods and two seasons). Skin temperature, rectal temperature, emissivity of eyes and cecum, respiration and heart rate, and blood parameters (glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, total protein, albumin, urea, red blood cell count, hemoglobin and leukocytes) were evaluated before of the beginning of the year and after the end of the year. There were statistical differences for the year of the triglycerides variables, being higher in winter, protein and albumin, red blood cell counts and leukocytes, being higher in the summer. The glucose variable presented interaction between collection time and season. Heart rate, skin and rectal temperatures differed in relation to the seasons, with a higher increase in summer. There was a statistical difference regarding the emissivity of heat in the eyes, being greater in summer. The emissivity of the cecum presented interaction between the season and the collection period. The ambient temperature and the season of the year interfere in the physiological responses of heat dissipation of the horses.