Heart RATE and repiratory FREQUENCY in vaquejada horses after A field
TEST
Tito Alves Santiago1, Helena Emília Cavalcanti C.C. Manso2, Fernando Leandro dos
Santos2, José Mário Girão Abreu3, Erika Wanderley Korinfsky1, Fernando Rodrigues
Magalhães1, Hélio Cordeiro Manso Filho2,1
Introduction: Heart rate (HR) and respiratory frequency (RF) are used to determine
some aspects of horses’ fitness and energetic metabolism. As such, characterization of
these parameters after exercise may be an important tool. Objectives: To determine HR
and RF in “puxar” horses after a field vaquejada simulation (test). Methods: Each
“puxar” horse (n=9) ran 3 times at ~7.0m/s in a soft, flat sand surface (~90m length).
During each run, a “puxar” horse pulls a bull calf (~350kg) and carries a load of
~100kg. HR (beats/min=bpm) and RF (breaths/min=btpm) were measured using a
stethoscope on five occasions: pre-test (resting), immediately after the 3 runs (T0), or
after 15, 30 and 240 minutes post simulation (T15, T30 and T240, respectively) of the
simulation. Data was analyzed using a repeated measurement ANOVA and Tukey test
(P<0.05%). Results and discussion: Results showed significant changes in HR
(P<0.05) and RF (P<0.05). HR was elevated at T0 (~85bpm) and differed from all other
measurement times results (P<0.05). At T15 HR (~49bpm) was still different (P<0.05)
from the values observed in pre-test (~36bpm), at T30 (~38bpm) and T240 (~36bpm). In
contrast, RF was elevated at T15 (~48btpm), whereas it was ~43btpm at T0 and ~31btpm
at T30. RF at pre-test and T240 were similar (P>0.05). Horses used in these simulations
were routinely undertaking a competition and a rapid drop detected in HR between T0
and T15 showed that animals were well conditioned for vaquejada. Because these horses
undertook a typical anaerobic exercise (high intensity of short duration), the elevated RF
at T15 is likely to be associated with excessive postexercise oxygen consumption (to
compensate large energy demands) and the need to thermoregulate. Conclusion:
vaquejada horses had significant changes in HR and RF after vaquejeda simulation the
elevation of RF 15 minutes after simulation demonstrates that this kind of exercise has
on anaerobic component indicating that these horses need specific nutritional and
training practices to improve fitness for this type of competition.
All procedures were approved by the Animal Care of Animal Sciences
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Project supported by IRCA Nutrição Animal, Brazil 1 Graduate Program in Veterinary Sciences ,
Federal Rural University of Pernambuco2; Associate Professor, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco
([email protected]); 3Associate Professor, State University of Ceara
Department, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (process # 62/2007-CTA/DZ).
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Project supported by IRCA Nutrição Animal, Brazil 1 Graduate Program in Veterinary Sciences ,
Federal Rural University of Pernambuco2; Associate Professor, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco
([email protected]); 3Associate Professor, State University of Ceara