Diapositiva 1

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AN EVALUATION OF THE STRESS RESPONSE IN HORSES
USED FOR EQUESTRIAN REHABILITATION (ER)
Valle E., Odore R., Badino P., Girardi C.,
Bergero D.
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of
Torino
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Introductions

• Noradrenalina (NOR), Dopamina (DOPA), Cortisol
  (CORT) and heart rate (HR) have received a great
  attention for studying welfare, and investigating
  the reactivity of animals

The objective of this preliminary study is to
evaluate the response of horses commonly used for
ER in one day sessions of work with disabled
people (D) and expert normal rider (NR)
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Material and methods

• HR was monitored with Polar Equine RS800
• Horses were exercised with NR for preparing show
  jumping competitions (45 min of exercise)
• Immediately after underwent to a session with
  therapist (90 min of therapy session) (D)

• Blood samples to assess the concentration of
  DOPA, NOR, CORT were collected at rest 30 min
  (R), and immediately at the end of each session
  of work with D or NR
• One way Anova was applied to assess statistical
  differences among times of blood collection
  (plt0.05).

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Results and discussions
The mean HR, max/min were 43, 64 and 34 bpm for
D, 74, 139 and 34 bpm for NR session DOPA levels
were different for R vs NR (0.04 0.02 vs
0.130.02 p0.003) and R vs D (0.04 0.02 vs
0.090.04 p0.04)
HR during ER were relatively low and well within
the aerobic levels and similar to the values
reported in literatures. Plasma values of DOPA
were affected by treatment (NR vs D) After D
session there is no increase of CORT (considered
as stress hormone) This preliminary study suggest
that the workload of ER is very low and not cause
a physiological stress response
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• Acknowledgements
• Equestrian Centre of Army Scuola di applicazione
  darma Torino

Horses and therapists
domenico.bergero_at_unito.it