The effect of age and some environmental agents on physiological parameters of Polish Konik horses during the harrowing

Abstract

The research paper aimed to determine the effect of horse age and weather conditions on physiological parameters (heart rate – HR), body temperature, respiratory rate (RR) of each
animal from the treatment groups during the spring harrowing operation. The studies were carried out in the farm Florianka Roztocze National Park (7.5 ha area) in Zwierzyniec over the years 2005–2010. For working purposes, 15 Polish Konik breed horses (9 stallions, 2 mares and 4 geldings) were grouped in pairs, i.e. 19 pairs during the six-year research period. In 2006, 2008 and 2009, 3 horse pairs harrowed the field, while in the other years – 2 pairs did. Out of 15 horses, 11 animals worked twice or more times. The working time length of each horse team determined by the horse owner depended mainly on the animal age, training advance level and gender. In order to establish the influence of age on physiological indices, all the working horses were allocated into five age groups: group I – including 3-year-olds (11 animals), group II – 4-year-olds (8), group III – 5 to 8-year-olds (6), group IV – 9 to 11-year-olds (6) and group V – aged ≥ 12 years (7). The maximum average HR 137.29 beats per minute (bpm) was measured in group I (3-year-olds) to decrease in the successive age groups until it reached 123.29 bpm in group V. Similar relations of the gradually declining means depending on animal age and training advance level were observed for the difference in the number of breaths measured before and after the exercise (group I 25.27 b/m, group V 19.86 b/m). There occurred significant and highly significant statistical differences between the average HR rates of the age groups. As for the differences in body temperatures taken before and after work, such significances were not noted. To determine the impact of weather conditions on physiological parameters, the next division into two treatment groups was made, i.e. horses aged < 5 years (19 animals) and horses ≥ 5 years (19). The obtained simple correlation coefficient showed moderate relations between the air temperature and the physiological parameters in the horses under the age of 5 years (from 0.41 to 0.69) and thus, confirmed
the occurring mutual interactions. The combined effect of weather elements (multiple correlations), and predominantly air temperature, also had a substantial effect on the organisms of the working animals. In the majority of horses from all the groups, the changes noted in the studied physiological parameters were considered normal and found within the reference range. Therefore, it can be concluded that the organisms of Polish Konik horses can do well in small-scale agricultural, agritourism and ecological ones farms.