Alterações biométricas nos membros torácicos de equinos de vaquejada

Abstract

Among the various equestrian sports, the most popular in northeast Brazil is the vaquejada. In this sport, horses are extremely demanding, performing high intensity and short duration physical exertion, which is reflected in fast starts and abrupt changes of direction, besides carrying much physical force to overturn the cattle. In this context, the objective was to determine the frequency biomtric alterations in the anterior limbs of vaquejada horses, due to sports practice. At random, 1271 cowherd horses, competitors in the "pull" or "mat", of both sexes and different races and age groups were used. Data collection consisted of two stages. The first step involved an interview with owners, trainers and cowboys using a predefined form for information on animals. In the second stage, measurements of the perimeter of the forearm, knee, cinnamon, billet and quartile of the right and left anterior members of the horses were performed. The presence of asymmetry in the five zootechnical regions measured were determined by calculating the difference between the perimeters of the right and left sides of each region. In addition, 598 horses underwent clinical examinations by palpation of the knee, cinnamon, billet and quartile, to identify possible orthopedic alterations. It was observed that 84% of the horses were between four and 10 years of age, and that 98.3% were pure or mongrel of the quarter-mile race. Regarding the training for the cowboys, 79.7% of the evaluated animals participated in disputes more than once a month, 93.3% of the horses trained 12 months a year and 60.2% of the individuals were conditioned from five to seven days per week. Of the 598 horses examined by palpation, 481 individuals (80.4%) presented traumatic locomotor conditions in at least one of the four regions evaluated, with a higher prevalence of orthopedic lesions in cinnamon and billet of the animals. In addition, it was found that with the advancement of age the proportions of individuals with lesions increased linearly. It was concluded that the frequency of traumatic locomotive affections is high in vaquejada competing horses, especially in the cinnamon and billet of the thoracic limbs. In addition, the role of equine performance in disputes influences the degree of asymmetry of the forearm and knee.