Heart rate and faecal cortisol metabolites measurements in horses at the Sechselauten in Zurich

Publikationen als Autor:in / Herausgeber:in der Vetmeduni

Palme, Rupert

Abstrakt

The Zurich's Sechselauten is a traditional festival of the Zurich guilds, in which around 500 horses take part. After a parade through the old town of Zurich, the riders gather at a big square to canter around a burning woodpile topped with an exploding effigy (the 'Boogg >>). The level of stress experienced by the horses partaking in this event is subject-ed to increasing scrutiny. The aim of this study was to eval-uate the stress load of the horses participating in the Sechselauten procession more objectively by measuring heart rate and faecal cortisol metabolites.Twenty-three horse-rider pairs were voluntarily recruited from the guilds for participation in the study. For compar-ison purposes, three sections of the procession were simu-lated in terms of gait and distance travelled in a normal riding environment during a test day and observed during the Sechselauten itself 16 days later: Counter march Bahn-hofstrasse, parade Limmatquai and parade around the burn-ing 'Boogg >>.All horses were equipped with a heart rate measuring system with GPS tracking (Polar Team Pro (R), Polar Electro Oy, Fin-land). Faecal samples for measuring cortisol metabolites were taken rectally immediately before and 24 hours after the events. Thirteen of the 23 horses were sedated during the Sechselauten (Acepromazine, 0,1-0,2 mg/kg p.o.). The differences between the observation periods and groups (sedated/unsedated) were tested by analysis of variance (P<0,05).Walking and cantering speeds in the three sections did not differ between the test day and the Sechselauten itself. Com-pared to the test day, the average heart rate was increased in all sections of the real event. However, neither the initial cortisol metabolite value nor the increase after the events showed a significant difference between the test day and the Sechselauten. The average heart rate of the sedated group did not differ from the unsedated group during the walking sec-tions but was elevated during canter around the Boogg. The increase in heart rate at the Sechselauten indicated a stress load, but together with the unchanged cortisol responses, this can be classified as moderate. The influence of a sedation were inconclusive and should be further investigated.

Dokumententyp

Originalarbeit

DOI

10.17236/sat00373

PubMed ID

MEDLINE:36325640