Development of tests for evaluation of the equines performance at field, and the study of the relation between performance and incidence of babesiosis in well trained polo horses

• Grant number: 07/08657-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2008
• End date: September 30, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Antonio de Queiroz Neto
• Grantee: Antonio de Queiroz Neto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Currently the horse industry in Brazil is configured as a powerful economic sector of the economy, in such a way for the domestic market, by means of the generation of direct and indirect jobs and, as for the exportations. According to the National Commission of the Horse, there are, in Brazil, 23 associations of producers of horses. The horse industry moves R$ 7,3 billion annually. Therefore, the search of new technological solutions and execution of research must consider the sustainable use of the animals. Thus, items related to the prevention of the overtraining that, invariably provoke injuries, causes losses regarding the athlete useful life, and due the time that the animal is in convalescence. To face these emergent challenges, the academy must integrate the activities of education, researches and extension, generating technical knowledge for veterinarians and animal scientists that act in the field. These need to integrate professionals, trainers and owners in this sustainable vision. The exercise physiology, by means of the use of incremental effort tests, for evaluation of the performance, carried out in the farm, becomes an important tool in the establishment of the intensity of the training and evaluation of equine athlete. Moreover, the tests can have clinical utility. Babesiose is an endemic problem in Brazil, as much in regard to the international barriers, as much regarding the losses during the training in the diverse equestrians modalities. In this project, we aim to compare three different methodologies, conducted in the field, for estimating the anaerobic threshold in equines (The Individual Anaerobic Threshold [IAT], the V4 e the Minimum Lactate Point [Lacmin]) and to determine the most adequate. With the defined method, and the aid of the analysis of other physiological variables, to investigate polo horses during the Brazilian Championship, correlating the physiological variable, gotten in the game and the incremental effort tests, with possible subclinical responses caused by the equine Babesiosis. (AU)