Morphometric evaluation in traction horses in the urban region of Maceió-AL

Abstract

The use of draught animals is still a reality in urban centers and has great economic and social relevance, serving as a driving force to capture recyclable materials or small freights and as a source of income for the population under vulnerability. The present research aimed to evaluate the morphometric parameters of horses used for traction in the urban region of Maceió, Alagoas, in order to identify the productive type and work capacity of the horses, based on their morphometric structure. A survey of the clinical register of 60 traction horses, from the Large Animal Release sector, was carried out at the Zoonoses Surveillance Unit (Unidade de Vigilância de Zoonoses - UVZ) of Maceió, Alagoas. The animals were submitted to zootechnical evaluation, with individual identification and measurement of morphometric measurements by the method of linear measurements and body circumferences. For this, a tape measure was used to measure the following variables: thoracic circumference (CTórax), body length (CCop.), withers height (ACern.), chest width (Lpeito) and cinnamon circumference (CCan.). From these measurements, the estimated weight was calculated and the morphometric indices were calculated: Body index (ICorp), compactness index 1 (Icomp.1), compactness index 2 (Icomp.2), conformation index (IConf) and the dactyl-thoracic index (TDI). In view of the results obtained, the aptitude of horses used in traction in the urban region of Maceió, Alagoas is for saddle, according to body indexes incompatible with what is characterized in the literature for traction activity.