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Pohybová aktivita koní v aktivní stáji v závislosti na věku a ročním období
ORSÁKOVÁ, Kamila
The aim of the thesis was to monitor the daily activity of a selected group of horses in an active stable during the year. And to evaluate the influence of age and season on the daily activity of horses in an active stable. For the measure-ment of the physical activity the halter (headstall) attached GPS trackers were used for each individual horse. A total of 170 horse observations were made. Majority of observations were made for the Czech Warmblood breed, in 3 different age groups (young - up to 5 years, middle - 6-15 years, old - 16 years and more). In total 14 horses were observed, 5 horses in the young group, 5 horses in the medium group and 4 horses in the old group in the active stable Mažice. The monitoring took place during summer, autumn and winter, with the horses moving freely in all parts of the active stables, without using the horses for sport or riding purposes. The data were subsequently processed and evaluated by Statistica 12. In the active stable, it was observed that the age and season affects the daily activity of the horses. In summer, the highest moving distance was recorded for all groups with an average of 11.6 km/day. The highest was in young horses, which walked an average of 13.53 km/day in summer. Conversely, the smallest differences in daily activity were in the winter period, when the young group walked an average of 10.1 km/day, and the middle and old walked 8.6 km/day. The young group appeared to show the highest activity throughout the year and were most influenced by the season. On the other hand, the old and medium group did not show such a difference in activity when the season changed. For example, in autumn and winter, the old and medium group activity was almost at the same level. Active housing provides significant advantage in a freedom of movement, if designed properly. It is a husbandry technique that allows the horse to walk as many kilometers per day as it needs to and thus promotes proper musculoskeletal development in young horses and circulation in old horses. The results can be used as an overview for the breeder, who is interested in how much the horse can walk during the day and the time of year, and can design the time options for the paddock accordingly.
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