ВОЗДЕЙСТВИЕ БОЛЕВОГО СТРЕССА НА АДАПТИВНЫЕ ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ СИСТЕМЫ КРОВИ И БЛАГОПОЛУЧИЕ ЛОШАДЕЙ

Abstract

The full genetic potential of productive animals can only be realised if high standards of welfare are maintained in production. One of the indicators of animal welfare is animal health, and one of the markers of various pathological processes is pain. Sports horse breeding is a specific concept in which the competent work of trainers and riders significantly effects on the health of animals, and therefore their performance, in addition to housing and feeding conditions. Timely diagnosis of pain is important for evaluating animal welfare, as pain can be considered as a predictor of various diseases. Using the standardized Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) pain scale, the population of sports horses of the equestrian sports complex of Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy was evaluated for the presence and intensity of pain syndrome, followed by analysis of some blood parameters. A correlation has been established between the intensity of pain and the number of diseases previously diagnosed in animals. Pain, as a powerful stress factor, causes tension in almost all functional systems of the body, including the blood system. Horses with a severe pain syndrome showed changes in the cellular composition of peripheral blood, in particular, an increase in the level of leukocytes, a decrease in the content of erythrocytes and hemoglobin content therein, with a simultaneous increase in the mean erythrocyte volume and mean corpuscular haemoglobin,, as well as an increase in glucose concentration. Such changes can be considered as adaptive mechanisms that make the animal body function normally under the effect of pain stress.