Abstract
The group of 22 warm-blooded half-breed horses 6 stallions, 6 mares, and 10 geldings and their riders 12 women and 10 men who ended jumping competition for juniors, were selected for a study. The horses were aged from 7 to 17 years, while the riders were 15 to 18 years old. The saliva samples were collected before and after each jumping round. The cortisol concentration was determined by using an immunoassay method. The following factors were considered: horses' sex, age, and breeds, riders' sex and age as well. In riders, significant correlation was found in the group of younger juniors 15-16 years old between the level of cortisol concentration before and after jumping round. High significant correlation coefficient was found due to influence of sex and age of horses on salivary cortisol concentration, but only for stallions and mares. Individual horses? intensity of cortisol release in response to participation in jumping competition is found to vary greatly. Therefore, the salivary cortisol test seems to be a useful and efficient method to evaluate the horses' responses to competitions including the influence of the rider.
Highlights
One of the main substances that indicate stress level is cortisol [1]
The saliva testing is selected as the method of choice for sport horses and riders too
Mental stress caused by participation in sport competitions was found to increase salivary cortisol level substantially [3]
Summary
The concentration of cortisol depends on the natural circadian rhythm, which can be disturbed by physical as well as mental stress. The most effective way of determining cortisol concentration in animals seems to use their saliva. This is because taking saliva samples is a noninvasive and a low-stress procedure [2]. Mental stress caused by participation in sport competitions was found to increase salivary cortisol level substantially [3]. In horses, the salivary cortisol levels were found to reflect the stress level during various equestrian competition events [4,5] and during training and road transport [6,7]. It is known that stress, and physical activity is a factor, which increases the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and cortisol release [8]
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