Resumo:
Equestrian activities are increasingly evident in the world, with classical equestrian being the most
prominent equestrian sport. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a
classical equestrian competition event, on muscle activity markers, stress and fitness markers, acid base balance markers and blood count and total protein constituents, verifying the dynamics of
these blood elements in three classical equestrian show jumping categories in horses of the
Brasileiro de Hipismo Race (BH). The animals were subjected to three treatments according to the
height category of the Show jumping competition: 0.80 meter, 0.90 meter and 1.00 meter, with a
one week interval between jumping competitions. In each jumping category the animals were
evaluated by physical and blood parameters at the following times: at rest (T0), immediately after
exercise (T1), 30 min (T2), 1, 2 and 4 hours (T3, T4, and T5, respectively) after completion of the
equestrian events. To achieve the proposed objectives, the following blood components were
evaluated: blood count, hemogasometry (pH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide - pCO2, total
carbon dioxide - TCO2, bicarbonate - HCO3-, base excess - EB, blood urea nitrogen - BUN,
glucose - Glu) and biochemistry (total proteins, lactate, cortisol and the activity of the enzymes CK
and AST). It was possible to observe changes in muscle activity markers at T1 in the three
categories, increases in markers of stress and conditioning (BUN, cortisol and in lactate); of acid base balance markers (Na, pH and pCO2); in hematimetric parameters (He, Hb, VG, VCM, total
leukocytes, segmented and lymphocytes) and total proteins, in the three jumping categories at T1.
The majority of the blood variables reached their basal values at time T5, with the activity of the
enzymes CK and AST remaining altered. It was possible to state that classical horseback riding
using BH animals in the three jumping categories studied can be classified as a moderate exercise,
where there is a predominance of anaerobic energy to perform the jumps.
