Quantification of spontaneous locomotion activity in foals kept in pastures under various management conditions.

The research article focuses on assessing the locomotion activity of foals kept under different management conditions, utilizing global positioning system technology as a means of recording this activity.

Introduction

• The study involved 59 foals and sought to offer a description of their spontaneous locomotion activities under various management conditions.
• A Global Positioning System (GPS) technology was used to record the activity of the foals.

Methods

• The research was carried out over the foals’ first 4 months of life, with 921 observation periods collected and analysed, each lasting 15 minutes.
• The researchers used the GPS system in conjunction with field observations made with a handheld computer to evaluate the performance of the GPS technology.

Results

• When analysed, the results indicated that the foals spent most of their time standing (34.8%), grazing (32.0%) or lying down (21.6%). They also spent some time walking (10.7%) but only a small proportion of their time cantering (0.5%) or trotting (0.2%).
• It was observed that locomotion activity in foals decreased with increasing age, and colts were typically more active than fillies during certain periods.
• The workload of foals was found to decrease after the first month, with evidence indicating that foals who were stabled part of the day compensated with increased activity when let outside, but not enough to reach levels of those kept exclusively in the open.
• Through comparison, the GPS recordings were found to have strong correlation with handheld observations for activities such as cantering, trotting, and walking and moderate correlation for standing and lying. However, the GPS correlation was low for grazing due to varying velocities used while foraging.

Conclusion

• The findings suggest that foals managed in a domestic setting but kept outdoors 24/7 exercise at a comparable level to their wild counterparts.
• It is also inferred that high workload during the first month of life could be vital for conditioning the musculoskeletal system in foals.
• While the GPS technique was accurate for quantifying activities like canter, trot, and walk, it was less precise for resting activities and unsuitable for measuring grazing activity.