RESUMO
The aim of this observational study was to describe the characteristics of circuits performed by horses used in carriage tourism in a tropical city and discuss their implications as a challenge for animal welfare. The tourism circuit of 33 Criollo horses (400 ± 50 kg) was followed by using the GPS from August 31 to December 2nd, 2018, in the rainfall summer season. The environmental temperature, humidity, and accumulated rainfall were obtained from a local meteorological station. The distance and number of trips, the number of people transported, and the time taken for working and resting activities were also registered to report descriptive statistics. A total of 69 trips were observed with a mean distance of 5 ± 0.5 km traveled in 47 ± 16 minutes, the number of trips performed by the horses being as maximum as six per day, and a continuous pulling activity of 4 hours and 42 minutes. The horses rested one day after two consecutive working days; resting within the same day lasted from one to 8 hours. The trips respected the carts' capacity of 6 people including the driver (â¼700 kg); mean daily temperature and relative humidity were 35.25 ± 1.54°C and 43.40 ± 6.58, respectively. No feed or water was offered during the carriage work. Considering that load-pulling capacity of light horses in low-friction surfaces can easily reach 2000 kg, carriage activity observed in the present study demand an under-maximum effort for horses. In addition, the length and intensity of workload does not imply a challenge for horse welfare. Nevertheless, watering practices could be improved and microweather conditions in warmer months should be monitored.
