Epydemiologic study of estereotypies in military horses

Abstract

Seventy two horses, forty three geldings and twenty nine no pregnant females, from five to seventeen years old were inspectioned. It has been observed the type and regularity of stereotypies, diet and stalls where the equines were stayed. The stereotypies more observed were coprophagy (80%) followed by trough, walls and chains licking (23,6%). Six equines did repetitive vertical head movement (8,3%), three had wood and chain cribbing (4,2%) and two did aerophagy (2,8%). The coprophagy was observed more frequently during the night, at time that the horses didn’t eat forrage (during forteen to sixteen hours) and the stalls weren’t clean. The trough and chains licking ocurred during the day, between meals. According to the findings, the equine stereotypies are variable and were founded many importants predisposed factors.