Clinical, Enzymatic and Hormonal Profile of Apparently Healthy Polo Horses in Ibadan Nigeria

Background and Objective: Clinical examination and other diagnostic procedures, including enzymatic and hormonal assays, are important in equine medicine for disease diagnosis, assessing the extent of damage and monitoring the response to therapy. The study sought to establish the baseline data for some clinical, enzymatic and hormonal parameters and compare them between different ages, breeds and sexes. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 apparently healthy polo horses were sampled in Ibadan, Oyo State. Clinical parameters were recorded, blood was drawn through the jugular vein and serum was analysed for enzyme and hormone profiles. The student’s t-test was used to compare these parameters and significance was taken at p = 0.05. Results: The results revealed more crossbred, female and adult horses in Ibadan, Nigeria. Significantly higher respiratory rate in crossbred horses compared to Sudanese breeds with (31.20±5.93) and (27.20±2.70) was observed, respectively. The respiratory rate was also significantly higher in young horses (34.00±8.49) compared to adult horse sand the adult (27.56±3.03). The values of prolactin, progesterone and oestrogen were significantly higher in female horses compared to males. Conclusion: There was a higher population of crossbred, female and adult horses in Ibadan. There were variations in the clinical, enzyme and hormonal values among different ages, sexes and breeds of horses, especially the enzymatic parameters, which seem to be proportionally increasing with the increase in the age of horses in Ibadan, Nigeria.