DiscussionTop

Training on the farm of Lidia bulls had both positive and negative effects which should be considered, reflected as a trend towards a better aptitude for the physical effort that the lidia show or “corrida” entails.

The age and weight of the animals studied did not show any significant differences between the experimental groups, therefore, these factors can be considered controlled in the study. The animals belonged to the Domecq and Atanasio-Lisardo genetic lines and were used as a model of the Lidia breed due to the fact that these lines represent the majority of all bulls fought in lidia shows in Spain (Lomillos & Alonso, 2017a).

The average length of the lidia show was 16.72 min (Table 2), which agrees with values published before (Sanes et al., 1994; Paniagua, 1997). The fourth phase of the “corrida” registered the longest length, 51.82% of the lidia show time, which reinforces the idea of the predominance of the last phase called “muleta” pointed out in prior studies (Alonso et al., 1995b; Lomillos et al., 2018).

Training on the farms did not lead to longer length of the initial phase, however, significant differences were observed among the experimental groups considering the fourth phase (Table 2; 2 min longer for trained animals). This could be a sign of a worse physical condition in group 1. The fourth phase alternated movements and rest periods that could allow the trained bulls to recover during these rest periods. The circulatory, respiratory and muscular systems of trained bulls accustomed to exercise could cope better with these moments of intermittent exercise compared to untrained bulls. All of this could allow experimental groups 2 and 3 to endure prolonged physical exertion. Agüera et al. (2005) published that longer duration of bull training would improve certain parameters associated with exercise physiology. However, our results did not agree with these authors because there were no significant differences depending on the length of the training period (Table 2).

In phase 1, the animals studied used 68.09% of the total time moving, a value higher than 41% previously published for animals not exercised (Paniagua, 1997). This result indicates a greater mobility and physical capacity of the current bull, compared to the one that was bred 20 years ago. The groups of trained animals (groups 2 and 3) presented percentages of locomotion time in phase 4 significantly higher than those registered in the group of untrained individuals (group 1 = 57.02%, group 2 = 69.52%, group 3 = 71.12%), a fact which reaffirms our hypothesis (Table 3).

The first signs of physical weakness in the Lidia bull is the presentation of falls types 1 and 2 (Alonso et al., 1995b). These slight types may go unnoticed by viewers but they were the most frequently recorded in our study. On the contrary, the most severe symptoms, falls type 3, 4, 5 and 6, which represent an obvious problem for the physical performance of the bull during the lidia show, were less frequent. Only 29.37% of the studied animals presented these types of falls, a result much lower than the 66.57% reported in the 1990s (Alonso et al., 1995c). The nutrition, health and physical training of Lidia cattle have improved in recent years (Lomillos et al., 2018) and all these management strategies are to be reflected in present results.

Taking into account the total number of falls of each group of animals, a higher rate in individuals trained for longer period of time (group 3) was observed, evidencing types 1 and 2 most frequently. A longer locomotion time performed during the “corrida” by Lidia bulls would make them more likely to show signs of overstrain and therefore to undergone falls (Escalera-Valente et al., 2012). This could be the possible cause of this higher rate of falls in the case of the group 3, whose animals developed a longer locomotion times and higher length of fourth phase. During the fourth phase trained bulls make a greater physical effort due to their greater resistance owing to better physical preparation. These animals are physically more active and perform behavioural patterns of greater metabolic intensity reflected in longer locomotion and lidia show times. Our data agree with those published by other authors, who recorded a greater number of falls in bulls that develop longer “corrida” times (Orensanz, 1950; Alonso et al., 1995a).

On the other hand, there is a possibility that training programs carried out on farms cause degenerative joint injuries in animals (Lomillos & Alonso, 2017b). The degenerative joint problems could contribute to a higher rate of falls or an aggravation of the symptoms (Alonso et al., 1995d) in bulls with longer training protocols, as can be seen in group 3 of our work.

Previous studies show a similar trend regarding the presentation of the different types of falls in the different phases of lidia show that increase during the course of the lidia show (Alonso et al., 1995b,c; Bartolomé, 2009; Escalera-Valente, 2011). In our work, taking into account the training of the animals, we also observed how the pre-sentations of falls belonging to the mildest types (degrees 1, 2 and 3) described a progressive and chronological increase in the different phases for all animals. It is the fourth phase where the highest presence of falls occurs (58.60%), agreeing with studies consulted on the inciden-ce of falling syndrome with the fourth phase including more than 50% of the falls (Lomillos et al., 2018). On the other hand, lower numbers of total falls were recorded in the third phase, may be due to the fact that the bull exerts less physical effort, quickly charging in straight line against the bullfighter with short distance sprints fo-llowed by recovering breaks between them. The physical effort made by the bulls during the initial phases of the “corrida” takes its toll on in the last phase, thus causing an increase in the frequency of falls (Fig. 1).

However, the presentation of more severe falls (type 4) was recorded differently in untrained animals. In the se-cond phase, the untrained animals (group 1) underwent a significant increase in the number of type 4 falls gradually decreasing in the third and fourth phases. Untrained bulls could find it difficult to perform the phase 2 exercise. This fact could be explained considering that second phase is the moment where the animal uses more anaerobic force charging and pushing the horse. The anaerobic threshold and metabolism of the untrained individuals were possi-bly lower than that of the trained ones (Paniagua, 1997; Escalera-Valente et al., 2013).

The significant differences in the frequency of type 2 and 3 falls observed between the individuals trained for more than 6 months and the rest of the animals throu-ghout the fourth phase (Fig. 1) remind us that these ani-mals underwent a greater number of falls. As previously mentioned, there may be an effect of the possible articular injuries due to longer training protocols and this should be considered in further studies.

In summary, a training period of at least 3 months be-fore the “corrida” is recommended for the genetic lines Domecq and Atanasio-Lisardo, taking into account the positive effect on the bulls’ physical performance that makes them endure a prolonged lidia show and in the last phase length. They also spend a greater percentage of time in motion during the initial phase of the show, in-creasing the interest for the spectator and the performance of the bullfighter and improving the quality of the lidia show. However, longer training periods of over 3 months prior to the show, can negatively affect the performance of these animals during the “corrida”. It would be advisable to define the optimal duration, frequency and intensity, as well as to evaluate the effect of training on the physiology of bulls.

Figure 1.  Evolution of the presentation frequency of type of falls 1, 2, 3 and 4 throughout the show. Different letters indicate signi-ficant differences in the second and fourth phase among the experimental groups (p<0.05).