Body conformation proportions of young half-bred stallions

Abstrakt

The study aimed at comparing and verifying the value ranges of commonly quoted body conformation indices of half-bred stallions, describing possibly the largest number of other
proportions reflecting the body conformation of presently bred saddle stallions, and selecting those proportions that would underline the individual character, traits and breed affinity of horses. The material for the study consisted of biometric measurements of 500 young stallions of Polish halfbred, Malopolski, and Wielkopolski breeds. Thirty-eight body conformation indices were established on the basis of 24 biometric dimensions. The single-factor variance analysis (ANOVA GLM) was applied. Significance of differences between the mean values was evaluated by means of t-Tukey test. The achieved results indicated that reorganization of half-bred horse breeding in Poland directed towards producing animals of saddle type did not cause any substantial changes in body conformation proportions of young stallions. An unfavorable regression can be seen in the case of chest depth as well as croup length and width indices. The main indices describing proportions between particular fragments of fore and rear legs are of individual character. The results also point to considerable uniformity of body conformation proportions of saddle half-bred stallions. Conformation of the fore leg at Wielkopolski breed appeared to be a distinguishable trait.