BY SILVANA POPESCU, EVA ANDREA LAZAAR, CRISTIN BORDA, ANAMARIA BLAGA PETREAN, ELENA MITRANESCU, EDITED BY: FRANK J.C.M. VAN EERDENBURG, TABLES: THE AUTHORS
The full title of this important study: Changes in management, welfare, emotional state, and human-related docility in stallions.
The amount of data obtained since the beginning of the stallion field test in Poland is still insufficient to evaluate genetic value. However, the overall ability (traits of the same name treated together) could be analyzed to obtain more data, as the identify of significant factors influencing results is crucial. Therefore, the study aimed to compare stallion preselection and performance test results, as well as to assess impact of some factors: year, place, performance group, country of origin, age and training period. The research showed that associations between traits scored during two stages of selection were at a medium level. Analyses indicated that the performance group and country are the most important factors influencing performance results. The year and place were more significant for the first selection stage than for the second one.
It was also found that that the training period is more significant for the performance results, like the age of horses in young horse groups. Therefore, it can be concluded that the horse data coming from different stages of stallion field performance tests, training, and horse presentation does not seem to be comparable. The preliminary analysis does not allow for the data to be combined for breeding purposes.
1. Introduction
Breeding value estimation is one of the most significant processes in animal breeding programs. Therefore, the detailed, objective assessment of performance value is crucial for the decision-making strategy. The current genetic improvement programs of Warmblood horses are carried out mainly in the broadly understood equestrian sport direction. The selection should be based on the most desirable traits that predispose a given individual to high sport achievements [1]. Therefore, the basic criteria for qualifying horses for breeding are the results of a performance test. Performance trials for young stallions and broodmares are held worldwide in the form of stationary or field performance tests [2,3]. In many countries, the breeding value evaluation of horses is officially carried out by national horse breeding associations, which use selection indices, calculated based on phenotypic assessments of horses [2,4,5,6,7,8]. In Poland, the most popular field performance tests for stallions involve preliminary qualifications for horses [9,10]. The stallions then undergo a 100-day training period leading up to the final test. Both events assess the horse’s free movement and jumping traits, while the final performance test also assesses the movement and jumping characteristics under the rider. Therefore, the comparison of the qualification results with the final performance test can give interesting information in the context of adding new information into the data file and doubling the information on horses for breeding value estimation. Comparable factors that may influence the results, as well as the relationships between them, can give preliminary information on using these preselection results in the breeding value estimation. High genetic correlations were obtained by Vilkund et al. [11] between corresponding traits in the 3-year-old test and the 4-year-old Riding Horse Quality Test; however, there are limited papers on the comparison of qualifications and final tests because this is due to the specificity of breeding programs in a given country, while some authors show genetic correlations between the traits assessed during breeding performance tests and subsequent results in sports [5]. Ducro et al. [12] showed that traits of movement assessment (walk, trot, balance, self-suspension) assessed during First Stallion Inspection showed negative genetic correlations with assessments of jump characteristics and results in jumping (up to −0.45). On the other hand, jumping traits had both genetic and phenotypic negative correlations with the results of dressage competitions.
The Swedish linear evaluation was also used to predict sport success [13,14]. French researchers stressed the need for shortening the generation interval [15]; however, later studies go further to the introduction of genomic information [16,17,18]. Even if more sophisticated methods like innovative reproduction techniques (e.g., embryo transfer, sexed semen and embryos, cloning of geldings) can be used to maintain genetic progress [19], still, performance-based breeding value estimation is the most common breeding strategy [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28]...
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