Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate possibilities, to increase accuracy in the selection and test of Swedish warmblood stallions by combining information from stallion performance tests (SPT) with information from competitions and riding horse quality tests (REQT). Data on 801 stallions judged at the SPT 1979-2005 were used for the analyses, which also included about 14 900 horses from the RHQT, 26 800 horses with results in show jumping and 14 200 horses with results in dressage competitions. Heritability coefficients were on average 0.41 for individual gaits under rider and 0.36-0.65 for jumping traits in SPT. Heritabilities for competition traits were 0.17 for dressage and 0.27 for show jumping. The heritability for overall conformation in SPT was 0.25. Genetic correlations between stallion performance test traits and competition results were 0.44-0.77 for gaits and dressage, and 0.78-0.96 for jumping traits in SPT and show jumping. The genetic correlation between conformation and results in dressage competitions was 0.22.For stallions participating in SPT in 2004 and 2005 accuracy increased when evaluating stallions by adding information from relatives that have taken part in RHQT and competitions. For show jumping accuracy changed from 0.60 to 0.68 for stallions born in Sweden, an increase with 13%, when information from RHQT and competitions in show jumping were used. For stallions born in a foreign country, the corresponding figure was, 5%, lower. For dressage the information from RHQT and competition results in dressage changed the accuracy from 0.41 to 0.55, an increase with 34%, for stallions born in Sweden. The improvement in accuracy for imported stallions was 11%. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Keywords

riding horses; performance; animal model; correlations; breeding values

Published in

Livestock Science
2008, Volume: 117, number: 2-3, pages: 287-297
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

SLU Authors

• Olsson, Elisabeth

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Näsholm, Anna

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Strandberg, Erling

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Philipsson, Jan

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Veterinary Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2007.12.026

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/19600