Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The desirable conformation can vary depending on the use of the horse, as the conformation can give the horse the natural abilities for the wanted task. Therefor it is interesting to study which conformation traits that influence the gaits. In 2013 the Swedish warmblood Association introduced linear scoring of traits for the Swedish warmblood (SWB). This makes it possible to use the information to study correlations between different gait and conformation traits. The aim of this study was to analyze data from the linear scoring of three year old SWB horses to gain understanding of the conformation traits and their effect on gait characteristics. The question was; which conformation traits have an effect on the gaits? The hypothesis was that there are correlations between conformation and gait traits. For the study, information from linear scoring protocols of 1889 horses from year 2013 and 2014 was used. The data had been compiled in an Excel document. Two methods, Spearman ranks correlation and t-test, were used for analyses. The conformation traits used in this study were the position of the shoulder, body direction, body (uphill body type- downhill body type), the position of the neck, the shape of the neck, the length of the neck, the shape of the croup and the length of croup, and 16 traits of the horse gaits in walk, trot and canter. The result showed one moderate correlation (0.48) between body direction and the gaits direction in movement and a total of 37 weak correlations (0.20-0.32) for all the conformation and gait traits except for the length and the shape of the croup where all the correlations were very weak. A sloping shoulder, an uphill body type horse and a vertical neck resulted in longer length of strides and uphill movements in the gaits. The hypothesis can be confirmed.