Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The breeding objective for the Swedish Warmblood (SWB) is to produce an international competitive sport horse in dressage and/or showjumping with good conformation. The conformation has been considered unimportant for showjumpers, and there were very few studies investigating possible correlations between conformation and jumping technique. Since 2013, a linear profiling protocol has been used at young horse test for three-year-old SWB horses. Each trait is described between two biological extremes, for example from long to short and from strong to weak, on a nine-point scale from A to I. The purpose with the linear assessment is to get a more detailed description of the horse. This data enables more detailed studies of correlations between specific conformation and jumping traits.
The purpose with this study was to see which conformation traits that are important for the horse’s jumping technique focusing on the haunches, front legs and back. Data from 1889 three-year-old horses assessed at young horse test in 2013 and 2014 were available. Spearman rank correlation was used to estimate the correlation between conformation and jumping technique traits. A T-test was used to compare average values for jumping technique between two groups with the assessment A to D (group 1) and F to I (group 2) for different conformation traits. The results showed weak correlations between the slope of the croup and the technique for the hind legs and back (0.12 and 0.11). There was also a weak correlation between the technique for the back and the correctness in movement (0.1). The correlations were considered too weak to indicate an impact on the jumping technique. Other conformation traits did not have any effect at all in this study. The conclusion was that there were no conformation traits that had large impact on the horses’ jumping technique for front legs, hind legs and back.