Influence of foot conformation on duration of competitive life in a Dutch Warmblood horse population

Ducro, B.J.; Gorissen, B.M.C.; Eldik, P. van; Back, Willem

doi:10.2746/042516408x363800

Cited by 46 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The results are partly supported by a study of Dutch Warmbloods, where mares had a higher risk of culling from basic dressage. However, no gender differences were found in elite dressage or basic/elite jumping [17]. Similar to the present study, a study of flexion test reactions of 100 clinically sound horses indicated that mares obtained significantly more post flexion test reactions compared to geldings [16].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Prevalence of clinical findings at examinations of young Swedish warmblood ridinghorses

Jönsson¹,

Roepstorff

Egenvall

et al. 2013

Acta Vet Scand

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BackgroundSoundness of an individual horse is important for animal welfare and owner economy. However, knowledge of health status in normal horse populations is limited due to lack of systematic health recordings. The aim of the investigation was to study the prevalence of veterinary clinical findings in 4-5-year-old Swedish warmblood riding horses, and their influence on overall health scores, where associations to future longevity has been indicated.ResultsThe prevalence of clinical findings in 8,281 horses examined during 1983–2005 was studied according to a standardised protocol and related to overall health scores in linear statistical models. Effects of sex, age, examination event and changes over time were included. In total, 49% of the horses had clinical findings of medical health (MED), 42% in hooves (HOOF) and 74% of palpatory orthopaedic health (PALP). However, only 6%, 3% and 24% had moderate or severe findings, of MED, HOOF and PALP, respectively. Flexion test reactions were reported in 21% of the horses (5% moderate/severe), heavily influencing the overall score (H2). One fifth of these horses also had findings of unprovoked lameness while 83% had PALP findings (44% with moderate/severe findings). Acute clinical signs, i.e. heat or soreness, had a large influence on the H2 score but were rare, whereas more common clinical findings had smaller effects on overall health. Large variations in recorded health results were observed among events. A decrease in findings has occurred since 1983, in particular for PALP findings.ConclusionsResults of occurrence and relevance of evaluated clinical findings could be used for advice on preventive actions to keep horses sound, and possibly for benchmarking, and genetic evaluation of health traits. The distinct effect of event on recorded clinical findings emphasises that further harmonisation of veterinary examinations are desirable.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Prevalence of clinical findings at examinations of young Swedish warmblood ridinghorses

Jönsson¹,

Roepstorff

Egenvall

et al. 2013

Acta Vet Scand

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“…Stock and Distl (2005) found that the prevalence of radiographie findings on young horses sold in auctions influenced the number of later participations in competition, even if there was no effect on successful participation. Duero et al (2009) found a negative effect of uneven feet on the duration of competitive life especially in Elite Jumping (risk ratio 0.52 for even feet). All these reports showed the importance of limb conformation, which may be detected at an early stage, for the longevity of horses.…”

Section: Selectionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Genetic analysis of the longevity of French sport horses in jumping competition 1

Blouin¹

2011

Journal of Animal Science

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The longevity of sport horses is an economic and ethical issue. The aim of this study was to analyze the duration of the competitive life of jumping horses in France to assess the potential for genetic evaluation and to propose rules of management for sport horses. Data included lifetimes spent in jumping competitions for the 209,296 horses born from 1968 onward with performances between 1972 and 2008; the data set contained 22% right-censored records. Longevity was measured in years. Discrete survival analysis included fixed effects of region of birth, month of birth, year of recording, age at first competition, interaction between sex and level of jumping performance as measured by the logarithm of earnings adjusted for sex, age, year, and random sire and maternal grand-sire effects. There were 16,668 sires and maternal grand-sires. All fixed effects were highly significant (P < 0.001). Management of the sports career had an important effect on longevity: against common belief, the younger the horse started competing, the longer it stayed in competition. For horses that started competing at an age of 6 yr, the risk of culling was 1.33-fold that of horses having started at 4 yr of age. The less success in competition, the greater was the chance for leaving competition, especially for horses without earnings. For a gelding without earnings, the risk of culling was 1.40-fold that of an average-performance gelding and 2.57-fold that of a top-rated gelding (performance at least 2 SD above the mean). Mares always had greater relative risk than geldings or stallions because they may be culled from competition to be used for breeding. The risk of culling for females was 1.45-fold that of a gelding with the same performance. The heritability of the length of competitive life was 0.10. Breeding values were predicted for sires, and 3,303 sires showed an accuracy greater than 0.60. Among these sires, 262 were used for breeding in 2008.

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“…Across both racing and equestrian sports, the active career of the equine athlete is relatively short, with the median career length being 2-3 years for a racehorse (Tanner et al, 2011(Tanner et al, , 2012) and 3-4 years for eventing, show jumping, and dressage horses (Rogers and Firth, 2005;Ducro et al, 2009;Friedrich et al, 2011). The major reason for loss of horses from equestrian sports, or racing, is musculoskeletal injury (Jeffcott et al, 1982;Wallin et al, 2000;Perkins et al, 2005;Wilsher et al, 2006).…”

Section: Wastage In Equestrian Sportsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Early exercise in the horse

Rogers

Bolwell

Tanner

et al. 2012

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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Influence of foot conformation on duration of competitive life in a Dutch Warmblood horse population

Abstract: This study provided evidence that the conformation trait uneven feet has a negative effect on Warmblood jumping performance and, therefore, breeders should be encouraged to avoid this phenomenon at foal age.

Cited by 46 publications

References 11 publications

Prevalence of clinical findings at examinations of young Swedish warmblood ridinghorses

Prevalence of clinical findings at examinations of young Swedish warmblood ridinghorses

Genetic analysis of the longevity of French sport horses in jumping competition 1

Early exercise in the horse

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