Breeding goals and selection effort in the breeding of Lipizzan horses in the stud farm Vucijaka from 1946 to 2015

Abstract

The Lipizzan horse belongs to the oldest European horse breeds. In the year 1946 the Bosnian Lipizzan state stud farm Vucijak, located next to the town Prnjavor, was founded. The foundation stock originated from the Croatian state stud farms Lipik and Djakovo, and from private owners in Croatia. The breeding goal of Vucijak was to obtain a Lipizzan horse of a smaller body frame suitable for driving and the use as pack horses. The aim of this study was to compare anatomical body measurements of the founder animals with measurements of actual breeding population. From in total 41 horses (10 stallions and 31 mares) following body measurements were taken: height at withers (measured by tape), circumference of chest and circumference of cannon bone forelimb. All horses was 4 years or older at the time of measuring. In order to compare the actual breeding population with the foundation population we extracted comparable data of 17 stallions and 36 mares from the stud book. On the basis of the morphological measures, compactness and bonines index were calculated. The results showed that today's Lipizzan horse of the Vucijak stud are smaller in height at whiters and circumference of chest, while the circumference of cannon bone is larger than documented for founders. The t-test showed a statistically significant difference in the height at whiters and circumference of cannon bone. On the basis of the obtained results, it can be concluded that today's Lipizzan from the Bosnian stud farm Vucijak have a smaller body frame, which confirmed selection success.