An overview of international genetic evaluations of show jumping in sport horses

Abstract

Abstract The breeding of sport horses to compete in the Olympic disciplines of show jumping, eventing, and dressage is fast becoming a global industry with the increased use of reproductive technologies, including artificial insemination and embryo transfer. Reproductive technologies have facilitated the dissemination of genetics from elite horses across multiple countries and breeds as breeders are no longer limited by location. Due to this increased level of crossbreeding, there is an increased need for estimated breeding values (EBVs) for sport horse performance that can be compared across breeds and countries. However, the implementation of across-breed or across-country genetic evaluations has been limited by the differences in each studbook’s individual breeding programs and genetic evaluations. Consequently, the aim of this review was to compare the genetic evaluations for show jumping of sport horse studbooks worldwide. The top sport horse studbooks in the world according to the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses Studbook Rankings 2019 were contacted by email to request information on their current breeding programs and genetic evaluations. Twenty-six of the 51 studbooks contacted replied to this request but only 18 of these studbooks conducted their own genetic evaluations or were part of a larger genetic evaluation in their country of origin. The other eight studbooks were not involved in genetic evaluations at present but expressed an interest in the implementation of such in the future. Overall, many differences were identified among the genetic evaluations of each studbook or each country. The definition of show jumping performance differed within each evaluation and the methods and models utilized also differed. Despite some stallions and mares being registered in multiple studbooks or having progeny in multiple studbooks, these differences make comparison of EBVs across studbooks difficult. Further transparency and collaboration of sport horse studbooks with organizations such as Interstallion, will be essential to facilitate any future implementation of international genetic evaluations for show jumping performance.