Predictability of adult conformation on PRE foals

Body Measurements:

  1. Body Length (BL)
  2. Chest Width (CW)
  3. Thorax Depth (TD)
  4. Thorax Perimeter (TP)
  5. Head Length (HL)
  6. Head Width (HW)
  7. Neck Length (NL)
  8. Leg Length (LL)
  9. Shoulder Length (SL)
  10. Knee Perimeter (KP)
  11. Cannon Bone Perimeter (CP)
  12. Croup Length (CL)
  13. Point of Hip-Stifle Distance (HSD)
  14. Femur Bone Length (FL)

Linear Conformation Traits:

  1. Knee Frontal Angle (KFA)
  2. Knee Lateral Angle (KLA)
  • Factors such as breeder, age, sex, coat color, and inbreeding had significant effects on the conformation traits.
  • The results suggest that early selection of PRE horses based on foal conformation could be a reliable and cost-effective strategy for predicting adult performance traits.
  • Genetic correlations between the same traits in young and adult horses were above 0.75 for most traits, indicating strong predictability of adult conformation from foal measurements.