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Changes of body conformation of Old Kladruby horses
KARDOVÁ, Lenka
Horses have been companions to humans for thousands of years, both as work animals and as part of our culture. The Old Kladruber horse is a Czech autochthonous breed included in animal genetic resources. The aim of my thesis was to assess the gradual change in the external features of Old Kladruber horses in the years 1900 2013 in both the colour variants. I focused on 5 body measurements (height at the withers measured by tape, height at the withers measured by stick, girth of chest, girth of bone) collected for 1021 horses registered in the breed registry. The obtained values have been summarized and subsequently statistically and graphically evaluated. The results imply that values of wither height of Old Kladruber horses measured both by tape and stick have been increasing, whereas their weight has slightly dropped. In white horses, the average increase in the tape-measured wither height amounted to 3.5 cm and to 7 cm in black horses. Stick height at the withers has shown an increase ranging between 3 4.7 cm in white horses, while in black horses, the values ranged between 6 10 cm. In stallions, the chest girth was determined at 197.5 cm. White mares had a chest girth of 199.55 cm. Almost identical value, i.e. 198.13 cm, was determined for black mares. The bone girth has remained almost unchanged. A slight decrease was observed in white Old Kladruber horses stallions in the years 1970 2013 by 0.5 cm. This change was most probably caused by the addition of blood of other breeds in the past. A drop in the weight was monitored over the time interval of 1930 2013 and it ranged between 22 kg and 73 kg according to the monitored group. This drop in the weight and increase in the body frame implies a change in the type of the horse, tending rather to the sports type. However, this change can also be affected by the conditions in the environment. Only in unique cases, the values of the variation coefficient in the years 1990 2013 exceeded the limit of 10%. Groups of monitored horses of both colour variants can thus be considered balanced. In the years 1990 2013, several horses of a non-compliant standard height were also included in the breed. This was required as part of the attempt to preserve all of the existing lines and families as well as to keep the coefficient of relationship low.
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