Study on the evolution of the body sizes in young horses of the Shagya breed

Abstract

The scientific paper belongs to a larger project, which has as aim to study the growth and development of young horses. Thus, based on the body measurements done at different periods, we followed the evolution of main growth indices in Shagya young horses, under conditions of the Rădăuţi Herd, Suceava County. Among the numerous body sizes, this paper focused only on the three sizes that are of special interest for the classification works of horses: withers height, thoracic perimeter and shinbone perimeter. Our results have shown that on the entire studied period, height had a mean relative growth of 53.1% in females and of 49.5% in males; the highest growth was recorded until the age of 6 months (14.9% in females and 18.4% in males). The relative growth of the thoracic perimeter was, on the average, of 74.1% in females and of 73.5% in males, the greatest growth being found at the age of 12 months (18.9% in females and 17.2% in males). The shinbone perimeter had a mean relative growth of 56.3% in females and of 57.9% in males, the highest growth being of 21.7% at the age of 6 months in females and of 16.2% at the age of 12 months in males. Data found in this scientific paper may be compared to those in the literature, showing that the Rădăuţi Herd has offered good breeding conditions for Shagya horses.