LINEAR ASSESSMENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED HORSE - AN APPROACH TO CONFORMATION EVALUATION

A linear assessment trait evaluation system is proposed to allow quant itative description of the static conformation of the horse, Measureme nts were made on 27 selected traits, The system was tested initially f or repeatability of measurements on 4 horses, Twenty-one of the select ed traits were satisfactory and 6 proved unsatisfactory in terms of re producibility, A population of 101, superior 2- and 3-year-old Thoroug hbreds and 19 premium Thoroughbred stallions were similarly assessed, More than 65% of the traits exhibited large (CV>10%) phenotypic variat ion within the sampled population, It is proposed that such a system o f static conformation assessment, in conjunction with a similar system for dynamic linear assessment, would provide useful quantitative sele ction criteria in the description and breeding of horses.