Horse breeding

Under Horse breeding refers to the planned and thoughtful proliferation of horses with the goal of health, performance and readiness and certain racial characteristics to maintain or improve. Waldemar Seunig formulated in 1943 as a breeding goal: "That the breeder to be striven ideal is to create a horse of such perfect health and harmony between the outer and inner life, that all forces remain free will and work for the service of man. "

• 8.1 EU regulations

General

Because as breeding horses only animals should be used, which correspond to the breeding goal of each breed as well as possible, first must be a selection. Selection criteria can be:

• Descent
• Exterior / Interior
• Own performance
• Progeny performance
• Health

History of Horse Breeding

Horse breeding has a long history reaching back and starts according to current knowledge between 5000 BC and 3000 BC, about the same time in different areas of Europe, Asia and North Africa. The use of horses in many cases increased the mobility of the people that use them. The domestication simultaneously led to a stronger mixing of the breeds of horses with each other, as the man always tried to use of the material found in the larger sphere of action now races to him each sees fit breeding material. It is extremely difficult to determine the exact Domestikationszeitpunkt, since there is little evidence on which a domesticated horse can be distinguished from a wild horse. Thus one normally relies on the discovery of commodities such as bridles and saddles. The main application were initially probably the transport of loads and meat production; soon the riding and the field work were added. Today there are hundreds of different breeds of horses that have captured the people almost all habitats. Since the mid to late 20th century, a decline in biodiversity is observed. This is due to the omission of a series of applications by the progressive industrialization.

Recent studies based on the analysis of mitochondrial DNA of today's domestic horses and fossils of extinct races, indicate that the domestication of the horse has not taken place in a place but independently in several places. Essential indication of this is the width of the genetic variation that is the same in both test groups. With only one Domestikationsort a lower genetic variation would have been expected in the domestic horses. It was also noted in these tests, that some of the fossil record were more closely related to today's races as some of today's races with each other.

This is at the strong divergence of some of today's breeds, such as ponies, draft horses and thoroughbreds would explain, because the breeder would not only have had the Domestikationszeitraum to the different development of the races, but were able to use the genetic material already long pre-existing breeds.

The technical term for stallions is generally sires or peeling stallion, stallions used on a Landgestüt are called Landbeschäler.

Breeding method

Introgression

At the beginning of horse breeding one can hardly speak of a systematic breeding current form. It was simply the available animals crossed with each other at pleasure. Happy -derived animals were crossed by trade or raids from more distant areas. The final product was coincidental. The races were similar to the material found in the respective field nature breeds.

Pure breeding

In pure culture method only animals of the same breed are mated with each other. One speaks in this case of a closed stud book. Breeds that have been bred by this method usually have a consolidated population. That is, most of the animals are quite similar with respect to appearance and character and there are relatively few extreme exceptions. In the pure culture, it is for the grower to pay special attention to the conservation of genetic diversity, as a too narrow blood lines can also lead to significant health problems. The most common breeds with closed stud books are the Arabian thoroughbred horse ( breed abbreviation " ox " ), the Thoroughbred horse ( breed abbreviation " xx ") and the Iceland horse. Also some Warmblood breeds such as the Holstein or the Trakehner have nearly closed studbooks.

Performance

The finishing a race by Einzucht few individuals with desired properties is standard in horse breeding. So Arabs, thoroughbreds or Trakehner were used for decoration in many breeds. In contrast to the introgression of the refiner is specifically chosen based on the desired properties.

Intersection

At the junction is such as the Aegidienberger attempts to combine the properties of two races. The two original breeds are repeatedly crossed the course in breeding for new blood and solidification of the breeding direction. It is of course more than two breeds are the starting points of intersection, the output breeds should then but already have a high similarity to avoid excessive splitting of the new breeding line. Example of a large-scale introgression " program " was in the Renaissance and the Baroque period, the intersection of indigenous Central and Northern European breeds with Spanish horses (where this mostly single, still known by name stallions from Spain were used, so that you can speak also of compensating could) have led to the development of Lipizzaner horses, Kladrubern, Frederiksborgern, Frisians, Neapolitans and probably the Connemara Pony.

Breeding in the 21st Century

Breeding in the 21st century is predominantly private commitment, as state institutions, the cost of a pure conservation can no longer wear. Even though there are still state studs, but the majority of breeding animals is in the hands of small private breeders who have dedicated themselves to a wide variety of horse breeds. Basics for horse breeding in Germany are the Animal Breeding Act and the Regulation on performance recording and genetic finding in horses.

As with other animal species also are no longer just a natural way, ie, by the merging of stallion and mare horse increased. Again, artificial insemination and embryo transfer have been introduced. This development is considered partly critical. Among the advantages of artificial insemination certainly include reduction of stress on the animals as transport routes eliminated and the risks of injury and disease transmission are minimized, and the cost advantages for the grower. On the disadvantage side are first the poorer Trächtigkeitserfolge in mares; on the other is the long-term risk of genetic erosion, as certain aggressively marketed " fashion stallions " their heredity now above average can pass.

Descent

Because of the relatively long generation interval of the horse are for the breeder usually stallions that could create an entire breeding line, more interesting than mares that rarely have more than six offspring and thus their characteristics can not bequeath to the same extent. The best example of this is the breeding of the English thoroughbred, at which 95 % of the breed can be traced back to only one stallion.

This is due to the extent reference is made to the pedigree of a horse, usually three stallions from the pedigree mentioned (see graph below):

• The father, often abbreviated V ( 2)
• Mother's father, often abbreviated with MV (6 )
• Mother-to- mother - father, often abbreviated with MMV (14 )

As a shortened form of representation is often the notation ( Father's name ) x (name of mother father ) to find x ( the mother - mother - father's name). For detailed information or if the mother is to be lifted, the specification is (name of horse ) to find by (name of the father) of the ( Name of Parent ) of (name of mother father ).

The above- mentioned meaning of ( Father ) stallion shows up often in the naming of horses. Thus, the initial letter of the breed name of the horse is determined depending on the breed association often after the first letter of the father's name ( most common variant, especially in warmblood breeds ), after the initial letters of the mother's name, or by year of birth.

Here, the breed name can be quite different from the usual name of the horse, so went to the example of the Holsteiner stallion Caspar ( breed name, starting letter C from his sire Cassini I) in competitions under the name Euro Commerce Berlin. Once an award breed name can not be changed.

To also illustrate the importance of the mother mares, mare all strains were numbered in particular in the Holstein breed and are named accordingly. In the Trakehner breed, the name of the horse with the first letter of the mother begins, and the mare strains are divided into families, each carrying the name of the Linienbegründerin and systematized by a family key, such as the family of flash 018B1.