Morphometric characterization of the Lipizzaner horse breed in the stud 'Vučijak'

Abstract

The research was conducted on 10 stallions and 31 mares of the Lipizzaner breed in the stud 'Vučijak' Prnjavor. In general, 28 morphometric measures of stallions and mares were taken. Morphometric characterization shows that the 'Vučijak' stud farm owns Lipizzaner with smaller body form comparing to other Lipizzaner around Europe. The body of the Lipizzaner from 'Vučijak' has a rectangle shape which is in acBcordance with the appearance of the majority of Lipizzaner in Europe. Based on these measures, it is confirmed that there is a statistically significant difference between stallions and mares in: withers height, width of lower jaw, length of neck and shoulders, length of radius, width of chest, length and width of pelvis, volume of front leg tibia, and length of hind leg long pastern (proximal phalanx). Out of all named, in comparison to stallions, mares have bigger morphometric measures of length of shoulders, width of pelvis and length of hind leg long pastern (proximal phalanx). In the remaining 18 measures stallions and mares of the 'Vučijak' stud show certain homogeny.

Keywords

• stud Vučijak
• lipizzaner breed
• morphometric characterization
• stallion
• mare