Effect of some factors on championship results and performance in Hucul horses

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the effects of some factors on the breeding and performance championship results of Hucul horses. The study material were results of the national finals of the breeding and performance championships for Hucul horses held during 2009-2015. These included breeding champion, the Hucul path as well as the endurance-condition tests. The one-way ANOVA and GLM procedure (multivariate ANOVA with interaction effects) were employed to estimate the impact of the analysed variables on the results of the breeding and performance assessment. The current results were, for the Hucul path and endurance-condition tests, significantly lower than for 2013. Individuals that were held in the foothills and mountain areas attained significantly higher scores at the breeding and performance championships. Strong impacts of breeding environment on levels of inbreeding were only observed in cases where the scores in respect of horse movement were at walk (η2 p=0.13; P=0.04), trot (η2 p=0.17; P=0.003) and the results for Hucul path (η2 p=0.18, P=0.002). By far the strongest impact on the assessment for type (η2 p=0.36, P=0.000) and conformation (η2 p=0.32, P=0.006) was exercised by the interaction of age with male line and breeding environment, but in case of rating for movement at walk and trot, it was for the interaction of age with inbreeding and the breeding environment, namely η2 p=0.31, P=0.04; η2 p=0.33, P=0.01 respectively. Dependencies between components of assessment for Hucul horses were correlated at low and medium levels.