comparison of selected herds of hutzul horses bred in the czech republic and slovakia

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to compare the individual breeds of Hutzul horses in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic in terms of their age, gender, line and conditions of breeding in which the horses live. First of all in each herd we analysed 14 body dimensions, from these data the hippo-metric indices were calculated and processed statistically using the statistical programme Unistat version 5.1. Then they were compared mutually. Most of the statistically significant differences were related to the effect of the place of measurements. According to the place of measurement only the tape measure and height in saddle were statistically insignificant. On average the largest horses come from the ranch in Janova Hora and the smallest from the Slovakian Hutzul Club and Zmrzlík. In the effect of a gender the geldings exhibited the highest average values of all the dimensions, with the exception of the front width of pelvis, while the stallions showed the lowest (with the exception of the cannon girth). In the effect of a line the average values were the highest in the Prislop line and the lowest in the lines Hroby and Gurgul. The age affected only one dimension, i.e. the chest width behind the shoulder blade. Eight-year-old horses exhibited the highest average values and 3-year-old and 19 to 20-year-old horses the lowest values.