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Use of linear and non-linear functions to describe the growth of young sport- and race-horses born in Normandy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2008

J.-P. Valette ,
C. Robert  and
J.-M. Denoix
J.-P. Valette
Affiliation:
UMR INRA-ENVA ‘Biomécanique et Pathologie Locomotrice du Cheval’, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 94704 Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France
C. Robert*
Affiliation:
UMR INRA-ENVA ‘Biomécanique et Pathologie Locomotrice du Cheval’, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 94704 Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France
J.-M. Denoix
Affiliation:
UMR INRA-ENVA ‘Biomécanique et Pathologie Locomotrice du Cheval’, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, 94704 Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France
*
E-mail: crobert@vet-alfort.fr
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Abstract

The objectives of this study were to establish standards for growth and to model the evolution of wither height (WH) between birth and adult age in different breeds of sport- and race-horses. Therefore, 398 foals, then yearlings of three different breeds, were measured regularly between birth and 18 months of age. Linear and non-linear functions were compared for describing the growth in each breed group. The monomolecular, Gompertz, logistic and cubic models correctly estimated WH in the three breeds during the first 2 years (R2 = 0.99, s.e. 3.9 to 4.5) and better than the cubic and quadratic models (R2 = 0.93, s.e. = 4.7 to 5.3). The logarithmic and power model seemed better in the last part of the growth period (2 to 6 years, R2 = 0.85, s.e. = 5.6 to 5.9). The linear model did not fit with data on most of the growth period. Comparison of the growth in the three breeds using these models confirmed that race-horses had an intense growth in their first months whereas sport-horses had a more regular growth prolonged in their first years of life.

Keywords

growthhorsesnon-linear functionswither height
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , April 2008 , pp. 560 - 565
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2008

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