Impact of the individual characteristics of French trotters on their racing performance

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of selected biometric characteristics on French trotters’ racingperformance. Moreover, the work attempts a prediction of racing performance indexes based on the horse’s individual characteristics, aswell as the evaluation of the usefulness of an alternative method of a horse’s intravital measurements that limits the stress of the animal.A population of 64 horses of French trotter breed appearing in the Polish Stud Book of Trotters, which had participated in races in 2015,were subject to the investigation. The research material was represented by the indexes of racing performance combined with photobiometricmeasurements of those horses. It was proved that the angulation patterns of trotters’ limbs have an influence on the value ofracing performance indexes. The highest statistical significance was found for the pelvic limb. A significant discrepancy in the valuesof the racing performance indexes was found in the tested population. Furthermore, the usefulness of the alternative photo-biometricmethods was proved. In conclusion, based on the results and using the presented method, a trotter horse can be visually examined interms of its predisposition to win races.