Morphometric description of the Boric Arabian horse mare families

Abstract

The Boric Arabian horse has a long tradition of breeding in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) dating back to 1884. The Borike Stud Farm, which ceased operations in 2018, played a significant role in breeding this population of horses. Today, the Boric Arabian horse is preserved in BiH thanks to private breeding. The aim of this research was to determine whether there is phenotypic uniformity between different mare families: Kadina, O’Bajan, Luna, El Hafi, and Hamdani. In this study, a total of 36 mares were measured, and 7 measurements were taken from each mare: withers height, back height, croup height, chest circumference, cannon bone circumference, body length, and back length. A simple analysis of variance with unequal repetitions was conducted to assess the significance of differences between mares of different families. The significance of the obtained differences was tested using Duncan's test. The average: withers height ranged from 142.6 cm (Luna and El Hafi) to 144.98 cm (Kadina), back height from 134.8 cm (El Hafi) to 137.12 cm (Kadina), croup height from 137.12 cm (Kadina) to 144.4 cm (El Hafi). The average chest circumference ranged from 166.91 cm (O’Bajan) to 176.62 cm (Kadina), and cannon bone circumference ranged from 17.23 cm (O’Bajan) to 17.75 cm (Luna). The average back length ranged from 73.45 cm (O’Bajan) to 77.4 cm (El Hafi), and body length ranged from 135 cm (O’Bajan) to 137 cm (El Hafi). The results showed no statistically significant differences in measurements between different mare families.