Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T10:59:25.348Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, TM, McIlwraith, CW 2004. Longitudinal development of equine conformation from weanling to age 3 years in the Thoroughbred. Equine Veterinary Journal 36, 563–570.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brody, S 1945. Bioenergetics and growth. Reinhold Publications Company, New York, NY, USA.Google Scholar
Cymbaluk, NF, Christison, GI, Leach, DH 1990. Longitudinal growth analysis of horses following limited and ad libitum feeding. Equine Veterinary Journal 22, 198–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delobel, A, Vandervorst, B, Lejeune, JP, De Behr, V, Serteyn, D, Dufrasne, I, Istasse, L 2005. First results from a morphological approach to Draught and filly growth in the Ardennes. II: calculating growth curves. In The growing horse: nutrition and prevention of growth disorders (ed. V Juliand and W Martin-Rosset), EAAP publication no. 114, pp. 77–78. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, The Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, RNW, Lawrence, TLJ 1978. Energy under-nutrition in the weanling filly foal. II. Effects on body conformation and epiphyseal plate closure in the fore-limb. British Veterinary Journal 134, 322–332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, DA 1969. A study of growth rate in thoroughbred foals. British Veterinary Journal 125, 539–546.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, DA 1976. Growth rate in thoroughbred yearlings and two year olds. Equine Veterinary Journal 8, 133–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hintz, HF, Hintz, RL, Van Vleck, LD 1979. Growth rate of Thoroughbreds. Effect of age of dam, year and month of birth, and sex of foal. Journal of Animal Science 48, 480–487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin-Rosset, W 2005. Growth and development in the equine. In The growing horse: nutrition and prevention of growth disorders (ed. V Juliand and W Martin-Rosset), EAAP publication no. 114, pp. 15–50. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Pagan JD, Jackson SG and Caddel S 1996. A summary of growth rates of Thoroughbreds in Kentucky. Proceedings of the 18th Bain-Fallon Memorial Lectures of Australian Equine Veterinary Association: ‘Equine neurology and nutrition’, Glenelg, South Australia, pp. 113–118.Google Scholar
Pearl, R, Reed, LJ 1923. On the mathematical theory of population growth. Metron 3, 6–19.Google Scholar
Perotto, D, Cue, RI, Lee, AJ 1992. Comparison of non-linear functions for describing the growth curve of three genotypes of dairy cattle. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 72, 773–782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Persson, SGB, Ullberg, LE 1981. Blood volume and rate of growth in standardbred foals. Equine Veterinary Journal 13, 254–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richards, JF 1959. A flexible growth function for empirical use. Journal of Experimental Botany 10, 290–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruff, SJ, Wood, CH, Aaron, DK, Lawrence, LM 1993. A comparison of growth rates of normal Thoroughbred foals and foals diagnosed with cervical vertebral malformation. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 13, 596–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staniar, WB, Kronfeld, DS, Hoffman, RM, Wilson, JA, Harris, PA 2004. Weight prediction from linear measures of growing Thoroughbreds. Equine Veterinary Journal 36, 149–154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute 2002. Version 9.1. SAS Inc., Cary, NC, USA.Google Scholar
Thompson, KN 1995. Skeletal growth rates of weanling and yearling thoroughbred horses. Journal of Animal Science 73, 2513–2517.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trillaud-Geyl C, Fleurance G, Donabedian M, Perona G, Bigot G, Arnaud G, Dubroeucq H and Martin-Rosset W 2004. Effect of body weight gain on the skeleton growth in the sport horses. Proceedings of the 55th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Bled, Slovenia, H2.5.Google Scholar
Van Weeren, PR, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan, M, Barneveld, A 1999. The influence of birth weight, rate of weight gain and final achieved height and sex on the development of osteochondrotic lesions in a population of genetically predisposed Warmblood foals. Equine Veterinary Journal Supplements 31, 26–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winsor, CP 1932. The Gompertz curve as a growth curve. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 18, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed