engleski

Exterior measurements of Dalmatian bušak horse type population

In today’s modern world, a lot of effort is put into the conservation of local autochthonous breeds in order to preserve global biodiversity and a larger genetic pool. One of Croatian autochthonous breeds, classified as extinct or unknown, is the Dalmatian Bušak horse. As in Dalmatia there still is a small population of horses that according to their physical characteristics correspond to those of the Dalmatian Bušak, the object of our study was to take their basic body measurements in order to characterise the population, and compare them with those of other Croatian autochthonous breeds (Croatian Coldblood, Croatian Posavina horse and Međimurje horse). Nine measurements were taken from 15 horses by using a Lydtin stick (height at withers, height at croup and chest depth), ribbon (chest and cannon bone circumference) and calliper (shoulder width, croup width and croup length). The Dalmatian Bušak was lower at both withers (129.73 ± 4.78 cm) and croup (130.69 ± 4.75 cm) than other Croatian autochthonous breeds. It also had a shorter body (132.68 ± 5.38 cm) and croup length (43.73 ± 2 cm), narrower shoulder (28.39 ± 2.41 cm) and croup width (40.69 ± 3.01 cm), shallower chest depth (60.31 ± 3.77 cm) and thinner chest (159 ± 11.25 cm) and cannon bone circumference (17.08 ± 1.12 cm). Measurements are given as arithmetic mean and standard deviation. In conclusion, in this preliminary study we found that horses of the Dalmatian Bušak type are a relatively homogeneous population, as well as that they are smaller and differ quite from other Croatian autochthonous breeds. In addition, the Dalmatian Bušak should also be compared to the to the Bosnian Mountain horse, as they are similar in type and have a neighbouring geographic distribution.

Dalmatian bušak ; autochthonous breeds ; biodiversity ; measurements

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