title: Heritabilities of health traits in Swiss Warmblood horses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a lack of evidence regarding genetic parameters of health traits in Swiss Warmblood horses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To estimate heritabilities of equine sarcoid disease, horn quality of hooves, prognathism and increased filling of talocrural joints as a possible indicator for osteochondrosis in Swiss Warmblood horses examined at the field tests for 3-year-olds between 2005 and 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of breed society database.
  
  
  METHODS
  Swiss Warmblood horses were examined clinically by 13 veterinarians at field tests in Switzerland between 2005 and 2013. The presence of sarcoids, horn quality of the hooves, incisor occlusion and increased joint filling were assessed and recorded. Records of 3715 horses were integrated in a pedigree comprising 217,282 horses. Variance components and heritabilities were estimated on the liability scale using multiple-trait Gibbs sampler for animal models (MTGSAM).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalences of the examined traits were rather low ranging from 2.4 to 13.0%. Heritabilities estimated were 0.21 ± 0.07 for the occurrence of sarcoids, 0.04 ± 0.02 for hooves with markedly brittle and friable horn quality, 0.03 ± 0.01 for hooves with marked growth ring formation, 0.06 ± 0.03 for prognathism and 0.08 ± 0.04 for increased filling of the talocrural joint (an indicator of possible osteochondrosis). The influence of the examiner on the variance of these observations was considerable.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the exception of equine sarcoid disease, estimates for the heritabilities for the traits examined here were low. A standardised examination protocol may reduce the variance due to the examiner.
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine, University of Bern and Agroscope, Avenches, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lauper
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine, University of Bern and Agroscope, Avenches, Switzerland.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gerber
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine, University of Bern and Agroscope, Avenches, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramseyer
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine, University of Bern and Agroscope, Avenches, Switzerland.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.affiliation: Zuchtverband Schweizer Sportpferde (ZVCH), Avenches, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lüth
authors.affiliation: Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine, University of Bern and Agroscope, Avenches, Switzerland.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics, University of Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dolf
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005534:Foot Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006724:Hoof and Claw / Q000473:pathology; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D006736:Horses; D007592:Joint Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D055034:Osteochondrosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D011378:Prognathism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: genetics; heritability; horse