Genetic connectedness between seven European countries for performance in jumping competitions of warmblood riding horses

The aim of this Study was to evaluate the genetic connectedness between seven European populations of show jumping horses. Data on stallions bred for jumping and their pedigree Lip to three generations were provided by seven countries, including 63 17 stallions and 22 324 different horses. Four different methods were used to estimate the genetic connectedness. Common stallions between countries varied from 0 to 309 and common horses from 130 to 1166. "Genetic similarities" were not the optimal measure of connectedness as number of progeny by Country by stallion was not balanced. Correlation between estimates of country effects was computed in a mixed model including the genetic value of horses (h(2) =0.20, all relationships included). For Germany, Belgium, France and The Netherlands, these correlations were 0.32 to 0.51 corresponding to a balanced scheme with I I to 19 progeny per stallion per country. Other correlations ranged from 0.08 to 0.27. Another method to evaluate the connectedness was (i) to Simulate a systematic difference between the true genetic level of countries, (ii) performing a BLUP and (iii) measuring the percentage of the initial difference that Could be found between the estimated genetic levels of the corresponding countries. In 50% of the country pairs, 50% or more of the initial genetic difference was estimated. It was concluded that the genetic connectedness will allow the estimation of genetic correlations. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.status: publishe