In sport horses, the breeding goal of many stubooks is focused on performance at the highest level of competition in dressage and show-jumping. There is a tendency among practical breeders to specialise towards one of these two disciplines, although some breeders still aim at breeding a so-called dual purpose horse. The general goal of this thesis was to provide useful information for the breeding programme of the Royal Dutch Warmblood Studbook (KWPN) in relation with the ongoing specialisation of the population. Based on the findings from these studies, we concluded that a breeding programme under specialisation is most effective when it comprises separate aggregate breeding goals for each of the disciplines, rather than one combined breeding goal.

This research was conducted under the joint auspices of the Graduate School of Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences (WIAS), Wageningen University and Graduate School of Science and Technology (GSST), Aarhus University and is part of the Erasmus Joint Doctorate Program “EGS-ABG”.

This résumé is prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Friday 12 February 2016 at 11.00
Place: Auditorium. Generaal Foulkesweg 1. Building 362 6703 BG. Wageningen. The Netherlands.
Title of dissertation: Sport horses: breeding specialist from a single breeding programme?
Contact information: Gabriel Rovere, e-mail: gabriel.rovere@mbg.au.dk
Members of the assessment committee:
Prof. Dr J. Jensen, Aarhus University, Denmark
Prof. Dr J.L. van Leeuwen, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Prof. Dr A. Barneveld, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Dr S. Janssens, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Promotor
Prof. Dr J.A.M. van Arendonk Professor of Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Main Supervisor:
Dr P. Madsen Senior Researcher, Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Aarhus University, Tjele, Denmark
Co-promotors
Dr B.J. Ducro Assistant Professor, Animal Breeding and Genomics Centre Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Dr E. Norberg Senior Researcher, Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics Aarhus University, Tjele, Denmark
Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English.

The defence is public.