Speed and exterior traits of Russian trotter horses improved through selection using American and French trotters

The Russian trotter horse breed has great breeding value. One of the leading Russian breading organizations involved in breading Russian trotters is Zlynsky Konezavod located in the Bolkhov District of the Orel Region. The studies found that mares and stallions of different origin aged 2 years and older showed the record time at a distance of 1,600 m, however the most frisky horse at the same distance was Lemur, a 3-year old American trotter, born in 1993 (1.59,2). Among the 4-year old horses, the best result at a distance of 1.600 m was demonstrated by the Russian trotter Lin (1.59,3). The paper contains the results of the evaluation and changes in measurements of young animals, mares and stallions that were carried out during the period from 2006 to 2018, the percentage of stallions of different colors in the studied population, and the correlations between measurements of young horses and stallions. So, it was found that the number of bay color stallions was 61%, the number of dark-bay color ones was 26%, the number of black and red color ones was 5% each, and the number of Seal brown ones was 3%. Over the 12 years of breeding activities, the height at the withers of young animals increased by 2 cm, and the oblique body length increased by 4 cm. Stallions showed the greatest correlation between height at the withers and oblique body length (r=+0.588). The lowest correlation was found between height of the withers and chest circumference, between oblique body length and chest circumference (at the level of r=+0.252-0.257). In general, based on the results of the breeding activities, the researchers may note the good performance confirmed by prizes won at domestic and European competitions.