1. INTERSTALLION Steven Janssens (secretary) Jan Philipsson (chairmen)

2. INTERSTALLION Working group of the EAAP established in 1998  Improve accessibility, understanding and comparability of foreign breeding information across countries. Is this a problem….?

3. Sport horse breeding = international >60 studbooks/ org. WBFSH 61 members from 29 countries >130,000 foals/year concentrated in Europe (7 countries 50% foals) Germany 30,000Belgium 4,000 Ireland 4,000 France 15,000Sweden 3,500 The Netherlands12,000Denmark 2,500

4. % matings by foreign stallions country perc. origin Netherlands 31% Germany, France France 6% Germany Denmark 74% Germany, The Netherlands Sweden 62% Germany, The Netherlands

5. How to use foreign information? How should we compare test results? How should we compare breeding values?

7. Same stallion: different values? G. Ramiro Z Netherlands 122 (97%) France +12 (88%) Belgium 98.5 (95%) Ireland 98 (10%)

8. Correct interpretation requires information on: How are breeding objectives defined? How are horses tested? How are breeding values calculated?

9. INTERSTALLION initial research initiatives: Survey breeding objectives Survey on testing systems and breeding value estimation

10. Survey breeding objectives…

13. Performance testing

14. competition field station Three types of performance tests test capacity accuracy

15. Competition tests many observations large variation in traits (earnings, placings, scores, highest level) problems with pre-selection large environmental variation low heritabilities (h 2 = 0.10 - 0.20) can only be measured late in life (5-12 years) MANY OBSERVATIONS BUT LOW VALUE

16. Field performance tests early age (3 - 4 years of age) uniform conditions reasonable costs reasonable heritabilities (h 2 = 0.20 - 0.30) reasonable predictive value for later sport performance (r g > 0.50) REASONABLE GOOD INFORMATION AT REASONABLE COSTS

17. Station performance tests early age (3 - 4 years of age) long testing period (up to 100 days) very uniform conditions high heritabilities (h 2 = 0.20 - 0.60) high predictive value for later sport performance (r g > 0.80) high costs VERY GOOD INFORMATION AT HIGH COSTS

20. How to improve transparency and comparability?

21. Dairy cattle: Interbull 1. exchange information on national genetic evaluations 2. improvement and harmonisation of methods 3. international genetic evaluation using information from multiple countries

22. INTERSTALLION further research initiatives: Information exchange harmonisation Is across country evaluation possible?

23. 1. Exchange information http://www.interstallion.org standardised information on: -breeding population -breeding objective -testing methods -genetic evaluation systems

25. 2. Harmonise

26. 3. Is across country evaluation possible? Genetic connectedness Genetic correlations  start of pilot projects

27. Pilot projects (I & II) Investigate the genetic connectedness between countries/associations Estimate genetic correlations between performances in different countries 2 Phd studies Emma Thorén Hellsten (SLU) Catherine Ruhlmann (INRA)  extended committee (EAAP, ICAR, WBFSH) Support by SLU, INRA, WBFSH

28. Id numbers !! Ramiro, G. Ramiro Z Germany, Holsteinramiro 210389565 Belgium, sBs ramiro zX-188 Belgium, BWPramiro z1317 Netherlands, KWPN g.ramiro z294 France ramiro 59041861

29. Pilot project I Test results of horses Station or field test Young horses DWB KWPN SWB HAN HOL

30. Results phase 1….

31. Results gen. correlation Only between DWB and SWB Very high gen. Correlations between similar traits dressage, jumping

32. Pilot project II Competition data (jumping) Breeding value stallions DWB KWPN SWB HAN HOL ISH BWP, sBs CSF

33. Connectedness

34. Bel.Den.Fra.Ire.Swe. Bel. 0.74 (0.22)0.88 (0.06) 0.86 (0.08) Den. 0.70 (0.16) 0.86 (0.07) Fra. 0.73 (0.16)0.88 (0.05) Ire. 0.91 (0.14) Swe. Genetic correlations

35. The historic role of INTERSTALLION IS research has pointed out variation in breeding programmes for sport horses made this info available + proposed some guidelines for improvement IS research indicates that across country evaluation is technically possible are (all) studbooks willing to continue

36. .. role in the future... Return to status of working group Focuss on research on emerging traits (defects, longevity, temperament,..) Information dissemination (website)

37. acknowledgements Interstallion members Swedish Agricultural University KULeuven with support from Vlaams Fokkerij Centrum and Vlaams Varkens stamboek