Height at the withers estimation in the horses based on the internal dimension of cranial cavity

Abstract

The investigations were carried out on 17 modern half-breed horse skulls and their metacarpal and metatarsal bones. The basal length (BL), total length (TL), internal cranial cavity dimension and maximal length of metacarpus and metatarsus and maximal lateral length of metacarpus and metatarsus were measured according to Kiesewalter and von den Driesch. During height at the withers estimation, the Kiesewaler and Vitt methods were used. The Wyrost and Kucharczyk mathematical formula was modified for height at the withers calculation (Hestmd = 1.016 × D) in horses. All height at the withers estimation methods were statistically analysed and compared. The analysis of variance ANOVA proved the lack of significant difference between the investigated values. The results achieved using Wyrost and Kucharczyk modified method are strongly comparable to Kiesewalter methods results computed using the metacarpal and metatarsal bones measurements. The height at the withers calculated on the basis of TL slightly differs from 2 above-mentioned methods. The BL Vitt's method was the least exact.