Body shape analysis of Bosnian mountain horses using Procrustes statistics

Procrustes analysis was performed on 4 samples of horse populations (11 Bosniak horses from a private farm in Nevesinje, 2 Bosniak horses from a former state farm in Han Piesak, 12 Bosniak horses from the former state stud farm Borike and 18 purebred Arabian horses from Borike) in order to analyse the differences in body shape between the samples. The twodimensional shapes of the horses were presented as coordinates of 11 landmarks, which were constructed from measurements taken from living animals. Relative warp analysis revealed a separation between three of the samples. The private Bosniak horses are located between the Borike Bosniaks and purebred Arabian horses. Due to the similar shape of private Bosniaks and Arabian horses, which could be proven also by thin plate splines, we can conclude that the privat breeder selected Bosniak horses which were smaller than the Borike Bosniaks but more similar to the Arabian type of horse.