Information about KWPN warmblood breeding values for sport- and exterior characteristics of Dutch warmblood stallions as well as mares. A breeding value is an estimate of the genetic talent of a horse for a certain characteristic.
With breeding values the genetic talent of an individual horse is compared to the average genetic talent of all the warmblood horses (the entire KWPN-population). That’s why you can see in one glance where a stallion or mare stands in that population. The average of the entire population is yearly fixed at 100. That happens with each characteristic. In each breeding the largest amount of animals (about two-third) is situated around the average. We express that fact by figures with a dispersion of 20 and we see that 68 percent of all animals has a breeding value between 80 and 120. Only 16 percent of the horses has a breeding value higher than 120. These are the best breeding animals, while on the other side of the scale the worst 16 percent has a breeding value under 80.
Because a breeding value is always an estimate of the genetic talents, the reliability aspects are important. This reliability percentage must always be brought into the reading of the breeding values. The higher the reliability, the more the estimated genetic talent fits the real genetic talents. If the reliability is higher than 60% to 70%, you can safely say that it is satisfactory to decent. Is the reliability lower than the breeding values can easily still change. The height of the reliability depends mostly on the amount of offspring, taken into account of the calculations. For the breeding values for dressage, jumping, hunter and the winning sums the achievements of the offspring are taken into account. For the exterior breeding values the amount of offspring with an exterior. Read more before you breed your horse!
