Dept of Clinical Science and Services and Research Support Office, The Royal Veterinary College, North Mymms, Herts, UK.
Genetics and Genomics Division, The Roslin Institute, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Easter Bush campus, Midlothian, UK.
J Equine Vet Sci. 2020 Nov;94:103250. doi: 10.1016/j.jevs.2020.103250. Epub 2020 Sep 14.
Limited research has been undertaken to determine the impact of horse age, sex, and number of riders on horse performance in British Eventing (BE) horse trials. Improved understanding of this can aid professionals in planning a competition horse's career. To investigate the impact of age, sex, and number of riders on the peak performance of horses at each of the main levels of BE competitions. The best score from each horse competing in BE horse trials in the years 2008-2018 was recorded, and principal component and hierarchical cluster analysis was performed. Basic data analysis was used to identify variables associated with particular better-performing clusters of horses. The interplay of the combinatory variables was then used to map out the trends in career trajectory for horses competing at each level of competition in the best-performing and worst-performing clusters. The peak performance of mares was worse than geldings and stallions at all levels. At Novice to Advanced, stallions did not perform as consistently with multiple riders as geldings. The age at which the best-performing groups peaked was similar for mares and geldings in all classes, although stallions peaked at an older age than mares and geldings at Novice and Intermediate level. All horses were a minimum of 4-years-old at the time of competition, as per BE rules.
针对英国盛装舞步赛马会（British Eventing，简称 BE）中马匹的年龄、性别和骑手数量对其表现的影响，相关研究有限。深入了解这些因素，有助于专业人士规划赛马的职业生涯。本研究旨在探讨年龄、性别和骑手数量对 BE 各竞赛级别中马匹最佳表现的影响。记录了 2008 年至 2018 年间参加 BE 赛马会的每匹马的最佳成绩，并进行了主成分和层次聚类分析。通过基本数据分析，确定了与表现较好的马群相关的变量。然后，利用组合变量的相互作用，描绘出在最佳表现和最差表现的马群中，每一级别比赛中参赛马匹的职业轨迹趋势。在各个级别中，母马的最佳表现均劣于公马和骟马。在新手到高级别，骟马比公马更能适应不同骑手。在最佳表现群体中，母马和骟马在所有级别中的最佳表现年龄相似，而公马在新手和中级别的最佳表现年龄则大于母马和骟马。根据 BE 规则，所有参赛马匹在比赛时都至少 4 岁。
