Contribution to the evaluation and preservation of 'Araucano Criollo' horse in Colombia

This study aimed to make a contribution to the evaluation and preservation of 'Araucano criollo' horse. For this purpose, 27 males belonging to two farms of the municipality of Arauca, Colombia, located at a height of 128 m.s.n.m were analyzed. Animals had an age and estimated average weight of 6.7±1.4 years, 321.2±39.4 kg, respectively. Body measurements were individually taken with balance, tape and equinometric rule: chest circumference, cannon circumference, longitudinal diameter, back-sternal diameter, withers height, bicostal diameter, head length, head width, length of skull, width of skull, face length, face width, croup height, rump length, rump width and elevation of the tail. Coefficients of variation were used to determine uniformity and Spearman correlation coefficient was used to determine harmonicity. From obtained results, it can be concluded that 'Criollo Araucano' horse is uniform but rather disharmonic.