Dr. Rebecca K. Splan, PAS
Assistant Professor, Equine Science
Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Ph: 540-231-4740
Fax: 540-231-3010
Email: rsplan@vt.edu
Education:
- B.S.: Michigan State University, 1994 (Animal Science)
- M.Sc.: University of Nebraska, 1996 (Animal Breeding and Genetics)
- Ph.D.: University of Nebraska, 1999 (Animal Breeding and Genetics)
Right: Aboard the half-Arabian mare Pavan++/. Photo by Don Stine.
APSC 3724 Equine Evaluation
APSC 4424 Horse Production & Management
APSC 4784 Advanced Equine Evaluation
APSC 4984/ALS 5284 Advanced Topics in Equine Science
ALS 3104 Animal Breeding & Genetics
In 2003, Dr. Splan was recognized as Educator of the Year by the Virginia Horse Council!!
A little bit about Dr. Splan:
Dr. Splan has more than 20 years of horse experience, working with a variety of breeds and disciplines. She has been involved with several facets of the industry, from showing Quarter Horses and Paints, to many years working with a successful Welsh Pony farm, to more recently conducting research on draft and gaited breeds. In 1998, Dr. Splan lived in Dublin, Ireland, researching genetics of Thoroughbred racehorses prior to completion of her Ph.D. Both in and out of the office, Dr. Splan continues to be heavily involved in horse community. She is often asked to speak regionally or nationally on topics related to conformation and selection of performance horses, and is delighted to contribute to a variety of youth events annually. She is an open horse show judge, USDF L graduate and is certified in equine appraisal. In her free time, she enjoys campaigning her Half-Arabian mare in dressage and sport horse divisions. Dr. Splan also serves on the Board of the Southwest Virginia Dressage Association and Virginia Arabian Horse Association.
Smith, A. M., W. B. Staniar and R. K. Splan. 2006. Correlations between yearling body measurements and career racing performance in Thoroughbred racehorses. (accepted with revisions, J. Equine Vet. Sci.)
Treiber, K. H., D. S. Kronfeld , T. M. Hess, B. M. Byrd, R. K. Splan and W. B. Staniar. 2006. Insulin resistance, inheritance and pre-laminitic metabolism syndrome in ponies. (accepted with revisions, J. Am. Vet. Med. Assn.)
Splan, R. K. and H. B. Hunter. 2004. Temporal variables of the canter of the Tennessee Walking Horse. Equine Compar. Exercise Phys. 1:11-14.
Staniar, W. B., D. S. Kronfeld, K. H. Treiber, R. K. Splan and P. A. Harris. 2004. Growth rate consists of baseline and systematic deviation components in Thoroughbreds J. Anim. Sci.
82:1007-1015.
Splan, R. K. and D. P. Sponenberg. 2004. Characterization and conservation of the American Milking Devon. AGRI 34:11-16.
Amory, J. T., E. A. Dunnington and R. K. Splan. 2003. Characterization of conformational parameters in the Thoroughbred horse. Proc. Equine Nutrition and Physiology Society Meeting, East Lansing, MI.
Knehr, C. G., J. L. Robertson and R. K. Splan. 2003. Genetic and environmental factors affecting development of equine melanocytic tumors. Proc. Equine Nutrition and Physiology Society Meeting, East Lansing, MI.
Splan, R. K., L. V. Cundiff and L. D. Van Vleck. 2002. Estimates of parameters between direct and maternal genetic effects for carcass traits in crossbred cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 80:3107-3111.
Hill, E. W, D. G. Bradley, R. K. Splan and E. P. Cunningham. 2002. The history and integrity of thoroughbred dam lines revealed in equine mtDNA variation. Anim. Genet. 33:287-294.
Cunningham, E. P., J. J. Dooley, R. K. Splan and D. G. Bradley. 2001. Microsatellite diversity, pedigree relatedness and contributions of founder lineages to thoroughbred horses. Anim. Genet. 32:360-364.
Splan, R. K., L. V. Cundiff and L. D. Van Vleck. 1998. Genetic parameters for sex-specific traits in beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 76:2272-2278.
Splan, R. K., B. R. Pilcik, U. J. Tomsen, J. A. G. Arango, A. Ruiz-Flores, J. W. Hallock, M. F. Allen, S. K. R. Karnati, V. Vega, B. R. Lindsey, D. E. Moody and D. Pomp. 1998. Rapid communication: Mapping of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) gene to porcine chromosome 15 by linkage analysis using a novel PCR-RFLP. J. Anim. Sci. 76:658-659.
Splan, R. K., L. D. Van Vleck and H. D. Hafs. 1997. Determination of empirical estimates of power for binomial data. Proc. 9th Kansas State Univ. Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture. Manhattan, Kansas. 57-61.
OUTREACH PUBLICATIONS:
Splan, R. K. January, 2004. The American Thoroughbred in Sport Horse Breeding. Hunter and Sport Horse.
Splan, R. K. January, 2003. Genetics of horse color. NCSU Horse Genetics Short Course Manual.
Splan, R. K. January, 2003. Selection of stallions and mares for genetic improvement. NCSU Horse Genetics Short Course Manual.
Splan, R. K. March, 2002. Thoroughbred pedigrees show little genetic diversity. The Horse.
