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By: George Hooper On: 01/27/05 16:54:57 PST
In the process of looking through the forum questions, I decided to zero in on the following questions:
What should we try to preserve?
How should we identify what is tobe preserved?
What characteristics are we seeking?
How do we find reliable information from which to make qualified and sound decisions?
...monitor the rsluts for quality inthe animals produced?
I hope that I have the itnent of some of these questions wrong. It sounds to me that this new organization is entertaining a "rejection committee". That action is reminiscent of AHRA'S appointed committe back int he early 70's to decide whether or not an import was good enough to be registered in this country! How ironic that a registry would make such a demand considering the fact that they certainly knew about the questionable purity in the pedigrees of horses from Poland, Russia, France and Spain and in some cases England.
What should we try to preserve?
How should we identify what is to be preserved?
Any horse who descends from unquestinalbe desert breeding stock.
Any breeder who sees the preservation value in a particular bloodline.
How should we identify what is to be preserved?
What characteristics are we seeking?
It is unreasonable to that that an organization or prepresentative thereof, can decide what any breeder should see as worthy of preservation.
How dowe find reliable information from which to make qualified and sound decisions?
I believe that there are volumes of information available.
Monitor the results for quality in the animals produced?
Good Luck!
By: Traci Fuller On: 01/23/05 20:09:05 PST
Hey all,
Just flinging thoughts around here -
I think Donna's ideas have merit, but that begs the question of those of us who have "preservation bred" horses, but lack either the time, money, or desire to compete. How then to establish a record of their horses? For instance, my mare is my dear friend and riding companion, we help work cattle at a nearby ranch on occaision, and participate in other non-competition events. The people who see her rarely even know her name, or care to (stock horse country, you know). any thoughts for folks like me on how to establish her merit to breed on?
By: Donna Ott On: 01/23/05 18:59:49 PST
I think only horses that have actually been ridden and/or driven
or have some extenuating circumstances (such as being lamed or crippled in an accident and being descendants of superior riding/driving horses) should be preserved.
Furthermore, I think each horse that is "preserved" should have some sort of qualification, such as a competition participation and or inspection of some sort. At the very least, a horse should have photos and documentation of some vital attributes.
In addition, some sort of performance trial and visual inspection would be ideal.
To summarize:
1) EVERY HORSE BRED should at the least be trained to ride/drive and be competent in partnership with a human
2) Every horse bred should have photos, measurements and at least some documentation on vital statistics such as height,pulse&respiration etc.
3) Every horse bred would ideally have an inspection/competition certificate from established experienced horsepeople knowledgeable in Arabians and in "well-conformed" horses in general.
Horses with extenuating circumstances like injury or sudden death (in the case of frozen semen) could be dealt with on a case by case basis- or a trial of offspring as many Warmblood registries do)
Horses that met the above criteria could have special mention and or encouragement in the breeding area. A champion may merit subsidized genetic preservation (via frozen semen/embryos etc.)
These are my rough thoughts - any comments?
Donna "lets ride!" Ott
By: Maruyana Julia On: 01/21/05 20:49:23 PST
Each of us have specific interests, in terms of lines or types of Desert Bred Horses we like. The horses were valued for their ability to go long distances in difficult terrain. I am still learning, but when looking for our foundation stock, we traveled to many areas and spoke with established breeders, and read about the early imports. We wanted horses whose parentage demonstrated not only good conformation, but proven performance abilities. We also asked a lot of questions, not only within the Arabian breed, but others, and asked for critiques of our breeding stock, and evaluated the offspring for correctness as well as areas in which they needed improvement. We hope that each generation or breeding brings about some improvement, while maintaining the qualities we desired. Training is the best way to determine if receptiveness to learning is present, as well as to test for the athletic abilities we want. Open shows are a great way to do this as they are much more economical, and the judges are looking at the total "picture".
By: Susan Mayo On: 01/21/05 07:22:57 PST
It seems to me that the only thing we can truly preserve is the genetic material, but if we use the horses athletically the very positive aspects of their genetic strength will probably not diminish terribly.
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