Statement of Key Issues

1. Conceptualizing “Preservation” as a Discrete Activity
   (Do you Mean what I Mean: When you say “I’m a preservation breeder,” what do you mean?)
   
   • Does “preservation” have a clear and specific meaning apart from simply breeding horses from a given group. In the scientific community? Among breeders? What distinguishes preservation activities from other activities using the same group of horses?
   • Are there levels of importance or urgency in preservation – some animals more in need of preservation than others? If so, on what basis are these established?
   • Are there existing models in the literature of the livestock conservation that might provide a basic conceptual framework for better understanding equine preservation?
2. Characterizing the Objects of Preservation - Characterizing the Herd
   (What is it about the Desert Arabian that we want to preserve?)
   
   • Is there a taxonomy of distinguishing characteristics that can be identified for the Desert Arabian and that can be tracked in a preservation effort?
   • What do we know now of the status of these characteristics among Desert Arabians – genetics, phenotypic features, strains, dispositional traits?
   • What current genomic tools can be brought to bear on defining the current herd?
3. Assessing the Impact of Social, Economic and Biotechnological
   Factors on Preservation
   (Has the overall environment for preservation breeding changed over the past 25 years?)
   
   • How have changes in our social environment – life-style, urbanization, media – changed the environment for preservation
   • How have demographic changes in the equine breeding community – census, age, gender, etc. – altered the effort?
   • Has the national and global economic situation had an impact on preservation breeding?
   • Have developments in biotechnology – cryopreservation, embryo-transfer, and related reproductive techniques, etc.—had a significant impact on preservation?
4. Defining the Desired Results/Outcomes of Preservation Efforts
   (If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there)
   
   • What is it we want to achieve in a preservation breeding program?
     
   • What are the observable/measurable outcomes to be achieved in the preservation effort?
5. Describing Effective Preservation Strategies
   (What works and what doesn’t in Preservation Breeding?)
   
   • Are there defined “best practices” for preservation breeding of horses?
     
   • Are there models in livestock conservation that might suggest alternative strategies for equine preservation?
     
   • Are there practical examples of successful preservation that merit review and consideration by breeders?
6. Evaluating Success
   (How do you/we know if what you/we are doing is working?)
   
   • By what means are preservation efforts to be evaluated?
   • How can an evaluation strategy be implemented on a broad scale?
   • Whose responsibility would such evaluation be?
7. Creating Capacity
   (Does anybody really care?)
   
   • What is the current status of the breeding community?
     
   • What factors seem to have contributed to the present situation?
   • How might we expand the cadre of active preservation breeders?
   • What draws a breeder into preservation breeding?
   • What would a breeder need to know in order to be effective in preservation?
8. Maintaining Economic Value
   (How can we create/promote/maintain a market for the Desert Arabian?)
   
   • What basic principles of marketing pertain to preservation breeding?
   • What skills do preservation breeders need for marketing in the current environment?
   • Do they have them now; if not, can these skills be developed? How?