Re: RC: Re: Re: Amblin/Racking/what ever

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/22/00 11:45:50 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
truman.prevatt@netsrq.com writes:

<< Over time horses such as saddlebreds, walking horses, morgans at some 
point,
 since the number of genes which are specifically related to Arabs are finite 
in
 number, then there will be nothing left from the original Arab input to the
 breed. This is the case with most not Arabian horses today. So in the case of
 the saddlebred, the walking horse, morgan, etc. - there is nothing left of 
any
 Arabs that might have been there so it is really mute point. >>

Again, Truman, since you breed them to each other, the percentage does not go 
down.  If you could cross them out to Tarpans, Great Forest Horses, or 
Przewalskis, then yes, your premise would be correct.  But as you are 
breeding a mix to a mix, you still maintain a mix.

Try this.  Mix half whiskey and half Scotch.  Do this several times.  Then 
take all your half-and-half mixes and divide them in half, and add them to 
the half you've divided off of another original mix.  I guarantee you, no 
matter how many times you do this, you will never end up with something that 
resembles either pure whiskey or pure Scotch.  The only way you will get 
there is to use the pure form of one or the other to continue the mixing 
process.  That's why your model works great for pure breeds such as the Arab 
when dismissing the stray ringer behind the barn that occurred a couple of 
hundred years ago--since the offspring were consistently bred back to 
straight Arabs, the influence of that stray cross is halved with each 
generation and eventually becomes rather insignificant.  (And no, I won't 
join the "purist" crowd and try to maintain that such crosses "never" 
existed--that simply isn't practical.)  However, when you consistently bred 
crossbreds back to each other, you continued to get a mixture--and that is 
what has happened in the breeding of most modern breeds.  If you happen to 
enjoy that mix, that's wonderful--but what is the point of denying the 
contents?

Heidi