Re: RC: breeder ethics

[Bette Lamore <woa@stormnet.com>]

Hi Karen
The issue of purebred is only critical if you are involved in
competition where such factors make a difference, e.g. flat racing. If
you are trying to pit an Arab against an Anglo in a 5 furlong race, you
are at a really unfair advantage. That is how the mob felt about Phar
Lap who defeated every other TB by an incredible margin and was
considered a freak of nature by most. It ruins the odds at the track
when you know who is going to be in first place by many lengths. And we
all know what happened to him.(I still can't watch that movie without
crying my eyes out.) Something has to be done to insure that Anglos can
be differentiated so they will not force competitive breeders into a
choice between breeding to the questionable sires or eating dust. 
I know I have some friends who no longer race because of his whole
issue.
So far as DNA testing--all I want to know is will it cost more. Already
the cost of bloodtyping is a nut to swallow when you breed more than one
a year. Even if DNA is better than Bloodtyping, and I have no doubt it
is, I personally am not involved in racing anymore and feel BT is good
enough for my needs unless the cost is the same. Then of course it would
make sense to me to switch. I do believe that DNA would be a REALLY good
thing to require of all horses before they raced at the track in the US
IF they can establish markers which is what they were intending to do
years ago. So I guess in a way, this issue will touch all of us, no
matter what arena we compete in, if we want to register our purebreds.
Bette
Bette Lamore
Whispering Oaks Arabians, Home of TLA Halynov
http://www.stormnet.com/~woa
I've learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer it
gets to the end, the faster it goes. Smell the roses!
kmhicks1@juno.com wrote:
> 
> <<When we were at Los Alamitos, I believe it was about 5 years ago, there
> was a very heated debate about DNA testing, and no it had nothing to do
> with establishing criteria for parentage---blood typing handles that
> very nicely. >>
> 
> Actually, no, blood typing does not handle it "very nicely".  Blood
> typing cannot tell you if a stallion or his son is the sire of a
> particular foal, much less full siblings, but DNA testing can distinguish
> between any two sires, except for twins.  This comes from experience in
> human DNA testing.  Same basic test.  Oh, and I do blood typing on humans
> for transfusion and believe me there is a world of difference in the
> technology involved between blood typing and DNA testing!
> 
> Karen H.
> 
> PS.  I was thinking of those two (Victoria's Secret and Unchained
> Melody), too.  But the reality of it is even worse when you consider the
> horses that have proven non-arab blood.  If every horse was eliminated
> that was definitely not pure then the Half-Arab ranks would swell to say
> the least.  Personally, I couldn't care less.  I like to research
> pedigrees to know what to expect of my horses based on the ancestor's
> abilities and quirks, but I don't really care what % Arab they are.  The
> individual is far more important to me unless I plan to breed.  And the
> reality of it for me is that the Arab part will usually outweigh the
> other part in 3/4 - 5/8 or higher because of the prepotency of the Arab.
> Of course that depends on far too many factors to mention here!  (I also
> really wish I could get hold of a list of positive SCID horses and
> compare bloodlines!)
> 
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