Re: RC: Prejudiced? Mare or Gelding? White hooves or black?

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated Tue, 16 Jan 2001  9:38:39 AM Eastern Standard Time, Tara Wheeler <harpy@io.com> writes:

<< I've only owned mares.  And fairly calm quarterhorse and appaloosa mares at
that.   Now that I'm looking at 'hotter' arabs,  I'm thinking I should look
primarily at geldings. 

What's your preference for an endurance horse, mare or gelding? >>

Better yet, ignore the gender and look at the horse best suited to the job at hand and to you!  In general, geldings are a bit steadier than mares, but mares are the true "endurance gender"--in most species, including horses, the males have a bit more strength and a burst of speed, but the females are the ones responsible for the survival of the species, and are better equipped with efficient metabolism of fat, have a tendency to be able and willing to go all day and all night, etc.  There is a tremendous variation in individuals, both among mares and among geldings.  There are mares that are indeed temperamental and "marish" but there are also those that one hardly knows are in heat, even when riding mile after mile down the trail next to stallions.  Likewise there are geldings with steadiness and dispositions that are worth their weight in gold, while there are also ones that have a few screws loose and are a danger to all, and everything in between.

<< And did anyone ever prove that hoof color was not connected to softness?
White hooves on all four feet aren't necessarily bad for an endurance
prospect arab, are they? >>

I have a preference for dark feet, and on a given horse, the dark feet will be somewhat harder than the white feet.  However, my preference is not sufficiently strong to be much of a selection factor--all else must TRULY be equal, and you will find horses in my herd that are here because they have a great many other attributes, and that have four high whites.  There are a great many factors besides pigment that influence horn quality--some genetic, and some nutritional.  And since some of the factors are genetic, you will find SOME white footed horses with better hoof quality than SOME dark-footed horses, even on the same nutritional program.  The only place you can truly compare the quality of light and dark is on the SAME horse, where one finds that the pigment does have some minor influence in toughness.  Far better to have a healthy, well-shaped foot on a properly constructed leg on a horse with good conformation and balance, and use white as a last resort criterion.

One other susceptibility in white legs is scratches--I haven't had time to go into that thread yet, but again, the white pigment is a factor only on the individual horse, and there have to be a lot of other things going on (failure of the horse's own immune system, an irritant, the appropriate contaminants, etc.) in order for that white leg to get scratches, so I don't dwell on it a great deal as a problem.

Heidi Smith, DVM
Sagehill Arabians
Tendoy, Idaho 


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