 |
Re: [RC] Breed standard - Heidi SmithThanks again, Charlotte, for summing up this topic so well. Won't prevent bad breeding--even two approved individuals can produce godawful progeny if they are not a suitable match. And once more, I think I am a better judge of the strengths and weaknesses of the lines in which I have an interest than some random judge chosen by geographic location. If anything, the process of having an outside party "approve" horses in many cases acually encourages bad breeding, by giving the impression that the horse is of breeding quality because it "passed" (or "won" or whatever), causing the owner/"breeder" to have the false impression that no more homework need be done. This has been all too graphically illustrated by the overuse of some of many show "champions" and the subsequent disillusionment of people who see all those "famous names" in pedigrees of horses that aren't worth a plugged nickel as riding animals, and conclude that pedigrees "mean nothing." When all you personally know about a pedigree is that those horses met with some particular person's (or group of people's) ideas of what "quality" is (instead of YOU personally studying those horses to know exactly WHAT qualities and faults they possess), you can be in for some really rude shocks. Actual genes and traits breed on--opinions and inspection scores (and ad campaigns) do not. I know that many people out there know when to breed certain horses, and when not to. But there are also those who just breed if they have the papers! So? While it may be a stupid move, I don't feel that I have any inherent right to regulate that. Some people ought not to have children. Are you going after them next? Never mind the group that think that anything that passed an inspection or won a championship should breed on to the exclusion of all else. It's just as bad. That was the original intent behind breeding classes at horse shows, and look what damage *those* have done to various breeds. What happens with inspections (be they traditional "inspections" or show judges opinions) is that they lend an aura of "approval" of the animal as breeding stock, whether the horse really has any business reproducing or not. I've done a bit of judging in both horses and dogs, and I can tell you flat out that there are often animals that I would score high or place but would not under ANY circumstances use for breeding! There are "good apples in bad barrels" just like there are "bad apples in good barrels." I've seen FAR more awful individuals produced by one good representative from an otherwise faulty line than I've seen from the occasional faulty individual from a very strong line. Granted, breeding the latter is a good way to bring a good line down. But the former is the very type of mating that "inspections" and "show wins" encourages, that experienced breeders with actual knowledge wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. No; you just IMHO haven't looked deeply enough into the whole thing. Unintended consequences, and all. I am against narrowing the gene pool for specious reasons. Think about what a mess might have been made if approval of certain stock had been made before SCID was understood. We might have a far higher incidence in the breed than we do.
As it was, it was the show successes and overbreeding of a few "popular"
lines ("approved" by recognized judges, no less) that brought SCID to the
forefront. It is a gene that has most likely been in the Arabian population
for centuries (judging by its distribution, and by Bedouin stories of foals
that become mysteriously ill and fade away much like SCID foals do--thought
by them to have "The Curse of Allah") but it was the "inspection" process of
the show ring that brought it out in what seemed like epidemic proportions.
Heidi
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
Ride Long and Ride Safe!!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|