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[RC] Selective Breeding - k s swigartTruman said: In human running, the world record for the mile was about 4:40 100 years ago and today it is a minute faster. One hundred years ago the record for a TB in a mile was only a few seconds slower than today. Humans breed at random, horse are selectively bred for speed. Doesn't sound like the breeding program it's working very well, does it? Actually, it suggests that the breeding program worked very well. The operative word here being workED. The selective breeding has been done for hundreds of years, by 100 years ago, because of the rigid selection process, all the genetic improvements had been made and the biomechanical maximum of the mechanism has pretty much been achieved. Humans, because of their random breeding and the fact that their ability to perform in races at the mile has never been a sole selection criteria, nor has it even, until recently, been tested for; makes it so that there is still a great deal of room for improvement. Although now that it HAS been tested for for about 100 years, and the fact that selective breeding for this trait is unlikely to happen ever (unless athletes start doing genetic modification....which is the epitome of selective breeding :)), the improvements here have probably also been made. There may be arguments for going outside the gene pool for athletic individuals which will perform stellarly at a given discipline, but the fact that horse racing records have not improved much over the last hundred years while human records have is an indication that selective breeding works very well, not the opposite. However, what it may also indicate is that while selective breeding is very successful, a closed gene pool is not. It is interesting to note that improvements in TB horse racing times stopped at about the same time that the stud book was closed. It would be nice if Thoroughbred were to go back to its original meaning (thoughtfully bred) and breeders were allowed to make whatever breeding decisions they wanted to...and let the race track sort out which of them were right. That is, after all, what we do in endurance. kat Orange County, Calif. p.s. In human breeding, there is SOME indication that long time selection for the ability to pursue large game across the African savannah is a selection criteria that predisposes the individual to success at flat track racing :). =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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