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> hi laney,  it is not so much the bloodlines, but the horse's
> confirmation, physical ability, and way of going.  and i know some will
> say, well, thats what determines the  confirmation and way of going, but
> i guess what i mean is, dont get hung up on thinking you have to get a
> particular well known bloodline in order to do endurance riding.
For those of us who pay attention to bloodlines that excel in the sport,
it isn't a matter of getting "hung up" with bloodlines--it is a matter of
increasing our odds of getting a horse that can do the job.  Such traits
as conformation, metabolic ability, temperament, and desire to do the job
are heritable.  Some families fairly consistently pass these traits on,
some fairly consistently don't, and some are a crapshoot.  I would never
advise anyone to turn down an already successful horse because of
bloodlines.  That isn't the point.  The point is in evaluating "prospects"
and having better odds of getting a good one in the first place.

If one truly understands conformation (by that I mean not just looking at
legs, which is where far too many people stop in their evaluation, but
rather at the entire body, with an eye to balance and a good understanding
of biomechanics), one can rule out those of any bloodline who did not
inherit that part.  But the rest of it you can't find out until you've
ridden them, and in some cases, until you've ridden them enough to already
be in competition.  By that point, if you've gotten a dud, you've invested
not just money, but lots of time, effort, and emotion.  Personally, I want
to know that I have better than average odds of success before I
start--hence the study of bloodlines.

I'm sure this holds true in breeds other than Arabs as well--and in
general, what I've seen in other breeds is the same tendency that I've
seen in Arabs--the bloodlines that do the best in endurance (and in fact,
in pretty much any discipline which requires athleticism, savvy, and the
ability to get along with a rider) tend to be the older traditional
bloodlines which have not been messed with for show purposes.  All light
saddle breeds were originally developed and bred to be ridden--and to that
end, the traditional ones tended to have that ability.  Most of the
conformational and dispositional problems have been magnified by the
breeding for a specific "look" or fad for the show ring.  Ray's post about
his TWH is a case in point.  A horse that couldn't go down hills safely
would not have been the choice to breed on a couple of centuries ago to
cruise around the plantation.  Likewise, the original QHs had to cover a
lot of rangeland in a day, the original Saddlebreds were bred to ride all
day (and in fact made outstanding cavalry horses), the various Paso breeds
had to hike up and down the mountains in Central and South America, etc. 
If one does nothing more than study the foundation lines of a given breed
and try to select horses that have been bred to preserve those original
traits instead of being bred to an extreme for show purposes, one will
increase one's odds of finding a good one.

And no, this isn't a guarantee, but rather a trend.  If the odds in one
bloodline are one in ten of finding a good riding prospect, you can still
find that one and be a success if you are willing to go through ten to get
there, whereas if the odds are nine in ten that the horse will be a
success, you can still find the one dud and be a failure.  But it still
pays to study the bloodlines if you want to shorten your search.

Heidi

PS:  All too frequently, the bloodlines that succeed as riding horses are
NOT "well-known" bloodlines--because in most breeds, few people REALLY
ride anymore, and the most highly-promoted lines tend to be the show
lines.



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