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Re: [RC] did AHA give in or did they have no choice - Becky Huffman----- Original Message ----- > > written records. The lovers of the Arabian horse tend to claim that all> > Arabian horses can/should be traceable, in all lines, to horses that> > were found on the deserts. Supposedly, the oral records, and the> > remoteness of the desert prevented any change in the gene pool for many> > thousands of years. This is most likely only true to a point Ever since the domestication>of the horse it has been used by armies. The Middle East has been> > fought over since before civilization. I find it hard to believe that> > during all of these wars, no foreign stallion was captured or escaped> > and bred mares on the desert. This is a very valid point, and one that causes me to question the> religious fervor with which some defend the "pure" Arabians from a few> desert lines. That said, there is genetic value in maintaining those> lines as free as practicably possible from other influences, simply to> keep them as a source for the future. (And most of the reeders of such> that I know, like Becky, etc., are doing it for this reason, not because> the "impurity" is going to be some sort of a "stain" on future> generations.) And it is to this end that I would dispute your statement> that registration in a breed is for the purpose of defining a horse as> "better" than another horse. Thanks Heidi. Yes, my purpose is two-fold. First of all to continue with the lines that are 'best' for **me** . -what *I* like, that meet *my* needs. - ((and I hope the needs of some others as well - !! I do have babies for sale!!!! <ducking from JohnT.>)). but I know that not everyone has the same needs. The best reining horse isn't going to be the best jumper or the best dressage or endurance or plow horse. While some fundamentals are going to be similar, the same horse certainly won't work for everyone. Not just physically, but temperamentally. My requirements include that I be able to change clothes or fix breakfast while we're riding down the trail. I want t hem to be able to run like a son-of-a-gun, but I want brakes too. -and when the cousins and neighbor kids show up, they durn-well better be able to give pony rides. *and* I want them to chase and stomp stray dogs but not stray kids. I won't keep a nervous horse, if they're going to be upset that they get fed most days around dusk, except for when I have other plans, then they may eat at 3pm or 10am - they don't last around here. I won't keep a horse that requires too much management during and after endurance rides. I have moderately severe bloodsugar problems and tend to pass out and fall down at odd times. If the horse can't stand around and wait until I wake up, it's not one that I can consider competing on. .... so you see, I have pretty specific needs, and I'm sure, to a point, different than most of you. my second purpose is, as Heidi says, is to continue a pool of 'source' blood - of the 'old style' horses so that when public opinion swings back around from this or that extreme, that they have options. I know it's arrogant to think that my little horses are so great that eventually the general public will smarten up and come running back to the foundation horses. (LOL!!) But I can't help it, and I suppose that love of them is what keeps me dedicated, and hopefully, over the years, a few people will thank me for it. but 'best' is a different discussion from 'purity'. we talk about Desert-breds. - but that still has to be defined. Do you mean Nejd, Syria or Arizona? purity is relative and I think dependant on your definition. Mine are 'pure' in their group in the sense that they've been breed within a foundation group. Are they Asil in the religious sense? Their papers say the experts say so, but I don't think God reads the papers. Does that make them good endurance horses? No. -has nothing to do with it. what it has to do with is that over a very long period of time, those that couldn't do the work under the conditions died. That's a heck of a culling program. Mine are primarily (87%-100% by blood) Sa'ud, some as close as third generation from the Nejd. - and I think that's a pretty good base to breed endurance horses from. - the few babies I have that are old enough to be on the trail are proving true, but it's something that only time will tell. This is getting long, but bear with me. What's important to me, in a 'purity' sense, is that I have found that the BEDOUIN horse (not Egyptian) most exactly meets my needs, and they are a little hard to come by. When I look at a pedigree, one of the main points to me is the question of how many in-between breeders have there been? I'm not being snobby about having imports, - what I'm considering is that the Egyptians, the Polish, the Russian, the English, the Americans, all have different things that are important to them, and that they breed (very fine horses) to those standards. I know that I prefer what I've come to understand to be the Bedouin standards. - disclaimer, I don't personally know any Bedouins, especially those from past centuries, so it might be more true to call them the 'Becky Standards', but that's a little too arrogant even for me. The point of all this long post is that by admitting the other lines into the AHA source, they are allowing more 'in-between' breeders with more variety of needs and standards. I won't use them, and I don't agree, (as Heidi and others have said), that because mistakes/misunderstandings have been made in the past that it's ok to add more. In the words of Jane L Ott.(BAHC 1961 supplement) "....If they wanted black coffee and inadvertently got a little cream in it, would they then add sugar and milk and brandy and pepper and salt and vinegar, just because it already had some cream in it and 'nothing else can make it any worse'? (Please note that some of those things go very well in coffee- if you don't happen to want it straight.)..." Becky Huffman, Cleburne, Texas - (I drink my coffee black) www.TheOriginalSeries.com "Of the long years of peace ... there is little tale." JRR Tolkien, The Silmarillion =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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