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Re: [RC] gaited arabs? - Peter HarperSome walking horses will only trot or gallop at liberty, but gait just fine under saddle. Truman ---------------------------------------------------- I've been lurking on the gaited arab thread the past couple of days. My TWH will trot at liberty or on lead but has never offered to trot under saddle (I assume Tp genetics). However, my daughter's TWH only gaits at liberty or on lead (I assume pp genetics). Last night I read the appendix in Brenda Imas' book "Heavenly Gaits". There is a brief discussion on gait genetics. The horses's gait is determined by two primary genes; T = Dominant Trot, p = recesive Pace and hundreds of modifiers they grouped as M = Strong modifier and m = Weak modifier. Strong Trotter: TT Weak Trotter: Tp Pacer: pp Most of the "Gaited" breeds are either Tp or pp. There is a whole group of intermediate combinations with differing modifiers (MM, Mm, mM and mm) that account for the wide array of gaited breeds we see. MM or Mm tend to enhance the gaitedness. I can't remember them all right now. Maybe tonight I'll re-read the section and post the desireable combinations. This would explain everyone's different experience with gaited, non-gaited crosses. Assume the stallion is a TT=totter and the dam is pp=pacer. You would get 100% Tp crosses and chances are good some would be gaited depending on the modifiers. If however the stallion is TT=trotter and the dam is Tp=gaited you would get 50% TT=trotters and 50% Tp=potentially gaited. Finally if the stallion is Tp=gaited and the dam is Tp=gaited 25% will be TT=Trotter, 50% Tp=potentially gaited, 25% pp=gaited pacer. TT would explain the odd trotting "sport" out of a gaited to gaited breeding. Since the pace gene is recessive it is not frequently expressed in the arab. If you breed TT to Tp you probably never notice a gaited off spring because the gaited modifiers are probably weak in the arab. If you breed Tp to Tp you will only get 25% pp that will likely show gait with weak modification. I suspect over the years people have selected for T over p so there is very limited p in the arab gene pool. In gaited horses p and M have been heavily selected for as a desireable trait. I hope this makes a little sense. Cheers, Pete __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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