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RE: [RC] Breeding - heidiMike, I'm coming in late on this discussion, but would second what
Catherine from Australia said.
Bob Morris brought up the old adage from the TB world, which has
not been a particularly trustworthy formula--and I'd add to Catherine's
advice by augmenting her comment about studying pedigrees. The
reason why the old TB formula doesn't work very well is because often
"the best" is an outcross of some sort that will not breed true, or is
a fluke for its breeding. Case in point: When I was a kid,
we had a 15/16 TB ranch mare that was real super ranch mare, but would
not have been stellar on the track. Her sire was a US Remount
stallion that had been unsuccessful on the track. His sire, a
horse named Pillory, missed the Triple Crown by one place in the
Derby--he was second there, but won the Preakness and the Belmont,
sometime back in the 20s. But he literally came out of nowhere,
with a pedigree that would not have predicted his stellar racing
career. Likewise, when he was used as a sire, he never produced
anything with the sort of speed that he himself had.
The point of that example is that it isn't just the performance of
the individual that you look for when breeding--it is the relatedness
to other successful individuals as well. You also need to look
both at the pedigree of your mare and the pedigree of the prospective
stallion to see if the cross between the two is known to be a
successful cross.
In general, if one is breeding for long-term results, one wants to
keep some homogeneity to the program to ensure success. On the
other hand, if one is looking for a stellar individual without
particular regard to breeding in subsequent generations, then there are
also proven outcrosses that tend to work more often than not.
Bottom line is that to increase your odds of success, you need to
do more than scratch the surface--you need to begin to understand how
endurance traits are passed on and start identifying successful
families. You need to understand where your mare's success comes
from in her own pedigree, and then try to find a cross that compliments
her breeding.
Heidi
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