RE: Bask-bred endurance horses

["Corry, Lynda H." <lcorry@velaw.com>]

	Hiya back, Susan!  I'm definitely not a breeder and it sounds
like you have some first-hand knowledge, but perhaps because of the
"breeding frenzy of the '80's" (and perhaps due to "back yard breeding"
efforts as well), I think the pendulum for any Arab bloodline can swing
in both directions.  Agreed?  You can find good performers and bad
performers out there in spite of the pedigree.  In fact, my ten-year
veteran was never registered and his father, EW Sabask, was bred to an
unknown (at least by me) mare named Risha Khari that I never laid eyes
on (that's about all I know of Baskhari's background).  So Baskhari,
therefore, could very well have been "back yard bred" as well.  Doesn't
bother me -- whatever his lineage, I couldn't have asked for a better
horse with a better disposition.  Now, I'm curious -- how many of you
out there have good horses with Bask in the pedigree?


> ----------
> From: 	Susan Evans
> Garlinghouse[SMTP:suendavid@worldnet.att.net]
> Reply To: 	suendavid@worldnet.att.net
> Sent: 	Tuesday, March 17, 1998 12:52 PM
> To: 	Corry, Lynda H.
> Cc: 	'Ridecamp'
> Subject: 	Bask-bred endurance horses
> 
> Corry, Lynda H. wrote:
> > 
> >         I just wanted to pitch in my two cents worth regarding Bask
> > horses as well ... Baskhari is my first and only endurance horse,
> and we
> > just recently had our "ten year anniversary" together.
> 
> 
> Cookie Hickstein wrote:
>  Where did you ever hear to stay away from Bask bred arabs for
> endurance? My husbands Bask bred gelding is going on 4000 miles this
> year, my gelding is bask/Witez II bred and we love the bloodline!  My
> son as a junior rider put over 2000 miles on his Bask/witezII gelding.
> 
> They all have wonderful recoveries and do very well.
> 
> 
> 
> Hiya,
> This is absolutely not meant as criticism against all Bask horses, but
> IMHO, if ever there were a line of horses that needed to be judged on
> individual merits and not simply because of their pedigrees, this is
> the
> one.  Gene LaCroix is a member of the Kellogg Foundation and without
> getting into particulars, let's just say I am NOT impressed with the
> level of integrity and honesty he has displayed (and I'm no pollyanna,
> either).  I used to be a member of the advisory panel and it was very
> well-known that Gene LaCroix would have allowed Bask to breed to a
> schnauzer if the check would clear.
> 
> Again, this is absolutely not a flame against Bask horses---the only
> point I'm trying to make is that LaCroix used Bask like his own
> personal
> ATM/sperm bank, exhibited zero selection when mares were brought to
> Bask, and for every good Bask-bred horse, there are dozens of pieces
> of
> garbage, many of whom were also allowed to breed on because Bask was
> holier than holy and everybody was frantically breeding pedigrees back
> then instead of horses.
> 
> I admit that one of the most athletic horses I ever knew was by a Bask
> son, and I would have killed to own that horse.  And obviously there
> are
> other good Bask-bred horses out there doing very well---I guess I'm
> just
> not quite so ready to lay the credit solely at Bask's door, instead of
> the dam lines, the upbringing, the rider, etc.  I've certainly handled
> an awful lot of Bask-bred babies at Cal Poly and liked very few of
> them
> (as endurance prospects, anyway), but that's another story.  I also
> turned down free breedings to Reign On, considered one of Bask's
> "better" sons, and I've seen a ton of truly nasty-looking, over-priced
> horses whose only salvation from going on the truck to Texas was a
> pedigree that said Bask.  Let's just say the Bask pendulum can swing
> pretty widely in BOTH directions.
> 
> Anyway, this really sounds like I'm trashing all Bask horses and I
> don't
> mean to.  My only point is that if I were looking at an endurance
> prospect, and Bask was in the pedigree, I sure would do back flips
> making sure that the mare(s) Bask was bred to was truly worth
> breeding,
> and that the offspring was also true breeding quality, not just a
> by-product of the breeding frenzy of the '80's.
> 
> That old saying, "you can't ride the papers" was never more true than
> when applied to Bask.
> 
> Just my .02 of course.
> 
> Susan Garlinghouse
>