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Re: Backyard stallions



At 11:02 AM 5/8/00 -0400, San wrote:
Don't see too many 'backyard stallions' overpopulating, skewing the gene pool, or creating hundreds of get with conformational problems

Think about this one:  Here's this big name, heavily advertised stallion - Scottsdale top ten, National Halter Champion, we'll call him "BigBucks - " who might not have desirable conformation from the "traditionalist" or performance point of view - maybe even from any point of view - who sires hundreds of foals, a good number of which are used as breeding animals solely because BigBucks is the sire (or grandsire), not because of conformation.  Many people will breed their animals to SonofBB just because of the name brand effect - the fact that foal buyers will buy anything that is by BigBucks in the few years after his championship.  Has BigBucks always produced perfect foals?  No - because no horse is perfect and because many mare owners will have bred to him for the name, whether or not this was a good choice fo stallion to combine with the mare for conformation or athletic ability or anything else.  So we can figure that some percentage - perhaps a high one - of BigBucks foals will have the same lousy conformationor maybe they will simply carry the genes for it to pass on.

Now, given the above, a good percentage of these BigBucks get or grandget will be backyard stallions, just because of the sheer numbers.  So in effect even if there might not be so many backyard stallions who themselves are overpopulating (and this notion itself is debatable) the fact that they are passing on BigBucks' genes willy nilly has the same effect of skewing the gene pool, creating hundreds of get with conformational problems, etc.

THE MORAL OF THIS STORY:  Breeders need to not only look at each breeding stallion (and mare) for more than the name, but also check the pedigree - the ancestors -  to make sure there aren't any possible BigBucks conformation genes in the woodpile.   "Buyer beware - the sperm you purchase for your mare may not be what it seems".  Lif




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