Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> Bette, I think you missed the point. Heidi is merely suggesting that
> breeders breed smarter.
Thank you, Lisa.  It won't do a whit of good to change the promotional
aspect unless we also change the direction of breeding so that the breed
really IS by and large something that the public wants to ride.

Not every horse we breed hits the endurance circuit either.  (Although one
of the marks of an actual breeding program is that we don't even OFFER
many of ours for sale, because they were intentionally bred to be a part
of the continuation of the program...)  But while the 1000-mile medallions
among our youngsters keep adding up, those that DON'T go on the circuit
ARE good riding horses that the general public wants.

It used to be that you could pretty much go to ANY Arabian breeder and buy
a horse that would make a good family horse and a sound riding horse, even
if it wasn't the horse that the breeder wanted to keep for show, breeding,
or whatever.  That is no longer the case.  We HAVE too many of the
so-called breeders pumping out mega-numbers trying to get that one stellar
specialist, with the remainder being
not-quite-specialists-but-not-quite-good-riding-horses.  THAT is where the
glut is on the market.  And while we need to put the family horse back on
the marquee, we also need to BREED that traditional Arab that COULD be a
pleasant companion.

The beauty of breeding for endurance is that it is the "general" sport for
the traditional Arabian--one does not have to alter his natural traits in
order to make him an endurance horse.  Hence by STICKING to what the breed
is about (or in this case, going BACK to what the breed is about) one DOES
have that public market for the ones that don't go on to do Tevis.  Where
we have ruined the breed (and the public market!) is by trying to make the
Arabian something he wasn't supposed to be.

Additionally, too many people are so conditioned to these
not-quite-typical Arabians (since there are so many of them out there
these days) that they THINK that they are "good" Arabians.  That is where
education comes in.

Heidi


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REAL endurance is your water freezing IN the cantle bags!
~ Heidi Sowards

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