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[RC] SCID: Breeding Decisions - k s swigartEd said: Since Wendy and I do not have 50 years, and lots of money we have decided to only breed negative mares to negative stallions and let others work at preserving the few exceptional blood lines that happen to be positive. Actually, this thinking is pretty much entirely the opposite of what is a "prudent" breeding practice with respect to identifiable recessive (i.e. non-exhibited in the individual) carriers. For people who are "in it for the long term" (i.e. those who are committed to preserving bloodlines, improving the gene pool for future generations, etc.) who should be most concerned about making a long term effort to remove carriers from the gene pool. Those people who are breeding to get good individuals for themselves to ride, how that horse might "breed on" is virtually irrelevant. Since carrier status for SCID has absolutely NO effect on the individual in question. Since there is a test for the SCID carrier status, it is possible to never produce an affected foal by not breeding two carriers to each other (and I will agree that such a practice is rather irresponsible), you don't have to be committed to breeding only non-carriers in order to produce quality individuals. As an example, anybody who breeds with the idea that if it is a colt, they are gonna geld it, and use it for a riding horse should have absolutely no interest in whether they might possibly produce a horse that is the carrier of (but does not exhibit) a genetic disease. If your intent is to breed individuals that are probably going to be genetic dead ends anyway (which describes every gelding), then there is absolutely no reason not to breed a carrier, as long as you breed it to a non-carrier. You can leave the concern about the long term breeding consequences of producing a carrier to people who are actually intending to breed those individuals on. For people who are in it for the short term (i.e. those who just want to breed a few nice horses for themselves rather than those who are in it for 50 years with the intent of preserving rare genes), the test should be used only to ensure that you aren't breeding to carriers to each other. kat Orange County, Calif. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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