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One thing that has not been discussed is any impact on the supply of 
endurance horses. (This is an endurance list in theory)

Before I go on I would like to review my thoughts on Registries in general 
and "purity".

PURITY

We are told from the time we are little that "purity" is good and that the 
opposite is "impurity", which is bad. (i.e. drink only pure water or orange 
juice.) Some Arabian groups even claim that their particular group of 
Arabian horses are more pure, and thus (by implication) better than other 
Arabian horses. Sort of like buying "extra virgin olive oil" as opposed to 
just "virgin olive oil" I guess.

Some registries have become over the years "closed" to a certain degree.  A 
closed registry only allows registration of horses where both parents are 
registered.   The implication is that by excluding other horses, the 
registered horses are somehow "better". (Note: do not flame me yet.) At some 
point in the past, all registries had to be open to the addition of horses, 
where the ancestry could not be documented by written records. The lovers of 
the Arabian horse tend to claim that all Arabian horses can/should be 
traceable, in all lines, to horses that were found on the deserts. 
Supposedly, the oral records, and the remoteness of the desert prevented any 
change in the gene pool for many thousands of years.

This is most likely only true to a point   Ever since the domestication of 
the horse it has been used by armies. The Middle East has been fought over 
since before civilization. I find it hard to believe that during all of 
these wars, no foreign stallion was captured or escaped and bred mares on 
the desert.

If the measure of purity is in low variation of the gene pool in the 
breeding population, then excessive purity in a breed of horses can be 
undesirable. We all know that if a gene pool becomes to small then the 
future of that population of animals is bleak. Without genetic variation no 
change or improvement in a breed is possible.

REGISTRIES

Registries exist for a number of reasons and perform a number of functions. 
Some of these functions are very useful, others are less useful and can even 
have unintended detrimental effects.

Registries provide a convenient central place to record breedings and 
ancestors. This is good. All careful breeders need the guidance of records. 
Betters at organized horse races probably benefit by knowing the breeding of 
the horses in a race  Some registries exist to help develop and promote a 
particular type of horse. The founding of the AQHA is an example. The early 
studbooks were open to horses that had been inspected by the "qualified 
inspectors" and found worthy. Of course, now some breeders think that the 
continued addition of TB blood is not good. Thus we have the "foundation QH 
registry". The people who founded the AQHA did not like painted horses. They 
would not let them in, so the APHA was formed.

Promotion of a breed is needed and a good thing.  For this reason registries 
usually define characteristics (size, type, color etc) and in some way limit 
what horses can be included.  Most usually it is by ancestry, but other 
criteria, like color, can be applied either singly or in combination with 
ancestry.

The story gets muddy when vested interests develop who will obtain financial 
benefit from a closed registry and limits the gene pool. The Jockey Club and 
the TB registry are a shining example. To participate in the big money races 
in the USA the horse has to be a TB. It has been pretty conclusively proven 
that theTB gene pool is small enough that the chances of a TB being born 
that is truly superior to others is very very small. That is just fine with 
the money that controls the sport. If  TB racing were to be open to non-TB 
horses, there would be a chance (very remote for sure) that a non-TB would 
win big races. If this happened, then the value of the horses owned by those 
who control TB racing would decrease.

THE WAHO PROBLEM

One of the ways that rich owners of Arabian horses make money is by selling 
horses outside of the country of origin. To make this easy, there should be 
agreements that any horse registered with any Arabian organization can be 
registered with any other. So far no problem. The problem arose because the 
people who founded some Arabian registries had different ideas as to what 
horses to let in. In some cases it is likely that they decided to follow the 
golden rule and let in the horses owned by the person who had the gold.

In the United States, the AHR felt that the descendents of certain horses 
were not "true" Arabs. Whether this was another case of the golden rule, or 
a legitimate concern, is not important. Now it appears that the AHA feels 
that the fight has been lost.

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF THE CHANGE

Careful breeders will see absolutely no effect. If a breeder does not want 
these genes in his/her program he/she just doesn't breed to these 
individuals. Of course, a casual uninformed breeder may be duped into 
breeding to one of these horses. In all likelihood, if a breeder does not 
know how to evaluate a pedigree, they will make poor decisions no matter how 
carefully "impure" horses are kept out of the registry. We all know that one 
can not expect to pick a registered Arabian horse at random mate it with 
another Arabian horse picked at random and get a superior individual.

People, who show in all Arab shows, will most likely see no effect. If these 
horses are truly not good Arabs because of the disputed ancestors, they will 
be beaten at the shows and the bloodlines will die out. If the horses with 
disputed ancestry win, then perhaps the breed does need those genes.

People, who want horses that can excel in endurance and CTR, will never see 
any effect. We are looking for lines and breeders that produce endurance 
horses. Those of us who carefully pick our prospects already have different 
criteria than the show people. These criteria often cause us to deliberately 
purchase or breed the ultimate "impure" Arab, the half Arab.


Ed

P.S.  Before the flames start, this post should not be interpreted as 
denegrating either the Arabian horse, or the efforts of the various Arabian 
Horse Registries world wide to promote and improve the breed.

It is also not intended to address the inclusion or exclusion of any famous, 
or unknown horse or its offspring in any studbook.

Ed & Wendy Hauser
2994 Mittower Road
Victor, MT 59875

(406) 642-9640

ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx 


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