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Re: [RC] Selecting for longevity in endurance competition - heidiActually, you would have a hard time in actually selecting for the ability to do 10,000 miles of competition starting when they are 5 specifically, since by the time that you had proven that the horse can do it (thereby proving its ability for this)...and can throw horses that do it (therefore proving not only that the horse can do it but that the trait breeds on), the horse is dead. One of the essential requirements for "singlemindedly selecting for" a particular trait is that you must ruthlessly crop out those that do not exhibit the trait, and you must also ruthlessly crop them out if, even if the horse does exhibit the trait, its offspring don't. Consequently, you it is extremely difficult to select for a trait that doesn't exhibit itself until after the individual's breeding career is already over. Unfortunately, this is the sort of fallacy that permeats modern thinking with regard to breeding. It leads to the notion of selecting specific parents that pass on the trait. It IS possible to select for the sorts of traits necessary for such accomplishment, but you have to modify your thinking to learn to look at entire families, not just individuals. Additionally, most of the individuals doing this are geldings--but given that one can find more such individuals in certain family lines than in others, one CAN still select for the traits that contribute to such successes. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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