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RE: [RC] Arabian bloodlines - heidiJohn, you clearly have not studied some of the US programs.
They do indeed have both male AND female focus, and are not just out to
get stud fees. Likewise, qualitatively, some of them have been
damned impressive, particularly given the mindset among endurance
people that "breeding doesn't matter." Some of our breeding
programs have been planned for many years. I have tried to keep
from making this thread personal, but my own program is the only one
I've got hard stats for at my fingertips. We've had the "male and
female focus" for well over three decades. The horses produced by
our program have gone over 40,000 miles in AERC endurance
competition. Over 30% of the horses we've bred that are of age
have endurance records--and many more are retained in our breeding
program. So far we've only managed to produce a 2nd place at
Tevis and a Top Ten at an FEI continental level, but we have numerous
AERC ride winners, 100-mile winners, and BC winners among the
horses that we've produced.
We are not alone in this sort of focus. I don't think our
record is unique. Certainly some of the farms overseas are
bigger--but then, they have a market to people who understand that
breeding counts, which is one reason why they are beating our pants
off.
Certainly Persik should be a part of one's knowledge base on this
subject. But to ignore the quality programs here and to pretend
that they don't exist is just plain insulting to US breeders who have
been trying to educate riders about this very need for well over three
decades.
As for my comment about the need for good genetic material, that was
aimed at riders, not at breeders. Too many riders in this country
still are in fairytale land about going to the killer and making a champ
out of a bargain horse. What pedigree study has clearly shown is
that the stellar horses from these "bargain" deals are the cousins of
the ones from the successful endurance breeders--the genetic material
is the same, and it is the good breeding that makes them good
prospects--NOT the fact that they were in the kill pen.
Certainly conformation is an aspect of selection--but so is selection
of family lines that consistently have superior pulse recoveries, that
eat well and maintain body condition well without extraordinary diets,
that travel well, that drink well, and in general take care of
themselves. We make note when yearlings on trips dive into their
haybags and water buckets on the trailer instead of getting in a flap
about traveling. We make note of broodmares that convert energy
easily and don't need supplements. We make note of horses that
come in with 44/44 CRIs their first times at rides. And we look
for familial relationships in these traits. Consistent families
in this sport are not accidents.
We also look for a preponderance of horses in a pedigree that
possessed these traits even before there was an AERC--horses that did
well in military endurance trials, for instance--as well as horses who
appear in successful endurance pedigrees at a much higher rate
than they appear in the population in general.
Interestingly, the Aussie horses that have done so well have been the
same basic breeding as the US horses that have done well--from the
breeders who have been breeding specifically for the sport. And
by pedigree, Persik isn't much of a surprise, either--he is 3/8
Crabbet, 3/8 old-style Polish (think the sort of breeding that
produced *Witez II), and 1/4 old-style French breeding (think the
same breeding that produced the good mare Follyat, who I mentioned
previously that stands out in so many endurance pedigrees here)--all
three of those aspects in his pedigree from the sort of breeding back
when cavalry remount (and therefore endurance) was the objective.
It is the very same sort of pedigree that is succeeding in this
country--no modern show stuff, all old solid stuff, definitely a
pedigree that one would predict should have better than average odds of
doing exactly as he's done. He is nothing new under the sun--just the
same good old stuff that breeders over here have been trying to educate
riders about for years.
It isn't the stalwart breeders here who are behind the times,
John--it is the riders who have not understood that they need to buy
good horses if they want to go to the top.
Heidi
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