As far as I'm concerned, in the endurance world,
"beauty is as beauty does." I'm not so particular about how pretty a
horse's face is, as whether he can be effective in endurance
riding.
I agree, Heidi and Frank. It's sad when a horse who has the
preservation blood stock and looks the preservation bloodstock has to be
apologized for!
Last year, I sold a weanling colt to a friend. The colt is double digit
WitezII. Sturdy, strong, good disposition, beautiful black color. But his face
is rather plain. He's clearly an Arabian, but has the old style Polish face,
with the straighter profile.
This friend had to defend her horse to a person who shows Class A and
didn't believe this colt was a purebred. My friend produced the papers. to the
"show" person. The horse wasn't typey to the critic because he didn't
have a pronouced dishy face and he has rather sturdy legs, and her basis for
comparison only comes from the show arena. Yet, his "type" is exactly what his
forebears were like... strong, compact, good bone, strong hip and loin and
straight, yet Arabian profile.
So much has been lost in the quest for the "perfect" head and
snakey neck that other Arabian owners don't even recognize the horse beyond
the pretty face.
I keep a picture of WitezII as my screen saver so I'm reminded daily what
I'm trying to achieve here.
And John, no my program doesn't have a long history because I got started
at this late in the game. But in the next couple of years, four of these
horses owned by different people will start their careers in
distance riding, and another in sport horse activities. Another is destined
for a dressage driving career, which certainly requires a high degree of
athleticism and smarts. Then we can see if we've truly preserved more than
just a name on a pedigree.
chris
In a message dated 8/18/2006 9:59:40 AM Mountain Standard Time,
heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Unfortunately, the term has been picked up by people who only
"preserve" names on paper. If you haven't brought the traits along
with the names, you haven't preserved a
thing.
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