“Unfortunately, the high cost of
cloning may NOT mean that the best PERFORMANCE traits are passed on, but rather
the traits of where the most money is at, which for many US breeds tends to be
the show ring.”
I would be the last to deny that money
and show ring traits won’t be used to determine which horses to
clone. But how does that differ from “traditional”
breeding. Show ring traits have been and likely will remain a major
selecting factor, regardless of how the offspring is produced. On the
other hand, performance on the track or trail will also be a selecting
factor. Consider our own sport of endurance. You have a gelded colt
that begins his endurance career at age four or five. You compete and win
with him for say, five seasons and decide he would be a great sire. But
he’s gelded. Without cloning, he will never sire an
offspring. With cloning, you can duplicate his genetics by taking DNA
from his hair or blood. With this technology, top performing horses
(geldings) can now contribute to the gene pool. Thus the entire breed can
benefit.
