Re: match made in heaven - stallions

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-07-20 22:56:29 EDT, wind@visionsofthewind.com writes:

<< What impresses you the most
 about an 'endurance stallion'?  >>

1.  A common-sense disposition and an I-can-do-it attitude.
2.  Proper conformation--and by this, I don't mean the stuff that wins in the
show ring with the jacked-up head on the upside down neck with the long back
and weak loin, but BIOMECHANICALLY correct conformation.
3.  A free, easy way of going.
4.  A pedigree that indicates that he will have both the metabolic ability to
perform and the genetic ability to pass it on.  With items 1, 2, and 3, he may
make a good horse himself, but without the pedigree, he is not stallion
material.  (And remember, we are breeding for GENES, not just names in
pedigrees--a "good" pedigree means more than great individuals 5 generations
back--it also means that the DESIRABLE genes from those great individuals are
the ones that have been selected for in more recent generations!)
5.  Regardless of the discipline for which they will be used, I still want my
stallions to LOOK like typey representatives of their breeds. If they don't,
they make great geldings.

Heidi Smith, DVM--Sagehill Arabians (Oregon)