Endurance blood-lines

Its true that you will find top performers in any blood-lines, thats the mystery of it all. However I go back to my original comment about Ansata/Egyptian blood-lines and would say that one of the reasons I favour the polish and russian blood-lines is because as I've mentioned already ALL the youngstock are performance tested on the race-track. OK, when you compare race-times to the US or France they perhaps look like donkeys on the beach BUT they are being subjected to some sort of selection process & being in race training also teaches these young horses social skills.

Truly the egyptian bloodlines do have phenomenal qualities, as those you out there who have DOING egyptians can prove, but the performance testing is not systematic as it is with the other breeding programs.

Its also true that I've seen some awful limb faults in Egyptians in Europe but as Karen Sullivan points out, and I see it here in France, you see horses competing at top level in endurance with less than straight legs, so where do you go from there?

I think as a breeder you have to set yourself some criteria for breeding & this has to be based on trying to breed horses that are as correct as possible. The principles of good conformation don't change with the breed. A horse that has bench knees has bench knees, where its an Arabian, an Appy of whatever.

In France there is a stallion, Persik, of old Russian breeding (ie French/Crabbet/Polish) who has had phenomenal success as a sire of endurance horses, he has over 80 progeny competing at national/international level. There is no doubting this horse's genetic force but its interesting to theorise on what would have happened if he had been purchased in 1975 by John Doe & kept in some backyard, rather than by the Parc National des Cevennes in a region generally considered as the birthplace of endurance in France. Hence the influence of environment.

I think Karen's comment on how much emphasis you can put on bloodlines is fair. There is a similar discussion going on currently on the Australian endurance list. It depends to a certain extent on whether you are a breeder or someone just looking to buy a horse for endurance. Someone on the Aussie list said " you can't ride a pedigree" which is right but I think you have to consider all aspects.

When you're looking to buy for endurance to my mind the most important aspects are his feet & his mental attitude. The rest can probably be conditioned. Even limb faults can be assisted by careful shoeing & protective boots. However if the mind-set isn't right then you're banging your head against a brick wall.

Trying to breed the mindset is SO difficult. The problem with breeding endurance horses is that it all takes so long. Persk is 30 is its only really the last 10 years that his progeny have become seriously sought after.

I am not familiar with what constitutes CMK breeding, apart from the fact that I think Ben Rabba was CMK? Its interesting to note that if you go far enough back with many of these blood-lines what do you end up with? Crabbet?

Anyway, somebody tell me to shut up or I'll go on forever, its all that 'carbo-loading' from Christmas pudding & so-on.

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