EC July/August, 2007
In the horse show world, the halter class is the showcase of the breed; the hallmark by which those individuals who display the conformation attributes closest to the ideal are rewarded, and eventually become the foundation for future breeding stock for improvement of the breed.
Although there are some expressed physical characteristics that separate the members of one breed of horse from another, overall, regardless of their type, horsemen agree that there are basic conformation rules that are universally accepted as standard, whether you are looking at a draft horse, a pony, a hunter-jumper or a Quarter Horse halter champion.
Within the ‘textbook’ description of evaluating equine conformation, physical characteristics such as overall balance, muscling, breed-related characteristics, correct bone structure, as well as overt sexual characteristics (i.e., feminine mares; masculine stallions) are important factors in selecting a horse whose form will enable the optimal functional performance. Regardless if that horse is ultimately shown in halter, pleasure, endurance riding, reining, jumping events or cattle events, his conformation will be critical to his success in those endeavors. Over the centuries, from the ancient horse cultures of Rome and Greece to the present day – horsemen have made a study of evaluating the physical characteristics that relate directly to the horse’s success to perform.
THROWING DOWN THE FIRST CARD
Throughout the ages, in all aspects of animal husbandry, when people wanted to obtain what they considered to be desirable characteristics in a short timeframe, they often resorted to breeding closely related animals that expressed those characteristics. This was in the hope of magnifying those desirable traits, but by the same token, they also increased the probability of magnifying some undesirable traits as well.
Just because a certain horse is an outstanding individual is no insurance that he or she will produce those same traits. However, there are certain bloodlines that tend to display and produce desired conformational characteristics. If a particular sire or dam always produces offspring that display those traits, they are said to ‘stamp’ them, and therefore, the chances of getting what you want time after time is increased when bred to them. In recent years, certain lines have come to dominate different facets of the stock horse industry for that very reason – the chances of getting exactly what you wanted were increased by staying within that gene pool. This close interbreeding for several generations now has produced some outstanding individuals with the desired positive characteristics, but some of the negative characteristics are also being magnified within those lines.
In the past 20 years, many horse breeds have had to face their genetic demons; quite often spawned through the fact that man, in his infinite wisdom, believed he could control things better than nature. The Arabian horse industry has had their issues with certain bloodlines producing horses with combined immuno-deficiency (CID), and there are undesirable carriers of other traits with certain lines of Thoroughbred racehorses. To bring it home, the Quarter Horse industry (and subsequently those breeds who often outcross with Quarter Horses, such as Paints and Appaloosas) has been involved in controversy concerning descendants of Impressive and the genetically-passed hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP) in halter horses, while the cow horse industry struggles with hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA) which is carried through the Poco Bueno line.
CALLING THE BLUFF – GENETIC SCIENCE OR POPULAR TRENDS
Modern science and technology has allowed certain physical and physiological conditions that have shown up in certain bloodlines to be identified with a genetic marker for those characteristics. Now, conditions or flaws that in the past were ignored as a ‘fluke’ in an individual horse are able to be traced genetically to the bloodline from which that horse came. We are not just talking about HYPP or HERDA, but other manifested physical characteristics that are now being found to have roots in genetically inherited markers, such as bone and foot structure that may cause premature lameness, monorchidism (absence of one testicle) or cryptorchidism (hidden or undescended testicle) as well as dental malformities, respiratory issues and poor dispositions.
In the interest of improving the breed, should carriers of such genes be restricted from breeding altogether? Or do we start looking elsewhere, perhaps in other genetic pools, to regain the vigor by breeding complimentary but unrelated animals? The past few years have been filled with concerns from leading industry professionals as well as the ‘backyard breeder’ regarding the practice of intense breeding within certain lines, and the judging of those individuals in the show pen.
“You have your eyes shut if you don’t believe the horse industry has been in a state of transition the past few years,” observes Tim Finkenbinder. As a judge, exhibitor and breeder, he feels the stock horse associations and the judges are finally getting on the same page, striving for the best-made horse that is also a functional horse. But he concedes there is still a long way to go.
ROLLING THE DICE – Patience and Persistence or Instant Gratification?
Tim Finkenbinder resides in Collinsville, Texas, and is well-known in the horse show circles for having shown over 50 World Champions in seven major stock horse breeds. As a judge in several breed associations as well as NSBA, Tim has the perspective of experiencing first-hand how form relates to function.
Tim grew up in Illinois, from several generations of Midwest farmers who were in the grain and livestock business. He came up through the 4-H ranks, and from an early age was exposed to the importance of genetics in ongoing improvement, whether you are talking about grain, hogs, sheep, cattle or horses.
Tim observed that back in the early days of the Quarter Horse association, there were those breeders whose names are still known today – Walter Merrick, Howard Pitzer, and others, who made a science of studying crosses and bloodlines. A lot of them started out as cattle ranchers, then got into the horse business, but through their livestock experience, already knew the value of patience and outcrossing for complimentary traits. They studied other lines, including running horse lines, to bring in new blood, and many of them would outcross with those lines to improve the breed. He noted that a lot of those early breeders took their time, and knew that it would take patience and the ‘school of hard knocks’ to see results.
Don AQHA Judge and trainer of multiple AQHA and PHBA World Champions and Congress winners, echoed Tim’s sentiments. “It’s all about instant gratification now,” said Don. “Our society is used to it. Back in the old days, breeders like Hank Weiskamp bred to create the best of the breed, and they realized that could take generations. They would breed within a certain line so long, and then they would find a new stud to outcross with their mares. They were always looking for complimentary outcrosses to go along with their line-bred animals; now you don’t see people doing that much.”
Don feels that with the HYPP issues of late, breeders are making some changes. Particularly within the last two years he has seen some pick-up on breeding the N/N mares more, and not breeding the N/H mares as much. “We need to find some hot young outcross stud; one with desirable traits but that will give some balance. Maybe we should start looking at mares with some colder blood, foundation mares like Skipper W, one that has modern traits but foundation lines.”
UPPING THE ANTE – Basics of Time and Money
Both Tim and Don think that economics has had a lot to do with how the industry came to be where it is, and will impact the tolerance for future changes. Tim says that to be a successful long-term breeder in the past, there were two critical elements – you had to have the patience and you had to be able to stand to lose some money. Not many people today have a tolerance for either.
Years ago, Tim recalled, a farmer would have his own stud and 5 or 10 of his own mares, and he would breed to maybe 20 other mares a year, all within a 100 mile radius of his place. Prior to modern breeding facilities and cooled semen, this was how the horse industry pretty much operated. What was good about that scenario is that it gave more different stallions an opportunity to prove what they could produce, and to be bred to older, more proven mares.
“With the advent of cooled semen technology, people don’t select breeding stock outside of a few ‘hot lines’. Most people won’t give an unproven stud an opportunity to breed good mares.” He continues, “The introduction of cooled semen has attributed to some of the problems in the horse today. It has gotten to where there are only a few families of horses that people are continuously breeding to, and it’s causing too much of a concentration of certain bloodlines. You see more ‘single trait breeding’, and now we have lost that hybrid vigor by not utilizing outcrosses.” He adds, “Breeding that World Champion stud to that World Champion mare may NOT be the best cross. 90% of our current mare pool works on about 2% of the stud pool.”
Tim believes that with the big breeders who owned large herds of mares no longer the norm, it has come down to economics for the modern breeder. “We have lost a lot of the older breeders who would take a chance and breed younger, unproven horses. They would have 5 to 20 good mares, they raised good babies. Now, people don’t want to wait generations; they want to have that World-beater tomorrow. It just doesn’t work that way in the livestock business. Now, we have people that own one or two good mares, and they will only go to the top stud pool to breed them. That puts the whole horse industry into a different scheme.”
Don agrees that we have been line-breeding halter horses long enough now to get the hybrid vigor out of the gene pool. “We’re losing that edge by breeding for certain traits and staying within certain bloodlines. Now the negatives are showing up. So many horses within a certain line can magnify the good, but also the bad.” He chuckles when he recollects the old horseman’s wise words, “When it works they call it linebreeding; when it doesn’t, it is inbreeding!”
It is a matter of education
Don continues, “There is a science to breeding. Some of your best show horses can’t produce, but it takes years and several foal crops before you find that out. With halter horses, when people get away from certain bloodlines, they don’t know what to expect. Based on a horse’s breeding, you can predict, to a degree, how that horse will fill out, what age it will mature, what studs are futurity sires or maturity sires while others are producers of older matured winners, all based on the bloodlines.” He adds, “There are some exceptions; sometimes you will get a good pleasure horse outside the popular bloodlines but that is not the norm. With any new bloodline being introduced, sometimes you have to throw the tools out of the toolbox and start over.”
Tim feels that when things got tough and breeders cut down on the number of mares they were breeding, they tended to go to the most popular stud instead of what horse would be the best compliment to their mares. Tim observed, “Then, the quality dropped. Even those ‘hot’ bloodlines can produce their duds. If someone is selecting based only on a trendy bloodline, and not putting much thought into overall improvement of the breed, then they are not acting as a responsible breeder, and the breed itself is suffering the consequence.”
THE STAKES ARE HIGH And The Hand Is Up!
Don believes that now that we know what the issues are, the real challenge is going to be how to fix it. “The breed right now is at a pivotal point where things HAVE to change. You don’t have to agree on the method to change, but we all just have to agree that a change has to be made. You can’t fight the tide as one; it has to be a concerted group effort.” He adds, “Sometimes as breeders we are too concerned about breeding for a certain look, and our market is not currently supportive of an off-brand halter prospect. To make a permanent change, we will all have to take responsibility as breeders, exhibitors and judges and buck the trend.”
Don offers up again the idea of looking to different outcrosses. Who will be that pioneer? Who will go with a different lineage and start the movement? Don says that, in particular with the color breeders, there is more of an openness to explore the option of outcrossing to foundation lines. The color breeds such as Paints, Palominos, Buckskins and Appaloosas tend to find that breeding to foundation outcrosses give more predictability to guaranteeing color, since many of the old lines carried those base color genes. He adds, “Also, by breeding for color, it gives people another place to go to show. People who spend $300,000 for a World Class show horse are only interested in the top level of competition. We eliminate a lot of people who are interested in showing horses if we don’t provide more levels of competition, and the color breeds provide that.”
ACE IN THE HOLE or BLIND BLUFF – Judging As A Catalyst?
Tim believes that preserving a breed and type needs to be a passion. “Go back to the basics – a sound, pretty, balanced horse is the ideal. My general observation is that if you find successful horsemen, whether they cut, rein, ride pleasure or have halter horses, they know conformation. A pretty conformed horse is pleasing to the eye.”
“There really is a difference between ‘good’ and ‘great’. Muscle is icing on the cake.” He adds, “When judging, if I have 3 or 4 horses that are pretty much equal in conformation, then muscle is the extra eye appeal. It can’t hurt a horse to have a lot of muscle, but it can if the muscle is on a poorly structured individual.” In the past, Tim observes, if a judge was out of his element, he might know enough to ‘get by’ and may have gone with the bigger, heavier horse, but with all the education judges have been getting the past few years, we are seeing more of the judging being on the same page. “Judges are very powerful people, because what they select today is what people will show to them in the future.” He also notes that although he strongly believes that the vast majority of judges DO want to pick the best individual, they still have to judge what is put before them.
Don, also an AQHA judge and winning exhibitor, feels that the industry is heading in the right direction, although slowly. “At the World Shows, at the big shows, you are seeing horses being placed with more emphasis on conformation and balance. However, everyone, at all levels, needs to be concerned about and be focused on where we need to go.”
Tim says one of the best pieces of advice he received when starting into horses holds true today. “Unless you can look at your own horses with your neighbor’s eyes, you can’t ever be a good breeder. You have to recognize your horse’s faults before anyone else does.”
He adds, “It is a vicious cycle. The halter horse industry people are looking for something outside the box; they are looking for answers. But it goes back to patience, time, and marketability.”
Don questioned the industry emphasis on breeding to get early January or February colts, in order to have them more mature for the futurities, when his experience has been that the best producers have tended to be later babies, from March to May. He mused, “I am not sure why, but Nature is sure a hard thing to beat.”
And just when we start to think we can beat her at her own game, she takes her chips and goes home.
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