Are you a breed-ist?

I want to talk about two subjects related to the breeding of horses, which are only loosely related.

The first is about the business of breeding horses. The commercial breeding of horses is big business in very many countries. Of course, breeding Thoroughbreds for racing takes the cake in terms of big money being spent. Each year billions of dollars are spent in Australia on the breeding and management of young Thoroughbreds intended for the racetrack. This happens annually despite the low probability of a return on investment.

Even if we look outside the racing industry, the breeding of horses for competition and pleasure is a huge business. More money is spent than Bill Gates’ accountants can count, in the hope of breeding the next Olympic or World Champion or the prospect of having a nice trail horse out of our friend's aging mare.

For all the money and hope that is invested in the breeding of horses, it blows my mind how unscientific the process is and how little is known about the inheritability of genetic traits in horses. By that I mean, so little is known about the likelihood of success or failure in passing along desirable traits in horses. Most breeders choose a particular combination of mare and stallion based on performance success, colour, type, or temperament, without knowing the chances that those traits are going to be passed on to the next generation. It’s not the fault of the average breeder because the information that would help them make more educated decisions is still pretty scant.

In many animal production industries (like sheep, cattle, and poultry) peak bodies invest large sums to scientifically determine the inheritability of both desirable and undesirable traits. A cattle producer keeps detailed records of birthweight, fecundity, weight gain over time, fat scores, etc of his animals and can get expert advice on which animals are his best performers, which should be culled, and which should be bred to which mate. Yet in the multi-billion dollar horse industry, there is no facility for a breeder to choose his breeding stock based on more than guesswork and what they think the market wants.

I’m not sure if this is because the industry has no interest in a scientific analysis of the inheritability of genes or because there are so many fractured interest groups it is impossible to organize them or because horse people don’t like parting with their money on something that only has long-term benefits.

If more was known about the genetic inheritability of traits we might start to see more Thoroughbreds that are fast, have good feet, and almost no incidence of parrot mouths. Maybe we will see a lot more 14.3hh showjumpers beating their 17hh cousins. Perhaps we would see more horses with feathered legs that are not prone to skin disease or grey-coloured horses that are less likely to succumb to melanomas.

It seems to me that it would be a smart idea for the horse industry to invest in research on genetic-based performance and health analysis and to keep detailed databases of all registered horses for precise statistical analysis. I would suggest that this work would be funded by a small levy on each horse at the time of registration with a breed or performance society. In my view, the long-term benefits of reducing wastage and improving the performance and health of horses are enormous.

The second topic is about people’s personal biases towards one breed or another.

I am sometimes asked what is my favourite breed. I don’t have a favourite. I have a history with some wonderful Percheron crosses and so have a soft spot for the Percheron and Percheron cross. But I wouldn’t describe Percherons as my favourite breed.

We all know that different breed excels at different jobs. Thoroughbreds are fast, Arabs have stamina, Shires are hugely powerful, Connemaras are hardy, Warmbloods have taken over the dressage and jumping world, Quarter Horses are fast and cow-ey, Appaloosas have pretty coat patterns, etc. But these are all generalizations. They don’t relate in any way to any particular horse – just to the overall general nature of a breed.

You’ll find Thoroughbreds that can be outrun by a Shetland pony, Arabs that are slow and whimpy, Appaloosas that are solid in colour, Quarter Horses that run the opposite direction when they see a cow - the list goes on.

My point is that people often choose a horse based on a bias towards a particular breed, without truly considering the specifics of a certain horse. There are some things that a person should be uncompromising about when looking for a horse, such as health and soundness, size range, etc. But in my opinion, the breed of a horse is not one of those things. You will find as big a difference in characteristics within a breed as you will find between breeds. I knew a Haflinger that could levade better than most Lusitanos and a Percheron that was a better cow horse than most Quarter Horses.

I know the proclivity of some horse people require they confine their interest to one breed, either because of the rules (eg Thoroughbreds for racing) or because of perceived judging bias towards certain breeds (eg Warmblood for dressage) or because they like to attend only breed-specific shows (eg, Andalusian or Paint shows). There is nothing wrong with that at all. However, there is no need to be a breed-ist for those of us who want a horse to ride for fun, improve our skills, and do most of the things any horse is capable of doing. It’s only when you have the ambition to perform at the elite level that favouring one breed over another may become important. But for the things that most people want to do, there are horses from many different breeds that will be great for the job.

All horses are derived from a common ancestor. It is environmental pressures that initiated the original ancestor to evolve different characteristics that we now call different breeds. Later people began selecting for certain characteristics and the features started to diverge even faster. But essentially all horses are the same and share approximately 99% of their genetic material with all other horses.

All I’m saying is that I think there are very few good reasons to dismiss a horse solely based on what breed it is.