I’ve never understood the Euro registry WB people getting so upset about the fact that some registries permit horses of other than Euro WB acceptable blood to find homes in American registries. I’ve got several books from the days before the Euro invasion and more than a few of the show jumpers and hunters were full blood Quarter Horses or TBxs from “usually” dams of parentage that was not fully known. These horses competed in the highest class shows in the US and some of them (Bold Minstrel, for example) competed for the US internationally. They were not lesser talents. They were just darned good jumpers. Irish horses often have unknown for the dam line after the first dam, and sometimes the first dam–and things have been this way for decades. Under some of the registry requirements mentioned above, even for the “American” registries, Irish horses would not be allowed to breed in the MMB, no matter how accomplished.
Do we really think that contemporary Euro blood horses are that much better than the horses of the past? Do they jump higher or wider? Look at the 1968 show jumping course in Mexico City where a US TB was first individually and a Connemara pony was second. It had jumps up to 1.75 meters high and over seven feet wide. If you say that the courses today are more technical, all that means is that the courses are designed for horses who can jump high under the conditions that the courses demand. Change the course and the horse may not excel. In fact, that’s happened in Germany, of all places.
This slavish devotion to the German/Dutch marketing machine in the US is truly puzzling, especially when a) German registries were originally geographic entities, b) horses such as Halla were completely outside the registry system of the time, c) the US has a number of breeds, individuals of which may have superior talent, that are not found in Europe and are not members of the founding breeds of the German/Dutch registries (given a few Saddlebreds in Holland). Those individuals of “less” (other) than Euro blood, when they are given a chance to shine in competition, should also be given a chance to breed and not considered second class citizens.
What I would propose is a performance requirement for all breeding animals, regardless of the registry or the breed. Let America develop performance horses from American breeds as well as European ones. Why would German light farm horses crossed with TB and Arab be the only horses worth perpetuating for competition? In fact, why are Arabs acceptable? They have never excelled at any of the English disciplines. As a breed they don’t jump high or wide; to my knowledge, they have NEVER produced a world class dressage horse. They do produce world class endurance horses, and certain individuals can jump and do dressage, just as some individuals in the American breeds can perform. So why are Arabs acceptable and American breeds not? Could it be because Arabs are what were in Europe?
I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again, that there are certain things that the saddlebred and Morgan could bring to dressage and the Quarter Horse could bring in jumping that should be objectively evaluated without bringing Euro snobbery to the table. The traditional American breeds are simply not lesser.
Edited to add: Did anyone here read the article in The Chronicle by the vet who suggests that if drugging is used so much in hunter competition because the animals need to show as if they were drugged to win, then the judging criteria might need to be changed? He suggests that horses should not be asked to compete where they are unable to meet the present standard without drugs. This yet another example of horses for courses; do and buy what is needed to win under current conditions.
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Absolutely! I have a friend with a lovely warmblood mare of unknown breeding, but who is most undoubtedly pure warmblood. She was actually one of the highest scorers at the Old/ISR inspections this year, but isn’t Premium because of the unknown breeding. And yet, she’s not a horse who I want. I prefer lighter types, and she is a very classic type of warmblood. She has been bred much lighter and more refined (to an Arabian who is the most suited to dressage of any I have ever seen, and I live in an area with a lot of nice ones!), and her foal may well be a type I actually do very well with. It’s unknown, but that’s why the baby will be inspected as well. Because if the baby comes out funky because of some hidden genes on the dam’s side, it shouldn’t be approved. But if it comes out as well as may happen (and it is a breeding more knowledgeable breeding experts recommended in type) then the baby may be even nicer than the dam.
