I refrained from replying to this thread, becasue (disclaimer) my hubsand and I consider Denny and May to be good friends, so I’ll admit to some bias on the topic.
This is hardly the first time it’s come up, and I’m constantly surprised by the thinly veiled jabs at Denny and May that appear. These two people have done nothing but give to the sport of eventing for the last 40 years, and there was a time when they were the ONLY ones speaking about the importance of breeding. They are one of the very, very few left who still see the value in our wonderful American TB, and who are crying alone in the wilderness about their continued viability as a sporthorse. If you don’t care for their stallions, fine, then don’t breed to them. But why bash them personally, make cracks about a “mystique”, or act as though they are “putting something over” on the consumer because they run (gasp) ads? It’s especially upsetting, because if you actually knew Denny and May at all, you would know they are the last people to believe in their own hype and mystique–two more down to earth, focused, and hard working horseman you have never met.
OK, that being said, let’s now eliminate Denny and May specifically from the topic at hand, and let me pose this question. Several of you who are CD fans (and FWIW, I think he’s a gorgoues stallion with a good record), have mentioned choosing to go through the whole shipped semen riggamarole because of him being “part of true breeding program which is not avaialble in this country.”
OK, so let’s say I don’t argue with you. My question is, if everyone keep trapsing off to import horses and semen from overseas, (nothing wrong with it, BTW, I’d do it myself if I could afford it), how is it we will magically create these wonderful programs here, if NO ONE SUPPORTS THEM. Yes, our programs are embryonic by European standars, but if we turn our backs on them, they will never grow and improve–why bother, when all the cutomers keep going overseas anyway?
I’m not trying to do US horses good, foreign bad thing here, because I really don’t feel that way–I think there are good nad bad horses everywhere. But, I see so many people wringing their hands and wondering why we can’t have a system them works, when the answer seems as obvious as hell to me–buy domestic–semen, horses, whatever. If you want our domestic industry to grow, then you have to support it with your $$. If you don’t care, that’s fine, but don’t complain about how our system is bad, then shrug your shoulders and go overseas, because that’s like complaining about how Bush sucks when you didn’t vote in the election.
FWIW, my favorite Denny stallion as a whole package is Rep, though I’d breed a hot mare to Pal, and a quiet one to Blue (who is really, really, beautiful, but every inch a TB). I like Aberjack, but he’s been throwing pretty true to size and I persoanlly need something a little bigger, but he has 10 gaits and a 12 jump. The pictures don’t do him justice–you need to see him playing through a difficult combination or prancing through his mediums to get a real taste for what an athlete the horse is. Wintry is tough guy, and a good athlete, but again, for me persoanlly, size is an issue. Mohkheiba has gone back to the gentleman who used to stand him.
Ask Robby, I don’t bash people! I just pointed out that you seemed overly biased on this topic and IMO unable to see some of the comments from a middle standpoint. I know none of these horses personally, and as a fair-minded person, I really don’t see what all the fuss was about.
