I had a gelding that was a Mr. Prospector grandson. Insanely talented jumper, not hunter-y in any way, lots of knee action. Talent to do the grand prixs but he was not physically built to hold up to that level. He was not for everyone and had a bit of a screw loose - not in a dangerous way, just a bit odd. Brave as they come - almost stupidly so. So much heart. Sweetest soul on the ground and if you put someone on him who had no clue what they were doing he would take care of them. If he knew you could at least kind of ride but weren’t riding him his way - forget it 
Miss his sweet face every single day.
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I think that horse might have some Mike Tyson in his pedigree. WOW!
IMO, Mr. P does not (on the whole) sire good sport horses. He was small and ugly, was not a good mover (sporthorse-wise) and was not a friendly type. But, because he sired good racehorses, he was bred to quality mares.
So, when looking at a horse with Mr. P close up, look at the dam line. Especially if your horse is big and beautiful.
And, do not be enamoured by the name. As time goes by, it is rare to see Mr P closer up than the 3rd generation. And, in that position on a pedigree, his genes only provide 12% of your horses pedigree. Many people look at 5 generation pedigrees and get excited when they see Northern Dancer, or Bold Ruler on the page. In the 5th generation, that horse only comprize 3% (.03) of your horse’s genes
dunno if that is true. Mr P’s best trait was that he let the dam really come through… and he lit up the track with his grand-get…
Now we have horses 3x3 to him that are incredible jumpers and movers.
My mare is inbred 4SX2D to Mr. Prospector.
https://sporthorse-data.com/pedigree/bird-bush
Talented jumper and good mover. Definitely not a hunter prospect as she is way too excited over fences but she has so much heart. Really brave as well.
Never had any soundness issue with her.
I bred my former race mare - turned hunter to a son of Fappiano who was one of the best Mr. Prospector sons. I wanted a race horse but my jockey broke him at 2 and laughed and said he inherited the slow fat lazy gene from somewhere. This guy is 16-2 bay. he is now 21 but when I showed him in the hunters when he was younger, everyone thought he was a warmblood!!–He has lots of substance. He has the biggest heart and best manners around, but was not a top athlete which was strange considering his dam had a big race career before i bred her.
I have a great grandson of Mr. Prospector, sired by Sefapiano. He loves to jump and will never stop at anything. He’s super calm and is sound barefoot. Hoping to event with him, but my trainer is mainly h/j so may just do the jumpers.
I realize this is an old thread. I was wondering how everyone Mr Prospectors relations was doing? I have three in my barn line bred with him unfortunately all suspected ecvm. One confirmed.
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Yes quite a lot of horses are mis diagnosed as epm. The one thoroughbred we have had small amount of titers for epm but definitely not enough to be symptomatic. Even a top Canada vet thought for sure epm. But also said he seemed arthritic in the neck. Tripping. On off lameness on the front left. Which got better same with training and fitness. It depends how bad the ecvm is if horses can get fit and be comfortable in their own body and progress. They still don’t progress like a horse without ecvm though. Eventually as they age they can become quite dangerous which I had one become. He just wasn’t happy. We finally got him balanced enough to ride then a farrier unbalanced by trying to fix his front hoof. Which then completely unbalanced him and I can’t even explain how bad he got. At times when he was having a fit you couldn’t get anywhere near him he would attack. He was put to rest.
OK, I’ll ask…what is ecvm?
I mean… Mr Prospector was born in 1970, and pretty prolific. He’s far back in the pedigree now and you’d really have to be picky to find a horse without him.
From my understanding, ECVM likely came from early horses - we are talking ancient horses at this point. And we still don’t understand the condition enough to determine what will become clinical and what factors may go into it. Much like kissing spines.
I’m sorry to hear you have 3 with issues. I’ve got one, and it really is discouraging. It’s called line breeding when it works, and in-breeding when it doesn’t, as they say.
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I had to look it up! I didn’t know, either.
Equine Complex Vertebral Malformation (ECVM) is a congenital skeletal malformation in horses that affects the cervical vertebrae and musculature at the base of the neck:
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What it affects : ECVM affects the sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae (C6 and C7), the first and second sternal ribs, and associated soft tissue structures.
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What it causes : ECVM is likely the underlying cause of many neuro-musculo-skeletal problems, severe undiagnosable pain, behavior issues, and training difficulties.
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How it’s diagnosed : ECVM was previously only diagnosed post-mortem, but it’s now increasingly recognized in many horse breeds.
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Who discovered it : Australian equine anatomist Sharon May-Davis brought ECVM to the attention of the horse world through her peer-reviewed publications.
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What it’s also known as : ECVM is also known as C6/C7 Malformation.
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How it’s inherited : ECVM is inherited and present from birth.
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What it looks like : ECVM can cause multiple variations to the equine spinal anatomy.
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What it looks like in horses : Common signs include ataxia or incoordination, tripping or stumbling while walking, and weakness characterized by toe dragging.
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Me too, @ParadoxFarm and @findeight.
“ECVM is the acronym recently assigned ( May-Davis, 2023 ) to a developmental anomaly affecting the cervical vertebrae and musculature at the base of the horse’s neck”
Descriptions and visualizations, and the quote above: https://www.equus-soma.com/ecvm/
Presumably the original 2023 paper: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11200614/
Mr Prospector is in most TBs bred to race at this point, particularly linebred. Not only were his sons accomplished, but his daughters and granddaughters too. At this point, it would be more exciting and more rare to find a TB that has zero Mr Prospector.
He is unlikely to be the source of the disease, as the disease exists in horses with zero relation to him. Additionally, at this point he is also so far back in most modern TBs that I would not pick his name out of a pedigree. By the time he is in the 5th generation you have 128 ancestors - and he is further back than that in most pedigrees now.
What are the sires and dams of these ECVM horses?
ECVM is a relatively new diagnosis and so much is unknown about it – including the mode of inheritance and how it impacts the horse. Many sport horses have some c6 and c7 variation. It has been discovered in skeletons as old as 200 years old. It is very likely the malformation existed when horses became domesticated.
Its presence does not immediately preclude a riding career. Many other factors are involved.
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Thank you. I did have a Mr P grandson about 20 years ago who was a tough horse on the ground and under saddle, But no symptoms other than being kind of a jerk with a lack of any personality other then unpleasant. Good thing he was pretty and had a great jump, lacked stride length for top competitions IIRC he was 15.2 ish.
In his case I was told he got as much of that from his mum, a Spectacular Bid daughter, as he did from grandpa.
In his defense, he did warm up quite a bit as he got older but that was a very low bar from where we started,
