…confirmed to be named “Gemini”
…and to remind everyone of just exactly what this horse is made of:
VIDEO: Gem Twist wins largest grand prix ever!
It will be absolutely incredible to see Gem’s legacy (be it in offspring, competition, or BOTH!) live on in this young horse!
Good thing a horse can’t understand the concept of performance expectation! No pressure there or anything.
Thanks for posting. I’d been curious about him since seeing the intial release on the birth.
Why are they lunging a 10 month old?
Forte I wondered the same thing!
Where in TX was he foaled?
I dunno… me? I’m not going to question Frank Chapot’s management… :uhoh:
[QUOTE=Forte;4237722]
Why are they lunging a 10 month old?[/QUOTE]
SIMPLE ANSWER: because he thinks it’d do the horse some good.
SLIGHTLY MORE COMPLEX ANSWER: to monitor the exact manner of exercise/training this horse gets.
IN-DEPTH ANSWER: as both Gem Twist’s and Good Twist’s trainer throughout his their careers, Frank probably knows a thing or two as to the most effective exercise regime for the different stages of this horse’s development/body type/lineage/etc.
Yeahhh, I’ll go with this group 
[QUOTE=Whitehedge Farm;4237732]
Where in TX was he foaled?[/QUOTE]
Austin
Well I must say I am pleasantly surprised to hear that they are actually going to attempt to ride and show him rather than just send him straight to stud. I still think the whole thing is dumb but this makes me feel a little better about it.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;4238012]
I still think the whole thing is dumb [/QUOTE]
…any “dumber” than cutting off a horses’ testes in the first place?
When ya really think about it.
Granted, I realize that gelding has its purposes, but it irks the heck outta me when people who refer to something like this as “unnatural”, “not right”, or (as the above person so eloquently put it) “dumb”… don’t even bat an eye at a process so unnatural as that.
I just think it is foolish to believe that all of life boils down to genetics. There is so much more to it that can not be controlled that it is an exercise in futility in my opinion.
I love the name! Gemini is the Astrological Sign of Twins. Nice play on words!
[QUOTE=Laurierace;4238037]
I just think it is foolish to believe that all of life boils down to genetics. There is so much more to it that can not be controlled that it is an exercise in futility in my opinion.[/QUOTE]
No offense intended, but-- who, other than you, has even made mention of such a belief?
Certainly not the Chapots. Nor anyone else involved with this project.
Nor Cryozootech for that matter, who has a VERY extensive legal disclosure stating that they do not guarantee performance; nor even any similarity to the original, other than in genotype… heck, they don’t even guarantee a similar phenotype.
The irony of course, is that this horse may actually have an ADVANTAGE over Gem.
As mentioned prior, Frank trained Gem throughout his career. He probably knew that horse’s strengths and weaknesses inside out… and since he’ll likely be training this one as well, it means he can possibly address problems that Gem may have had, before they even arise. That’s an invaluable boost.
Picture #2, galloping in field:
http://equisearch.com/equiwire_news/nancy_jaffer/gemini_runs_800.jpg
That video of Gem Twist was lovely to see. Such an incredible horse. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone ride with such loooong stirrups in the Grand Prix ring. It looked like she could go down one more whole and go up the centerline in a dressage test. 
Gem Twist was a horse that loved his job, that is clear. He was the type of jumper that had a high degree of self confidence. What a great video.
You can see the same wide powerful loin on the clone in the galloping picture.
The rider Laura Chapot is slim and petite and she had to make her stirrups long to reach her legs around that wide body of Gem Twist. It is an unprecedented experience for a horses trainer to get the twin/clone of his beloved horse who passed away that he never thought he would see again. You can see he looks amazed by Gemini Twist in the first picture.
All TBs should have that conformation! What a powerful horse Gem Twist was. Both horses have the look of eagles too.
Are you referring to the cloning for breeding purposes?
If so, it doesn’t matter squat what Gemini Twist can or cannot do, does or doesn not do, whether he’s thrown in the back 40 and becomes an ill-mannered stallion or handled like he undoubtedly will be and becomes the perfect gentleman.
His genes ARE Gem Twist’s genes. If you breed to Gemini, you ARE breeding to the original Gem Twist. Performance and temperament at this point have zero to do with it. DNA is DNA.
You can never duplicate every bit of Gem’s life experiences that made him him. That is not the point of this exercise. Who knows, maybe Gemini won’t ever make it to the GP level, maybe he’ll be better than Gem Twist, but it doesn’t matter - the genes are still the exact same thing, and that’s what people breed to. You already know what Gem Twists genes are capable of doing. There was no guarantee any of his foals would be as good as he was. There is no guarantee any of Gemini’s foals will be as good as Gem was. But that’s the game you play when you start breeding to ANY stallion.
What a COOL horse.
[QUOTE=JB;4238610]
Are you referring to the cloning for breeding purposes?
If so, it doesn’t matter squat what Gemini Twist can or cannot do, does or doesn not do, whether he’s thrown in the back 40 and becomes an ill-mannered stallion or handled like he undoubtedly will be and becomes the perfect gentleman.
His genes ARE Gem Twist’s genes. If you breed to Gemini, you ARE breeding to the original Gem Twist. Performance and temperament at this point have zero to do with it. DNA is DNA.
You can never duplicate every bit of Gem’s life experiences that made him him. That is not the point of this exercise. Who knows, maybe Gemini won’t ever make it to the GP level, maybe he’ll be better than Gem Twist, but it doesn’t matter - the genes are still the exact same thing, and that’s what people breed to. You already know what Gem Twists genes are capable of doing. There was no guarantee any of his foals would be as good as he was. There is no guarantee any of Gemini’s foals will be as good as Gem was. But that’s the game you play when you start breeding to ANY stallion.[/QUOTE]
However, since Frank had Gem for his entire life, this colt has perhaps the best chance so far of having a very similar start in his life as the horse he was cloned from. Frank knows exactly what he did with Gem, and Good Twist, too, so it would make sense that he’ll follow a similar regime.
There were three things in the original story that stood out for me.
There are actually some tail female Bonne Cause daughters out there in race horse land with excellent sport horse sire lines direct to horses like Nasrullah. I haven’t looked for Ianthe daughters. But if I owned Gemini, linebreeding into the extended Bonne Cause/Bonne Nuit family would be a first priority.pfui - no one knows the outcome of cloning yet. Looks like a nice colt. Looks like many of the nice colts folks have posted here.
Whether this will be the bloodline carrier who can pass it on??? Or has the Gem Twist talent???
NO one knows - I don’t care if it is Frank Chapot or Freddy Smart - this is an experiment with no data to confirm how it will turn out! So god bless them, hope all those dollars spent on the clone do indeed turn out to produce a “clone” as to performance, but there is a lot of murky science going on here.
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