There are two different idea’s here.
People (like Bayhawk) think in terms of breeding and success in generations. Then there are those of you that post about a particular TB that has done well and can jump. And everyone gets their wires crossed about the subject.
As a breed, they are bred for running in NA, (unless you are a person like Fred who has grabbed a subset of the Tb world and developed it successfully).
However, this doesn’t mean that most Tb’s will work out that well. Even if they had a grandsire that passed on the jump. You don’t expect a Wb to be a good jumper just because they have one or two successful jumpers in the pedigree, you need the majority, if not all for the last couple gens to have jump in order to increase the chances of success for the offspring. And you definitely don’t want even one dressage (only) horse in the mix to kill the jump.
OTTB are geared for running. They spend thousands of dollars and much time trying to bring together the right nicks, the best bloodlines, the best guess from endless stats of racing. If they do this to produce the best horse for running, why do people assume that you do not need to do the same thing to produce consistent jumping horses?
This is a different concept(generational breeding and condensed genetics), than, any one individual that can jump. We had a PMU horses that could out jump some Wb’s but I would not use them for breeding as they would not be consistent. I would ride one if it could do the job. Denny’s FB page has spoke often about how many TB’s you have to go through to find the right one and how too many people get attached to a horse that is not built for the job. Even eventers have to sift through tons of horses to find the ones that can do the job. That is why they like them cheap, cause you need to buy so many as they is a greater rate of fail.
So sure there are some talented Tb’s that can jump. I see them at Spruce in the 1.4m and occasionally 1.5m. But they are not common as they are harder to find. It is easier to “find” a Wb that can jump like that.
They would be easier to “find” if there were farms that did nothing but breed the outrageously talented TB’s and share stock with each other. But you are asking those people to compete with other people with a huge head start- an established mare base of proven jumpers. Tested/proven stallions that have stats.
It would be the same idea if I thought my WB was fast (say he is) and decided to start breeding WB’s for Tb racing by finding other WB’s that are fast. I would have the whole TB industry that is established with known bloodlines and stats to compete with. I might even produce some fast horses as Wb’s have Tb in them and should carry some of those genes. But unfortunately they have been bred with other horses that didn’t have the speed genes so it will be an uphill battle to consolidate them again.
ps-those breeders with access to NH horses would have an advantage and do. They produced the Irish sport horse. But as of now, the Irish are using tons of Wb to help with the jump.
