Here is a recent article in the farming section of The Irish Independant. William Micklem makes contributions and talks about the way forward. The use of the TB stallion in Ireland has dramatically declined over the years.
He mentions current TB’s that can currentlly pass on the genetics needed for top event horses and mentions A Fine Romance. I thought it quite nice Gail’s stallion gets a mention in an article on this side of the pond!
Well done Gail and Fred!
Terri
[QUOTE=Equilibrium;5834405]
Here is a recent article in the farming section of The Irish Independant. William Micklem makes contributions and talks about the way forward. The use of the TB stallion in Ireland has dramatically declined over the years.
http://www.independent.ie/farming/news-features/thoroughbreds-point-to-success-2854720.html
He mentions current TB’s that can currentlly pass on the genetics needed for top event horses and mentions A Fine Romance. I thought it quite nice Gail’s stallion gets a mention in an article on this side of the pond!
Well done Gail and Fred!
Terri[/QUOTE]
Thank you for the link to the article Terri - it was a very nice surprise for me to have A Fine Romance mentioned - and a huge honour as well.
thank you!
Wow, what an honor for A Fine Romance!!!
The author of the paper, William Micklem, talks about important stallions and includes A FINE ROMANCE.
A Fine Romance is the only living, North American based horse on the list!!
HUGE COMPLIMENT GAIL!!!
[QUOTE=VirginiaBred;5836953]
Wow, what an honor for A Fine Romance!!!
The author of the paper, William Micklem, talks about important stallions and includes A FINE ROMANCE.
A Fine Romance is the only living, North American based horse on the list!!
HUGE COMPLIMENT GAIL!!! [/QUOTE]
What she said !!! Congratulations Gail!!! Hug Fred for me!!!
Have to thank Wigwam for that one! He actually linked the article to a thread on the Irish Breeders group. The girl was looking for ideas on a TB stallion for her half bred mare with a view towards eventing. But I was just tickled to bits to read it and see that William included A Fine Romance.
It is indeed an honor! Congrats Gail and Fred!
Terri
How Awesome!! CONGRATS!
That is awesome Gail (and Fred)!
First of, congratulations to A Fine Romance owners for the good reference!
Going back to the article, I find it interesting but it reflects something that tends to botter me a lot in what is often beeing sais about the role of thoroughbred in modern breeding.
In my mind, in modern breeding, it is important to look for blood, and not only for thoroughbred blood. Of course the good thoroughbred stallion will remain a source of such blood and will bring specific qualities to the equation. But to conclude that irish breeding is going down because of the lack of thoroughbred is, in my mind, oversimplfying the question.
A lot of non-thoroughbred horses can bring blood into a foal. On top of that blood, they may have a strong motherline and less of the default we to often find in modern thoroughbred.
I realy love Irish breeding. I still believe they have some great foundation lines for excellent sporthorse and they should work hard to keep those lines and build on them. However, I feel their is a much greater danger of wasting those great lines forever by breeding with the wrong thoroughbreds then preserving them by getting the blood needed in already confirmed none-thoroughbred bloodlines and risking to miss a bit of thoroughbred blood here and there.
Thoroughbreds still have the potential to be the maine source of new blood in modern sport horse breeding, but using thoroughbred should not be an end in itself. It is important to look for them and remain open to the new thoroughbred stallions found, but it shouldn’t be a goal only to add them into a program.
My own two cents
I will be the first to say that i struggled looking through the register to even offer the girl a TB to breed her mare to. And when I see them approving Danehill’s soley on the basis of a time form rating, I scratch my head. I like Danzig, not keen on Danehill. Yup very good racehorses but I used to be able to spot his stock a mile off at the sales without looking. Quite a few were downhill with low set necks and often times over at the knee. Yeah I know there is a mare equation but I’m not a big fan of approving a racehorse for sporthorse breeding based on what he did at the track.
But when you say strong motherlines what do you mean? An ID with Clover Hill and King Of Diamonds in there doesn’t exactly excite me when the mares have only shown in hand . And stallion approvals for an ID is jumping around a meter course. You can’t just sell your stock anymore based on a few good stallions in the pedigree without performance anymore. You used to be able to but people are more clever now. If breeding for the 3 disciplines you need a whole lot more than that. Heavy weight show hunters who show in a hack class only isn’t exactly a performance pedigree. And it would be very rare for a half draught or 3/4 draught to go around an eventing course at top levels with any success. So starting with a draught mare you have quite a few generations to get where you need to be for a performance pedigree.
We’ve been chatting about this a lot lately on the Irish board in one way or another. At the moment Ireland is known for little more than cheap riding horses. But thankfully there are really good breeders over here trying to breed for the top level in sport and doing a good job. It will take a little while but they will get there. Most of it will be by way of blood horses and foreign breds as that’s what the sport dictates.
Terri
Thank you very much for the kind congratulations…
It is a huge honour indeed to be included on that list.
That’s so super, Gail! Smart man to mention A Fine Romance as an improving sire to add “blood”!
Congratulations Fred and Gail!!
I wish there were more TB stallions of Fred’s caliber standing in NA.
Congratulations!
It is wonderful for A Fine Romance to be recognised from so far away as a great one. As far as the:) throwing of the good jump, trot and brain…yup Check!
thank you Diane, grayarab and Holly - I really appreciate your kind congratulations.
a small brag and an update on A Fine Romance as an eventing sire.
His full TB son A First Romance competed in his first Advanced last weekend at Plantation Field, and finished 4th in top company - with no jumping faults and the 2nd fastest time of the day.
There are high hopes for this young horse - his rider Selena O’Hanlon calls him the most athletic, best jumping horse she has ever ridden.
His pedigree is here : www.pedigreequery.com/a+first+romance
Huge Congrats to Gail and Fred- that is so awesome!! And- well deserved-
Nancy
Hey Well done Gail and Fred!!! I missed that in my Facebook updates! That is wonderful!
Terri
[QUOTE=Fred;5854831]
a small brag and an update on A Fine Romance as an eventing sire.
His full TB son A First Romance competed in his first Advanced last weekend at Plantation Field, and finished 4th in top company - with no jumping faults and the 2nd fastest time of the day.
There are high hopes for this young horse - his rider Selena O’Hanlon calls him the most athletic, best jumping horse she has ever ridden.
His pedigree is here : www.pedigreequery.com/a+first+romance[/QUOTE]
Very cool!
[QUOTE=Cumano;5838699]
But to conclude that irish breeding is going down because of the lack of thoroughbred is, in my mind, oversimplfying the question. …
I realy love Irish breeding. I still believe they have some great foundation lines for excellent sporthorse and they should work hard to keep those lines and build on them. However, I feel their is a much greater danger of wasting those great lines forever by breeding with the wrong thoroughbreds then preserving them by getting the blood needed in already confirmed none-thoroughbred bloodlines and risking to miss a bit of thoroughbred blood here and there.
My own two cents[/QUOTE]
I agree ^. Well said.
Also, congrats to A Fine Romance. To have any NA stallion mentioned favorably in such a way is good for all of us.
The Irish horse and Irish TB crosses have a long and very successful history in the second oldest jumping sport–fox hunting. Irish hunting is something not for the faint of heart. The jumps are huge, dangerous, natural, fixed, and on terrain that is not at all manicured and they are taken in company and at speed.
If anyone thinks that adding WB to the existing Irish population will be a benefit under those conditions, said person is barn blind.
The problem with Irish breeding is not that they use “Wrong” TBs, it’s that they tend to geld everything and kill off successful lines.
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