Perhaps so. But that minority can still be a significant number.
G.
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The best to the best, absolutely. But Iām a doberman person, a breed developed relatively late (as far as dog breeding goes) and Herr Dobermann definitely bred a variety of dogs in there to get the type he wanted. I see no reason as to why horses could be any different IF you knew what you were breeding for and had specific goals in mind. That is the whole point of warmbloods altogether - they are crossbreds with performance goals (other than the Traks which have a closed studbook). Most other breeds accept refinement blood, usually with TB/Arab but thereās no reason other refining breeds shouldnāt be included (like saddlebreds).
All should have SOME sort of performance record or some utility. And only experienced breeders are typically āgood enoughā to see that.
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Itās hard enough to produce outstanding horses in purebreds, I think it would be highly risky for the average person to crossbreed. Obviously it happens, and people can produce a dozen examples where it works fabulously - but they ignore the hundreds of examples standing in kill pens or backyards who never did a thing.
Thereās a lot of breeding already that is bananas to me - I know a gal who shouldnāt be breeding Pokemon who crossed a lovely english mare on a lovely western stallion - Iām 99% sure she went with what was āin vogueā and a cool color and couldnāt tell me traits that she wanted to improve on and what the sire/dam were known for passing along. Guarantee you sheās going to get a horse that can do neither discipline as well as either parent.
Most times you have to have to have to study the maternal lines and have a focus on getting the strongest maternal lines you can afford. You have to know where their weaknesses are and what they tend to pass. You can usually make an educated breeding decision on ONE trait. ONE. And you better do your research on which stallion complements your mare and is known for passing along that one trait to the majority of his offspring. And then you pray you get lucky. Why on earth someone would play roulette with a mess of different breeds on purpose is crazy for 95% of the horse owning population who are not skilled, barn blind, very inexperienced breeders. (And I truly donāt mean that to be insulting, there just arenāt a huge amount of people out there that can subjectively analyze a horse, study pedigrees and offspring, and have enough experience in the space.)
Reminds me of: [ATTACH=JSON]{ādata-alignā:ācenterā,ādata-sizeā:āfullā,ātitleā:ā30703854_2049288658673084_5664750580780359539_n.jpgā,ādata-attachmentidā:10282911}[/ATTACH]
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I see it took less than a page for the fun-ness to dissolve.
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Sure, lots of oddball crosses work out well. But itās also true that many such crosses produce a horse that looks like it was assembled by a blindfolded committee. The main question I think breeders should be able to answer is: āWHY? What are you trying to achieve with this cross that you canāt find anywhere on the market today?ā
The reality is that a grade crossbred is generally less marketable than a purebred, so youāre creating a horse that already has a less secure journey through life, even before you know how itāll look and perform. Best be really sure about your decision and your ability to own any bad consequences.
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IDK, I still think ole ALOTTAJUMPSPOOKBUCK by CHEAP STUD FEE and out of NEVER TRAINED is pretty fun. :lol:
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I had a welsh belgian crossā¦we called him a Welgian. He was fabulous.
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My daughter rides a pony who, while a very good girl, is what happens with a first generation cross gone wrong. TB/Welsh. The goal was apparently a small TB with cute Welsh face, not an oops. What happened was a full size TB head, neck, and ears (oh god, the ears!) on a little Welsh body atop long gawky TB legs. Sheās the answer to a question no one asked.
Luckily, she is sane and sound and make a living as a school horse. But even then she is limited since those skinny legs canāt take jumping the rest of her. She is perpetually on the forehand as thereās just SO much forehand to be on.
There was no better than a 50% chance sheād have turned out according to plan. I think itās unethical to take that chance when you arenāt going to want to keep or be able to sell what you could very well get.
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Once again we have to start with the principle that āifā is the longest word in the English language.
I get that new breeds can be created by crossing existing animals with the goal of producing an animal that shows some consistent production of offspring with that set of desired traits. But this can be a VERY long and expensive process. Dogs are relatively quick as a bitch can whelp two litters a year and female offspring are ready to breed at a year. So in 10 years you can get 20 generations or so to see if you are producing what you want. Horses, on the other hand, produce only once per year and it takes two more years for a filly to be fertile. This means your looking at decades to get the same 20 generations. And horses are VASTLY more expensive than dogs to maintain. Meaning that if you donāt have the financial and professional and institutional commitment to creating a new breed youāre likely to end up as just an ābackyard-erā experimenting.
G.
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My favorite is the classic āOut of Wyoming by Truckā
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I think one of the dangers of crossbreeding is that people hope to get specific characteristics from each side (and not get some others). If the parents are very different types, this can go very badly wrong. Within a breed or at least similar types, you have a better chance of getting an individual that is not a striking mis-match of parts.
I did know one horse who was reported to be a Saddlebred/ Draft/TB mix. It didnāt work well - his name was Spare Parts! :winkgrin:
I currently ride a Arab x Perch cross. She is a fantastic event horse and besides having bigger feet you couldnāt tell she is draft, you cant really tell she is Arabian either. Nobody ever guesses correctly on her breeding.
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Most of the unusual crosses Iāve known were the result of an oops or were done by people who just didnāt know any better. Itās very unusual, in my experience, for anyone to make a thoughtful decision to make a weird cross.
On the subject of crossbreeding in general, Iāve known a number of Arab crosses (Thoroughbred, Morgan, QH, Appaloosa) over the years and all of them were nice horses regardless of the breed they were crossed with. Although I guess I wouldnāt call any of those āunusualā crosses.
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My heart horse (now 24 and semi-retired) is an Trakehnerr Appaloosa cross. Someone got lucky breeding him. Heās kind and sweet and very athletic. And, he has spots! Heās my Trakaloosa. Love him.
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Which was my point exactly.
I have an oops baby by a PMU foal out of a grade pony mare (not my oops, I bought her as a 4 year old). She is a fabulous small horse, fancy and athletic and game for anything. I also had a TB/Percheron mare who was 15.2 and most people couldnāt see draft in her and she was also very athletic and well-proportioned. Iāve seen other draft crosses who are conformational trainwrecks who canāt get out of their own way. You never know what you might get. I also have a small pony who looks like a perfect Welsh but I think is probably an Arab / Shetland cross, based on what was on the farm he was rescued from as a yearling.
While Iād never breed weird mixes on purpose, Iāve definitely seen many of them go on to do great things.
One of the nicer crosses Iāve seen was a Belgian/Andalusian cross.He was about 17.3 and dapple grey with a black mane and tail. A big old cowboy was using him as an all-round horse. Around my area they like to cross Friesians, Andalusians and Lusitanos on Quarter horses and most of those come out pretty nice.
The saddest and the most WTF cross I ever saw was the Hackney/Arab/Walker/QH/Morgan. Poor little thing - both parents Heinz 57 and he just looked like a child had put him together.
When I was a kid I ended up with a Mustang/Appy/Arab mix - nifty little horse, short compact just made to run gaming patterns.
But mentally she had every horrible trait of all 3 breeds. Used to launch me like a lawn dart, explosive bucking, spooking at nothing one day - steady as hell the next. She suddenly decided to start charging my dad when he fed in the AM (no real reason, they each had their own stall, own feeder and no one missed a meal ever).
So my mom sold her to a cowboy using the line - Well my 12yr old daughter riders herā¦
i used to help a lady at a farm that bred TB/ old style Saddlebredās.crosses The babies were cute, but the one 4 y/o she had was really nice. Extremely smart and brave. Had a gorgeous shoulder and would jump anything. TB side gave her some speed.
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I havenāt laughed that hard in a really long time.
My sisters first horse was a super backyard quarter/morgan. Aesthetically she was precious (gobs of mane, big liquid eye, crusty neck) and her legs looked like nothing Iāve seen before or since. She was base narrow, crooked, over the knee, mismatched joints, everything and anything that could go wrong. A few decent pasture scuffles over the years (no one tested My Little Pony and emerged unscathed) left her legs even more knotted and lumpy.
The dang rotten mare was the sounded animal Iāve ever known until the day she passed. While her walk and canter were fairly flat, she had a snappy trot with gobs of suspension that would make a DQ do a double take and ask who was out in the ring warming up.
My first mare was a poorly thought out Impressive QH/racing TB. She was built like a brick house with stumpy legs. Honest as the day was long and incredibly gentle, but a clunky body on TB legs aged her considerably faster than she deserved.
I once met a haflinger/perch who looked like a full-sized extra crusty chestnut perch on 13 hand legs. He was without a doubt the most heinously unbalanced and freakish horse Iāve ever seen but had a very gentle demeanor. It looked like someone photoshopped him together. At the time I met him he was doing walk trail rides for a farm and praise the Lord was gelded.
