Breeder’s Notebook: By Johan Dreyer
“If we see right, we see our woes; Then what avails it to have eyes? From ignorance our comfort flows, The only wretched are the wise.”– Prior ome time ago a stranger asked if I would write down my thoughts on a Mission Statement for the South African Saddle Horse Breeders – it got me thinking about breeding goals. If you don’t have a goal against which you can measure your progress, you won’t know whether you are sinking or swimming – “From ignorance our comfort flows”.
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“There are many paths to the top of the mountain but only one view” (Harry Milner). But before you can compare views you have to identify the mountain top. f you love something or someone fervently, it equals so much more than the sum total of all the good points you can conjure up. For the same argument, a breeding goal is so much more than a narrative of what is desirable in a horse. It’s more about what is implied than what is measurable. To keep it concise and manageable we have to accept that the vision caught between the lines is of much more importance than the actual words written in the lines. In your mind you have to draw a clear distinction between breeding goals under discussion and breed standards, which are a historical review of what has already been achieved. A practical necessity in discussing breeding goals should be the long-term survival of the dedicated and gifted breeders, as without them this ship won’t sail.
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In the article on Selection it was stated that: “The vast majority of owners who breed their horses are primarily entangled in the conformation of the horse they want to breed, wrongly accepting that function by necessity will follow form.” Maybe this is not how it should be, but that is how it is: you will always have a hard time selling the ugly duckling weanling although he may be the most exceptional athlete yet. However, a gorgeous weanling even if he is a substandard athlete, sells.
onsequently, to keep the wheels turning, breeders focus on looks even though once the horse starts training for performance classes his looks become, by comparison, meaningless. (Few people contemplate Braveheart’s looks, yet everybody agrees he is an awesome performer.) Horses are kept for their performance – the ones who stay because of their looks are the exception, yet that is the driving force in buying foals. The origin of the expression “fools buy foals” should be clear.
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This is a double-edged blade as a string of non-performers, although beautiful, will soon ruin any demand for your horses. To the contrary, a string of athletically gifted ugly ducklings would have sunk your enterprise from the outset as they do not sell. It should by now be clear that the parameters for selling a weanling in contrast to selling a grown or trained horse do an almost complete turnaround. To complicate matters: in selling a trained horse a small conformation fault may be excused, but lack of performance is a no-no; a horse that for some reason cannot compete will not sell.
Conformation goals: mostly this will centre on functionality (no faults that could hamper performance) and correctness of conformation. But if you work with a horse every day, you want to be able to look at him with pride – he must be a thing of beauty.”
his is all good but to divide constitution and performance is more of a theoretical exercise than a practical truth. Performance encompasses everything the horse does and should be able to keep on doing – it includes all the reasons why you are putting him up – and how effective he is at it. Keep on doing that and don’t break down, sort of comes with the territory. In this discussion let’s assume performance to include constitution. If that is acceptable, it’s only the relationship between performance and conformation that has to be established while keeping the survival of the breeders in mind. Thus the challenge is: to identify an above average performer and describe what the ideal horse should look and be like. Only then will “performance never was so good” imply the same thing to all of us.
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The American Saddle Horse evolved as a show horse and that it should be – it was the motivating force that generated what we have today.
o wrap up: it’s the above average performers who catapult your reputation as breeder into the higher echelons, but back at the ranch the lookers buy the bacon. The logical solution would be to bridge the gap between the lookers and performers. This is a challenge, as in principle the genetic average never moves except in the case of a mutation – implying that for every exceptional horse there has to be a below par individual. The occurrence of which is not predictable. Add to this that the more comprehensive breeding goals are, the longer it will take to get there. Formidable as this challenge may be, to succeed over the longer term as a breeder you have to breed an exquisite horse (so that you will be able to sell him) that is an above average performer (so that you can keep on selling horses). There is a well-versed American Saddle Horse slogan – “performance never looked so good” – that sets the stage in a few words and could be used as introduction to the contemplated breeding goals. Perhaps we should change the “looked” to “was” as it incorporates looks but focus on the all important character of the horse; “performance never was so good”.
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In the previously mentioned article on selection it was stated that: “You can divide breeding goals into three categories: performance-, constitution- and conformation goals. Performance goals should be that you want your horses to compete at the highest level in the world. Constitution goals should be equally clear-cut and strict: to provide your clients with excellent horses that will last for many years. (These horses there fore have to have excellent locomotive systems, respiratory systems and fertility.)
The American Saddle Horse evolved as a show horse and that it should be – it was the motivating force that generated what we have today. But if our goal is a thriving breed, we should acknowledge that it goes hand in hand with an expanding market and prosperous breeders. This dictates that we have to strive to introduce these horses to and accommodate the prerequisites of an ever expanding world horse market – in contrast to isolating ourselves. If you are conscious of the isolation we at present experience, it might seem far-fetched, but it is not. Many opportunities have developed due to excellent performances by some registered Saddle Horses and some half crosses. However, the main thrust would be evaluating the American Saddle Horse’s performance possibilities as sport horses and promoting them as such. n evaluating the American Saddle Horse as a sport horse, strong points should be identified and promoted. Strong points such as shoulder movement. “When a horse moves, you can in the proudest of them see a totally different kind of movement, where the shoulder blade does extend far forward so that the shoulder joint is in front of the chest. To the extent that one can clearly see the empty armpit where the shoulder used to be. This is seldom to be found in the ridden horse, where we usually only see movement of the front arm, in which there are greatly varying degrees of flexibility. Freedom of the shoulder is quite exceptional when ridden though and means a mobile shoulder blade”. Although exceptional in a horse, I can quickly think of three different South African American Saddle Horses that clearly exhibit such form under saddle. With this alone the
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American Saddler can take the sport horse and more specifically the dressage market by storm. Compare Admiral (a Swedish Warmblood stallion) and the attention he drew worldwide: his movement was only in hand, not in ridden form and not to be mentioned in one breath with Warriors Braveheart on a bad day.
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Although the described shoulder movement is exceptional but prevalent in American Saddle Horses, another much more common strong point is the length of step that our five-gaited Saddle Horses exhibit. In the South African Saddle Horse community, nobody would attempt to make a selling point of it, but it is a major factor in rating a sport horse. The same goes for free forward movement, a well-laid back shoulder, natural impulsion, supple action, etc. The fact is that there is a long list of strong points common in American Saddle Horses that are major selling points in the sport horse market as they are as a rule athletically gifted. To let these horses benefit from that, it needs to be identified and then preserved, promoted and exhibited. Failing that it will remain a well-kept secret and wasted to the detriment of the American Saddle Breed as a whole.
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requently encountered rhetoric from the sport horse fraternity: Sport horse buyers have a very fixed and firm conviction that the four qualities of suspension, extension, elasticity and impulsion should be evident in the movement of a horse. The description of these qualities varies and can be vague. However, these qualities are well accommodated as a standard in most of our horses and exceptional in some individuals. The sport horse must be a natural product, a substantial horse with plenty of bone, good legs and feet. These requisites our horses pass with flying colours, the owners however not; we are
determined to make them unnatural. A pretty horse is good but gorgeous does not clear the fence or help to perform the passage or piaffe. If you are in the least accustomed to the beauty of the American Saddle Horse you will understand why I am not even discussing that. What is not as well known is that a horse with the attitude and conformation to master the needed collection, co-ordination and animation involved to go from slow gait to rack and back, will excel in performing the continuum of piaffe to passage if so trained. Any horse with enough “go” to perform adequately in a performance class will have the psychological make-up to jump. Natural jumping ability may however vary. It has been proven many times that in definite triads (ex: natural jumping ability) as a rule, there are larger variances within a breed than between breeds. Except for “an unnatural tail and long heavy hooves” the most frequent criticism seems to be “hot horses with high knee action”. The tail and hooves are our contribution, not an inbred vice in these horses. “Hot horses” are not the sole result of genetic factors but also include feeding, handling and training. Admittedly, some of our horses will be too hot but that is also true in other breeds. A too-high knee action is more of an exception than a rule if trained and shoed correctly.
The long and short of all of this is: there is no need to make any alterations to accommodate the sport horse market in terms of breeding goals as it is well covered in what is accepted as requirements for an American Saddle Horse. But it needs a strong mention in terms of our marketing goals as a very lucrative market is not only being neglected but positively sabotaged by our actions.
The proposed breeding goals could look like this: The American Saddle Horse should personify “performance never was so good”: -
Intelligent, anxious to please, fond of people, with perfect manners and in contradiction have tremendous fire, animation and grace – the ultimate equine companion.
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In principle functional and correct in conformation, elegant with stunning beauty and movement without the aid of artificial interference.
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Able to perform at the highest level of competition in the world and have the make-up to keep on doing that for a long time in their productive lives.
Sources: Previous editions of South African Show Horse magazine Horsemanship – Johan Dreyer (Johan Dreyer can be reached at dreyerjohan@yahoo.com)