Many months ago a friend requested that I read some material on the current status of inspections, the Irish Draught, the methods being used etc. and share my thoughts. My friend probably thinks that I blew the request off but in actuality I’ve been contemplating things on and off for quite some time. As an Irish Draught breeder and admirer I feel that it is not only my right but my duty to add my thoughts. It isn’t about politics. It is about the survival of the breed and those that breed them.
Inspections provide an opportunity for breeders to learn an expert’s opinion of a certain horse through the use of scoring a certain selection of traits that should be breed specific. I’ve said for more years than I care to admit that in the end inspections are just numbers on a sheet of paper and the opinion of the horse for the period of time of the inspection. I don’t think they serve any purpose whatsoever unless the results are published. The scoring of the horse for each trait can then be used by the owners of any horse that may want to breed to that inspected horse. For example, if a certain mare scores low in hind end, hind leg then the mare owner could look for a stallion that scored strongly in that area. The publication and access to this information is what makes inspections effective. Without publication and access the information is worthless. My first action would be to publish the scores of all stallions inspected and have access to mare’s scores available upon request. I would publicize the accessibility and purpose of publishing the data. The current practice of publishing negative comments (such as: “He has a long back, flat croup, shallow girth and is slightly toed out. He is close in behind in walk and trot but shows good extension although he was slightly incorrect in trot.”) is unnecessary, bad for the promotion of Irish horses in general and the Irish Draught in particular. Let the scores do the talking. There is no incentive for anyone to associate with an organization that works against the members’ best interests.
If you are breeding warmbloods and want to develop an inspection process you might gather information from other warmblood organizations or create your own system. If you are working with a specific breed than any scoring system you use needs to somehow reflect the unique characteristics of your breed. Type is the most important score on the entire inspection sheet. The warmblood organizations have been successful because they have defined the type and purpose of the horse that they are breeding and then utilizing inspectors that envision the same ‘type’ during the inspections.
I read with dismay that ‘type’ is not formally defined and is left to the individual inspector. I found this exceedingly distressing because ‘type’ is the proverbial elephant in the room. It is paramount that an agreement about the purpose and type for the Irish Draught horse is settled.
One need not look far to exemplify the problems associated with a lack of a united vision. Tors Gentleman Farmer’s status of approved, failed, failed again and then approved again plus two wins at the RDS stallion class illustrates the significance of inspectors using the same vision of the end product. In a seminar about the Irish Draught, the audience was told to look at the horse from a distance and ask “Does it look like an Irish Draught?” first. Experienced Irish Draught people might think it is an easy question to answer. To those unfamiliar with the breed and without a consistent result coming out of inspections to use as examples it is a question that is impossible to answer. What makes King of Diamonds, Clover Hill and Pride of Shaunlara such influential bloodlines in the breed? How can three such diverse horses typify one breed? If I didn’t know better I would never guess that they were all considered one breed.
I know what I think an ideal Irish Draught looks like and which mare & stallions are most likely to produce that ‘type’. I also know that there are as many visions of what an Irish Draught is as there are breeders. The Irish draught breed will stagnate and disappear without a vision of one ID ‘type’.
Next topic: Bone
No comments:
Post a Comment