Friday, June 15, 2012
Thoroughbreds
I’ve been thinking about the Triple Crown of late. I’ve come to the conclusion that there will
not be another Triple Crown winner until the TB breeders stop breeding for speed only. A horse breeder has a responsibility to set
goals for the traits that you want the horses that you breed to have. Temperament, conformation, size, endurance
etc. Then you select mates for your
horses accordingly hoping that the combination you’ve decided on will end in
offspring that have the traits you have bred for. I doubt any TB breeder has the goal of
breeding unsound horses but that is exactly what they’re doing. They are purposely selecting unsound/broken
down horses and placing them into breeding.
How many times have you heard that a racehorse was being retired to the
breeding shed because he/she couldn't run anymore because of some unsoundness
or another? The effect of placing an
unsound horse into the breeding pool is evident. Just look around and compare the TBs you see
today and those from the past that could race 100 races and retire sound. There is no comparison. It is time for TB breeders to stop selecting
for speed while ignoring all the other traits that make up a horse.
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