[Fiera]

So, this is something that I find interesting and would like to get others' opinions on. We all know that breeding unregistered, grade mares is bad practice and only adds to our tragic overpopulation issue and slaughter, but what if there is more to the equation?

What are your takes on breeding unregistered/grade mares that are exceptionally talented and have good confo? Does talent combined with a very good stud negate the fact that the mare is unregistered?

Opinions, stories, thoughts?

[horse_crazee]

i think this should've gone under the
"Horse Breeding Talk about Horse Breeding, Foaling, Gelding, etc."
topic

to me
it shouldn't really matter
as long as theres a destiny for the foal

[Narmowen]

It depends on the horse, and what it's done, and what you're breeding it to. Breed to a registered horse, in some cases, the foal could be registered as a half-breed.

If I had the time and money, I'd breed my grade mare because I love her attitude, and she's not put together horribly. (She's a half-Arab, half-Saddlebred, but not registered or registerable, thanks to her breeder.)

[Appylvr]

I think no...

I think for the most part, anyone could go out and buy a nice young unregistered foal, get it trained and have just as good of a horse as the one you might have had if you bred. There's never a guarantee with breeding, you might have the mare and foal die or the foal could have something wrong with it... I would just buy the baby.

[Fiera]

Good point Appylvr. That's very true and would be more beneficial to the market. My thought was that you can never be certain how high foals will go, and if you wait until talent begins to shine through, the price will skyrocket. If you yourself put two talented horses together, then hopefully you would be able to produce something equally good. However, breeding is always so risky, so you could end up producing c.rap too, regardless of parents. Then the foal's future could then be uncertain. Hmm.

[Appylvr]

What drives me nuts is all this talk of cloning!

Sure it may look like your pet, but it's never going to BE the pet you lost. It won't act the same because it won't have gone through the same experiences that shaped the original's character. So why not just go rescue a pup from the pound that resembles your old pet?

Sorry... bit of a sideline there... I thought it kind of went along with the topic.

[Fiera]

Haha, no problem. I totally agree! Cloning is so pointless. The clone won't act like your old pet, like you said, and they might not even look the same at all! So what's the point?

[Appylvr]

Sorry again, just had another thought

I was browsing through a breeder's website and came across an almost exact replica of my Appy mare I had to put down last year. She was my first horse and the best you could have ever asked for. She taught us so much, even when we didn't know what we were doing and causing her pain. To me, that would be the perfect candidate for cloning... if I didn't feel the way I do.

Here's the thread (aren't they almost twins?)
Do you believe in reincarnation?

Instead of cloning and creating another horse in this world... with so many unwanted ones already seems so irresponsible, why not just do a bit of research and find one to buy?

[artemiss]

Registration papers only matter if you plan to participate in breed shows.

Dressage, eventing, Hunter/jumpers, gymkannah/barrels, reining, cutting, etc and any open competition don't care if the horse is registered. What matters in the horses performance.

While I agree that there is an issue of over breeding, and that most horses out there should not be allowed to have babies, I think some of you need to step out of your own experience and look at the horse world in general. A piece of paper does not make a horse.

[Fiera]

Wow, that is really strange. They look totally alike! I'd want her just for that. It's weird how they're so similar.

Cloning is truly a waste and I usually believe in buying pre-existing horses also, but when you have an exceptionally talented horse on your hands, I feel like some rules of decorum could be bent. If that talent is passed on, then you could have an amazing horse that would go so far.