Comments on: To Cut or Not to Cut

By: Heather L.

Heather L. — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:25:58 +0000

Go through any stud book and you will see a very disturbing trend. Horses so closely related that any one can plainly see that they are IN-Bred. You want cutting/reining you find “line bred” Doc Bar. You want Western Pleasure you find “Line bred” Zippo Pine Bar, You want Halter you find “line bred” Impressive. Designer Genetic Diseases were created and yet no mention of that in the article. So many good working lines are being lost because you must have a horse that “Wins” in order for it to carry on its line. Wins help prove that the horse can perform at its given task but I feel that the cost to the gene pool is too great. People are more concerned with winning than they are with what is happening to their breed. The idea of being able to produce a true all around athlete is becoming a thing of the past. A 17 hand hunt horse is not going to be able to cross over into another discipline that is not circle dictated. That 14.1 hand cutting horse is going to have a very hard time placing in the western pleasure class because the “look” isnt right. How many Halter horse are doing anything besides being pretty to look at? (Not a high enough percentage in my book) If you are going to bred, find a stud that has real outsource ability for the sake of the ever limited gene pool and dont just bring in more TB. Try to Find those lines that where great but are dying out because they are not the current trend. The way I see it, we will soon be able to start an internal registry for our discipline specific horses. To cut or not to Cut, that isnt even a question in my opinion.

By: Amy Reynolds

Amy Reynolds — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:09:17 +0000

I found this article very mind opening. I actually have a 9 month old colt, his grand fathers on both sides are world champions, and hes father is a champion also, and I was thinking of cutting him, but he has a very good attitude and a nice confirmation. And yes he is only 9 months old and hes attitude might change but I think he has potential…

By: K. Le

K. Le — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:35:07 +0000

I found this article interesting in that the breeders continually touted the importance of eliminating bad characteristics from the gene pool but no mention was made of actual diseases that have a known genetic cause namely HYPP and HERDA. These are “bad characteristics” that breeders must work to truly eliminate from gene pool. Less emphasis should be put on breeding good dipositions and attitudes as these attributes have at best only a partial genetic component. A large component of behavior and attitute are instead instilled through nuture and envionment often learned or adapted from the mare who is intimately invovled in the development of the colt rather than the stallion who is rarely involved in the actual rearing of the colt. Those truly concerned with improving the genetics of the breed must focus on eliminating true genetic disorders.

By: Debbie Sorrick

Debbie Sorrick — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:46:18 +0000

We stand only 2 stallions: one son of Genuine Doc and the other the son of Al de Partner (Skipper W grandson) out of Ge Ge Sonny. Both are foundation with 1/2 the AQHA Hall of Fame in their pedigree. I bred both of them to a daughter of Sonny Dee, a daughter of Tabano Rip (Poco line) and a grandaughter of Hollywood Gold. By crossing I have a good line of both solid, compact cow horses and bigger, stronger more solid barrel horses. Both my studs are in the mare barn and during the summer ride with mares and sometimes I use them for weaning the foals. They are gentle, smart, caring studs that I trust completely. My mother rode one of them until this last year when she passed away from COPD at the age of 72. My dad still rides and he is 74. We also cut our boys around the yearling stage. Both our studs are young so we don’t need stud colts but we have sold several uncut at the weanling age.

By: Ann Bowman

Ann Bowman — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:36:05 +0000

I agree with your article also. We have bred horses for almost 50 years. We still have about 30 foals a year. I keep about one stud prospect every other year. Bloodlines come first as we raise Skipper Ws (Wiescamp) horses (It’s pretty easy to predict the mature good ones from the blood). Then we use the same criteria as your writiers. We never consider color. Thanks for the article.

By: duane putnam

duane putnam — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:04:37 +0000

I agree with your article that a stallion must have disposition first. I have also found that to have an outstanding gelding, you first must have an outstanding individual. After 45 years of breeding, we have kept only 4 stallions.

By: duane putnam

duane putnam — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:03:30 +0000

I agree with your article that a stallion must have disposition first. I have also found that to have an outstanding gelding, you first must have an outstanding incividual. After 45 years of breeding, we have kept only 4 stallions.

By: Shawn Boe

Shawn Boe — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:23:07 +0000

Wonderful article. I fully agree on the points made. Bloodlines, conformation, and very important disposition. Also I would like to add in my own breeding program if a stallion prospect meets the above requirements, I them breed them to a few good mares, if they can’t produce as well or better than themselves then it is time to call the vet.

By: Nicole Fontenot

Nicole Fontenot — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:53:44 +0000

Wonderful article. Very educational and true!! Wise Wisdom based on years of experience.
Thank you, AQHA for this one.
Nicole Fontenot