A word, or two, about genetics and breeding

It is no secret to most folks who even have a rudimentary education in biology that the characteristics of living organisms are controlled by genes, which make up DNA. Genes come in pairs and in organisms, like animals, that reproduce sexually, the male and female each contribute one gene of each pair.

Some traits in horses are easy to see and are directly controlled by known genes, like coat color. Others are more complex and are controlled by multiple genes, some of which may not even be expressed in certain animals. But, almost everything, to some degree, is inheritable.

This means that if you are going to breed horses, or any animal, you have some responsibilities.

First, learn about equine genetics. You may not care what color your foals come out, but you are a lot more creditable and professional if you know that the two chestnuts couldn't have produced a bay foal and that palomino doesn't skip a generation. Also, there are a number of genetic diseases out in the horse world these days. If you're going to breed you need to know what your horses carry or express, what they might produce and what risks you're willing to take as a breeder.

Second, think long and hard before breeding any animal. If you wouldn't be absolutely thrilled to have a carbon copy of the mare-- conformation, attitude, way of going ~everything~, DON'T BREED IT. Yes, even disposition is, to some degree, inherited. You can't expect a good sire to overcome the genes of a dink mare. Nine times out of ten it's cheaper to buy a foal by the sire you want then to raise one, anyway, and you can usually buy one out of a better mare than you own. It's very time consuming and expensive to "breed up." If you're trying to improve your stock, the fastest, surest way is to sell what you have and buy better stock.

By the same token, if you have an exceptional mare, don't breed her to Joe Stud down the street thinking that she's going to produce something great. If your mare really is great, you can probably negotiate a discounted breeding to a really good sire. Only breed the best to the best.

I know someone out there is thinking, "But I just want a trail horse/4-H horse/buddy and I don't need those high-falutin' horsey ideals." All I can say is that I haven't set foot in a show ring for several years now, but I sure want the best looking, most willing, most athletic horse I can get my hands on to wander around the mountains on and chase cows.

Good looking, good moving, good minded horses aren't the exclusive provenance of the show horse world and the market for all disciplines supports that fact. If you want to breed horses, spend some time looking at the "sold" ads on Dreamhorse or other sales sites. Search by price and see if your horses measure up to horses selling in that price range. Search for similar horses to what you have and see what they are really selling for in your region.

Educate yourself. Knowledge is power and ignorance is no excuse.