Updating Dosage Research

Patuxet · Postby **Patuxet** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:52 pm

The current (Dec. 13) issue of Thoroughbred Times contains an especially interesting article by John Sparkman. In it he provides an historical overview of dosage and then details the results of a recent study to quantify the cumulative generational influences of important horses in the pedigrees of recent winners of a selection of important US stakes races.

As Sparkman puts it, "For a modern breeder who wishes to utilize a system based on Vuillier, the problem lies in how to determine which horses should be used as chefs-de-race and how to incorporate the insights of Varola and Roman and improve the system."

karenkarenn · Postby **karenkarenn** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 1:39 pm

Hello Patuxet
I read that article and I have right infront of me and I dont understand it one bit. Any Help?
Karen

Patuxet · Postby **Patuxet** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:49 pm

Karen: I've sent you a PM.

Archer

Roger · Postby **Roger** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:27 pm

I liked that article too. The major point that we forget is that in the begining Vuilier was trying to plan matings whose pedigrees matched successful horses. It was a left field approach to nicking in a way. I had never understood his approach like that before. We tend to look at dosage now as a means of determining what a horse's best distance is. I hope more of us will share our understanding on this subject.

karenkarenn · Postby **karenkarenn** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:02 pm

Roger
Can you explain it too?
Karen

Roger · Postby **Roger** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:09 pm

karenkarenn wrote:Roger
Can you explain it too?
Karen

Start with the first question you have and I will try.

karenkarenn · Postby **karenkarenn** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 3:35 pm

Roger
That is my only question.
Explain his theory in laymens terms.
Karen

Roger · Postby **Roger** » Wed Dec 24, 2008 7:32 pm

The article deals with 4 or 5 theories and each one is related to the concept of dosage. Who are you interested in Vuillier, Varola, Roman, Galton, or the author's. Table 2 is just numbers indicating how many times one of those horses appear in a pedigree and where they are located in that pedigree.

Roger · Postby **Roger** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 3:24 pm

Look in the Stallion Book from TT's on page 25, there is an excellent explanation there.

Roger · Postby **Roger** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:36 pm

One of the big problems I have with dosage according to Roman is the using of only four generations. Most of the time, if you go back one genertion, the profile is changed considerably go back to the sixth and it changes even more. Vuillier went back to 12 generations and that is too many.
Someone once told me that they like dosage because the better the chance of getting a high class horse. I think we should be able to see that in looking at the pedigree. My quesion was and is do big names up close in a pedigree really make any difference.