Hints for breeding for color (((((?????)))))

[Jorge]

Dear Collaborators,

I shared these thoughs with a group of colleagues as an answer to the topic of great horses foaled after one year breeding hiatus and would like to share my opinion with you.

"Some people may disagree, but I have learned of the importance of applying rules of rest to creatures and crops. The book of Leviticus, Chapter 25, verses 2 and 3 reads: "Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; (4) But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, not prune thy vineyard." For me it means that whether or not you are religious or counting years, all creatures and crops need a rest to recover from biological stress. And that's a fact not superstition.That's the reason why many religious farmers in Pennsylvania ---who happen to be prosperous too---- wait a year and then rotate their farm lands and don't have to recurr to fertilizers and reduce many costs. In my opinion, whenever any given measure of this rule is applied, the results will be seen for the benefice of the user. Six years of labor and one of rest is the most intensive rule of thumb but you can be more liberal and apply more rests. For me, Jay's list comes as no surprise at all. Its all a matter of believing in the virtue of this principles.

I have seen applied the principle Genesis 30, from verse 37: And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. (38) And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. (39) And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted. (40) And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.(41) And it came to pass, whensoever the strongest cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.(42) But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's."

The practical application of this principle is to place a large photograph of an example of the color of the foal you are trying to achieve in front of the female's eyes when being bred and when at her stall for she to see constantly. There are psychological studies done on the importance of the visual impressions and stimulus received through the eyes during conception and pregnancy that suggests that the odds are increased depending on what the female eyes were looking during this critical time. In fact there has been cases of adopted people who were practically conceived and nurtured while the mother was in jail and they later were adopted and never knew they were conceived in jail. Many of these people become unusually interested in studyng the environment of prisons and they don't know why until they are later acknowledged that they were practicall born in prison. This is a serious scientific. Of course you cannot overcome the rules of genetic principles, which are also scientific, but I am convinced that this approach increase the chances in favor of what you are looking for. Want to try it? Personally I have seen it achieved successfully in long-odds cases."

Do you want to share your experince, or pose an opinion?

All the Best,

[Bondama]

Fascinating stuff Jorge. I know a lot of people discount biblical principles as "outdated" or "archaic", even to the point of saying the bible is no more than a book of stories written by men. Being a Christian, I don't believe that. I try very hard to live my life in accordance with the bible and its directives. I don't always succeed, but I do try! And I find the older I get and the harder I try, the more I do succeed!! God has a plan for each life he creates, both human and animal. Is it any wonder he gives clues and step by step directions for daily life? The bible is a wonderful "how to" book, and your observations are merely an extension of that.

Whether the rod thing would apply to horses as well as to sheep? In theory, it would make sense, as well as the resting each 7th year. This would be a wonderful case study for someone with the resources and the desire.

I'm just a little hesitant on the photographs idea, however. I have to be honest!! I don't think that the mare has that much control!! Just an opinion and worth all of the two cents.

Thank you for your bravery in making this post, too. I notice you take quite a bit of heckling for some of your theories, however, with 2/3 of this one, I think you're spot on.

[pembroke]

Amen to you Jorge and Bondama! I too find, that the older I get, the more I am depending on Gods word to get me thru. How did I ever make it without that guidance? I will never know.

Let them heckle Jorge! The lord loves hecklers too!

[surprisewind]

I haven't tried the photo yet, but I do TELL my mare what she is going to have. Every day I say to her stomach "COLT. GREY. HIGH WHITE STOCKINGS." It's like a mantra.

[Jorge]

Have you ever tried before going to sleep saying to yourself, "I want to get up tomorrow at certain specific hour" and it occurrs consistently. It works. Do you think it occurrs by chance? Think again!. By the same token if you apply His rules you will get results, but you have to have faith, not mere optimism. Its more a matter of trust in God.

Apropos this topic, dont miss to read the following article which appeared on the April 16, 2007 (page 44) edition of Time magazine: "Einstein and Faith" by Walter Isaacson.

Wonderful article!

All the Best,

[summerhorse]

I think if this worked there would never be a solid paint or appy foaled ever.

[Regal Pleasure]

I think if this worked there would never be a solid paint or appy foaled ever.

You are SO right.

[Jorge]

The natural world is filled with so many wonders to ponder on, yet the knowledge of the human being is still a small fraction compared with God's mind. Albeit the gap between God's knowledge and that of humans is quite evident, INTUITION helps a lot where human knowledge encounter limits. For that reason Albert Einstein once quoted that "imagination is more important than knowledge". Here a true story:

There was a tribe in Africa that periodically suffered a terrible plague of certain flies (millions of them) that greatly affected their health and living. They developed various sort of religious rituals they felt decimated the flies. The rituals were all based on religious beliefs and worked perfectly. Later scientists studying the plague discovered that the problem had aroused because a certain local small fish whose diet consisted on the eggs that the flies dropped in the water, were being decimated by another, more larger fish that had been introduced to the their waters by the settlers. The method used by the tribe was more esoteric and intuitive than scientific, but unbeknown to them it had a stopping effect on the larger fish, thus helping the smaller fish to survive and decimate the flies' eggs and save the tribe. The same thing happens with many connoisseurs who simply discard ocassional intuitive methods employed by simple people just because they cannot explain to themselves how it worked.

One of the reason I think Federico Tesio didn't like to share his methods was because, in addition to his private pedigree theories, he was very intuitive, perhaps superstitious. Of course many of his rationales arched several eyebrows, but at the end of the equation he managed to achieve "sui-generis" greatness.

The bottom line here is not to close the possibility to the methods such as the cited in books like the Bible.

[Bondama]

Jorge, your last post could be summed up with 1 Corinthians 1:27.

"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."