confirmation question breed or sale

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tough
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confirmation question breed or sale

Postby tough » Mon Sep 27, 2004 8:26 am

I have a 5yr old mare out of a mare with pretty good confirmation. Her dam carried her almost a full year, and both front feet turn to the right at the pasterns slightly. All siblings born were born with the mares confirmation. This 5yr old has not worked out at the track, attitude problem which is yet another story. What are the chances of her throwing a foal with bad confirmation and possibly a worse attitude? I appreciate any thoughts as I check out all avenues. Thanks, Tough

BJ
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Postby BJ » Mon Sep 27, 2004 5:33 pm

What's her name & breeding?

What you will get depends on so many things in relation to her bloodlines and any other conformation issues known to exist in her bloodlines, not just her particular pastern issues. If she developed her conformation issues due to overcrowding in the womb, due to overdue delivery date, she probably wouldn't pass it on to her foals, UNLESS an abnormally small womb or an abnormally large foal is really what happened, which COULD be a trait that is passed on. You may not know the answer to the question until you have a foal on the ground. But if you breed her, you will want to breed her to a stallion that has good conformation and traits that will enhance the mare's strengths and balance out her weaknesses.

I know of a mare who has huge, big boned foals that all seem to have schizo personalities. They are all beautiful and all seem to be able to run. So clearly, they are getting many traits directly from their dam.

Dave C
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Postby Dave C » Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:53 pm

You touched on my pet peeve here a little bit, so forgive me if I sound a little critical. Your mare turns out "slightly" at the pasterns and you consider that a significant conformational flaw for a racehorse. The pet peeve for me is that, to use an automotive analogy, your worrying about the wheel alignment without mentioning anything about what kind of motor (hind quarters) and transmission (shoulders) your horse has. If your mare doesn't have a powerful motor to generate speed and a compatible transmission to make use of that speed then she isn't worth breeding, regardless of her pedigree (mismatched motor/transmission can take a couple of generations of breeding to correct and IMO often results from a breeder sending a mare to a conformationally unsuitable but highly fashionable sire).

Take a good hard look at your mares racing critical conformation then give her name to the board and there will almost certainly be someone who gives you an opinion, whether it is well informed or not.

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madelyn
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Postby madelyn » Tue Sep 28, 2004 4:58 am

The conformation you refer to can be called "windswept", and there have been successful racehorses who were windswept. I would be more worried about temperament; if she is a true nutcase she may not make a good mother. Whatever, the resulting temperament of a foal will be very much affected by the mare's temperament.

tough
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Postby tough » Tue Sep 28, 2004 10:08 am

Thanks to all for your replies. The mares name is Cancuns Award by Academy Award out of Cancun Beach by Majesty's Prince. This horse is built nice from the ankles up. I would not say she has excellent confirmation. But over all balance from head to rear is fine. She likes to give handlers a hard time, sometimes biting, kicking, charging, and riders deal with bucking, and rearing. Depending on her mood and it doesn't happen everyday at the most 6 times a month and not necessarily during heat cycle. She doesn't want to be competitive. Will leave from gate fine finishes race last. Starts 6

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Postby jL » Tue Sep 28, 2004 5:39 pm

tough wrote:She likes to give handlers a hard time, sometimes biting, kicking, charging, and riders deal with bucking, and rearing. Depending on her mood and it doesn't happen everyday at the most 6 times a month and not necessarily during heat cycle.

Have you owned this mare all of her life? Discipline problems like those you've mentioned can often times (most times(?)) be traced directly to something done wrong by we mere humans. :D

A horse trainer once wrote a book called, "There are No Problem Horses, Only Problem Riders." This is probably the case more than we are willing to admit to ourselves or others IMO.

Don't get me wrong. I am in no way saying your mare's disciplinary problems aren't hers from birth. Just trying to give you something else to think about while you are considering this horse as a broodmare prospect.