Breeding For Type
Breeding based on type alone is risky and not usually successful in hybrid horses such as warmbloods.
“Whatever is in the pedigree will come out – nothing else can” William States Jacob.
Breeders have always bred for type , attempting to strengthen the mares strengths and correct faults in the mare with a stallion who is strong in these factors.
It is a very complex subject and does not fit neatly into the Mendelian concepts of dominant and recessive genes. You can read more about these terms in the Genetics section.
Breeders should at least have a rudimentary knowledge of genetics and the laws of inheritance.
Ann Bowling, equine geneticist says ” An appreciation of how genes are inherited, their variation within the breed and the inevitability of genetic trait re-assortment with every individual in every generation, will provide the critical foundation for sound breeding decisions.”
The genes which set type in horses are polygenic – the combined effect of multiple alleles at different loci determines the final phenotype, which are then subject to the environment.
Warmbloods are a hybrid breed where one horse can be comprised of several different breeds – Hanoverian, Holstein, TB, Arab, Dutch and Trotter blood. Hybrids are heterozygotes, they do not have homozygous gene pairs.
As a result, they do not generally breed true to type. As breeders we are thwarted by this hybrid factor, as well as the recombination of genes, genetic variation and the randomness of inheritance. Luck and probabilities are factors in all carefully planned matings. All matings are determined by what part of the parent’s gene pool is actually inherited, leading to great variety in the offspring.
Breeding two horses that are phenotypically similar but are not genetically related will usually not produce the same desired traits in the foal, and will reduce the chance of them being passed on to the next generation.
Breeding for conformation as the main factor is a risk. The foal does not blend in its conformation as a good mix of both parents. The parents traits are not averaged out in the foal. A short-necked mare and a long-necked stallion are not going to give you a medium length neck in the foal. It is possible that the foal will inherit the worst conformation faults of each parent.
At this stage of scientific discovery, we do not know which genetics set the faults in the parents. The best map we have of the genetics is the pedigree.
Logically we should aim to strengthen the mare’s strengths with stallions who are strong in the same desirable characteristics in type and this should be a goal in every mating. Breeding to correct faults is much more difficult. A stallion that does not double up on the same weaknesses is far more achievable than expecting the stallion to fix several faults in the mare as well as strengthen her good points.
Recessive Genes
Most horses will inherit and express recessive genes in their phenotype. If both parents have similar recessive genes, the foal may inherit a completely different type and temperament not normally seen in these bloodlines and families. If the foal does not display the desired characteristics of the parents, then it inherited its genes from other parts of the parent’s pedigree.
It is not easy to identify which horses in the pedigree affect a particular trait just by looking at the parents physically.
Ernie Bailey from the Gluck Equine Research centre said ” The question for breeders is, does a single allele cause a change in the phenotype?”
In dog breeders, and other animals that are mainly bred for type , a program of selective inbreeding and heavy linebreeding is followed, which allows for more homozygous sets of gene pairs to be created that will allow for the creation of a certain type. Breeding dogs teaches us alot more about breeding for type than breeding horses does – there is a short gestation period, then 8 weeks before rehoming , plus you may well have ten full siblings to compare, and are able to pick the one that displays the desired traits.
In sport horses these questions are not that simple because we are mainly breeding for performance and a functional conformation to facilitate that performance. The horses phenotype results from the interaction of allele pairs and the number of loci involved. The number of alleles at these loci is so far unknown. Dominant genes will always be displayed in the horse but may be paired with a recessive allele that is masked, and could resurface as a surprise in the next generation.
You cannot assume that just because a horse has a particularly good shoulder angle, that this is the result of a double dominant gene that will be passed on. Only by studying that horse’s progeny and other close relatives in the pedigree is it possible to gain clues on which traits could be likely to be passed on. It is not uncommon for a foal to resemble a remote ancestor, particularly if that ancestor is an inbred horse present with other close relatives in the pedigree.
This may result in the foal resembling a grandparent or dam sire. Genes travel down through the generations unchanged (except for mutations). So creating many multiples of a particular ancestor and their close relatives can influence and set type in your foals, which is how they can resemble horses far back in their pedigrees.
Mother nature and genetic variation constantly bring in recessive genes to make the horse better adapted for survival and changing environments, as well as mutations to ensure natural selection for the survival of the species. Often these new traits are not desirable in making the horse better suited to performance and athleticism, or can result in the horse losing desirable characteristics.
Therefore, it can be very difficult to plan matings based on type alone. The phenotype gives only limited clues to what is lurking in the genotype. It is the genotype which will determine what is expressed in the foal – what the foal will actually look like – and what characteristics will be displayed in the foal’s type, along with how it interacts with the environment.
Kathleen Kirsan – “For a talent (or a conformation point) to manifest in a horse it must first be present in the pedigree”.
Using Pedigree along with Phenotype
It can also be true, due to reasons discussed above, that horses with the best phenotype will not always be the best breeding stock. These stunning types could simply be the lucky recipient of the best gene interactions of the parents, but may be unlikely to pass on their own traits.
Good pre-potent breeding mares often better themselves far beyond what is thought possible from their own phenotypes, but these mares are fairly rare, and how is the average breeder to recognise them? These mares may not score well at mare shows or association days as they can be plain looking with some flaws.
Historically there have been very few bloodstock agents in warmbloods to help point out their pre-potent pedigrees, and which mares and fillies to buy for breeding purposes.
Often these prepotent diamonds do not even get the chance to breed or are sold at vastly reduced prices. The German broodmare auctions show this trend. The glamorous black mare with fashionable sire and dam sire but no genetic dominance brings top dollar, while the plainer chestnut mare from the top dam line and the more genetically compatible pedigree sells for one quarter of the price.
The old Fourwinds mares by the imported stallion Falkland were like this – small plain brown pigeon toed mares that regularly had the best foals each year at the Belcam stud auctions. They routinely outproduced mares that had the better phenotype. The is because they were very pre-potent in their genotype and were therefore able to pass on the best characteristics of their superior ancestors in terms of type and ability.
Falkland is 2 x 2 to three quarter siblings Annalies and Lopshorn, and is 3 x 3 to Loretto out of First mares at 4 x 4. These bloodlines have proven themselves over and over as super reliable transmitters of sport talent and athleticism in producing top horses in dressage and showjumping. Siblings in the very powerful position of 2 x 2 have an excellent chance of passing on the best characteristics of Loretto and First. Loretto has an extra duplication which can be seen on the 5th generation , and Elegant is at 5 x 5 x 5.
Where a horse, in this case Loretto, has his background bloodlines reinforced elsewhere in the pedigree like this, it strengthens the front line push of any inbreeding or line breeding, and adds to the likelihood of inheritance.
If you have a mare with Falkland in her pedigree consider yourself lucky , there are ways to refocus and reinforce that bloodline in your foals.
Many stallions in both jump and dressage carry the sire Farnese and close relatives – examples are Sir Donnerhall, Landadel, Ampere, El bundy, Krack C, Carneval, Sezuan, Queens Park Wendy, Fame. The Loretto/First patterns are still appearing via close relatives in top horses today including Olympic horses and Holstein jumping horses.
Mares with this type of potency should be given a chance in the breeding shed even if their own phenotype is very plain , as they can produce types far beyond any expectations.
How to improve type/conformation
If you are trying to fix a particular desired trait in your foal then it is important that both parents and grandparents have this feature, and it is also displayed by other horses with similar pedigrees. If you are trying to set a particular neck set or shoulder angle you can also linebreed to ancestors which display this same trait.
Using stallions that are prepotent for setting type would be advisable, in consultation with the pedigree of your mare.
As breeders we are mainly chasing sport ability and athletic performance, and our horses need a functional conformation to achieve this. Conformation is intrinsically linked to performance, and the horse must have the build and type to suit its job. This is further discussed in the Conformation section.
Sometimes certain conformation faults seem to be set into the mother line. If a mare is pigeon toed and her mother and grandmother were also, then it is more than likely all her foals will have this fault no matter the legs of the stallion. Do not throw away a good mare for this. If she regularly produces good sport horses, periostal strips can be performed on the foal at a small cost.
If a mare and her mother both have a serious issue such as a long weak croup or weak sacro-iliac placement, this could also be a fault carried in the mother line and will be very difficult to correct. Faults which can take several generations to fix are probably not worth it.
Better research of both parents, grand parents, and horses up to the 6th generation of the pedigree, as well as closely related horses, and using balanced feeding techniques, will result in a far more reliable method of breeding for type than just assessing strengths and weaknesses in the parents phenotype.