Breeding the Best to the Best

Breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best has always been the accepted philosophy, and logically this makes sense. Surely, breeding two champion horses together would give you the best chance of breeding another champion. Breeders of all animals have done this for centuries and many have spent a fortune doing this very thing.

Clark Shephard ” but here is the truth – that is a multi million dollar myth that costs breeders more than they would ever want to admit – this is breeding for marketability rather than performance.”

Jack Glengarry said “Breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best is a formula for lifelong mediocrity.”

A lot of the statistical research has been done in racing because that is where the money is. General research has shown that only 6% of horses bred for racing pay their way on the track. Of that 6%, roughly 6% of those actually become champions – so less than 1% of racehorses bred world wide every year will actually have a hope of making any money.

This is largely a result of the best to the best theory.

This figure runs true across all breeds of horse bred for any purpose.

Similarly as Australian Olympian Heath Ryan has always said, around 6% of warmbloods actually have the sport ability and talent themselves to perform the Grand Prix movements. When asked, many of the worlds best riders have agreed with this figure. It is not just training that enables a horse to reach the top of the sport, many do not have the ability themselves to attain this level, for a variety of reasons.

The ability for elite performance is an heritable characteristic – as a complex series of polygenic traits influenced by the combined effect of many gene variants. Genetics provide the athletic baseline, which then has to interact with the environment, developmental and soundness issues, training, as well as luck and chance.

The environment plays an equally important role in producing champions, and more so for dressage horses than show jumpers. The relationship between the rider and the horse is paramount for a horse to each the top.

Isabell Werth ” The right horse has to meet the right rider surrounded by the right team.”

In this way the ability for elite performance is not a tangible characteristic that can be made directly heritable. It relies on the perfect combination of genetic predisposition and the environment – and not just on having two elite parents who do not necessarily create the required genetic blend and propensity in the foals to create another champion.

Mostly two champion parents produce horses that tend towards the breed average – known as regression to the mean –  and not horses that are superior or anywhere near to their own talent and ability.

Very rarely does the foals ability come anywhere near that of the parents. If this was all it took to breed champions, it would be easy.

Taking a champion mare to a top champion stallion of the day – breeding the best to the best – has overall been a failure in terms of results .

Stacking Grand Prix stallions and top performers in a pedigree is no more a guarantee of success. An example would be a horse by Jazz / Rubinstein / Don Schufro / Indian Rock.

Similarly breeding with sires whose progeny have competed at the Olympic Games ,  is another way of just stacking GP stallions on top of each other.

One of the greatest disappointments for breeders is taking the top champion mare to the best stallions of the day and getting very average results.

There is a big difference between being a champion and being able to produce champions. Often a champion mare is unable to transmit those same qualities that made her great because she may have a loose pedigree structure with no close gene groupings of influential ancestors. Or even more likely, she was mated to the most commercial or in fashion stallion of the time, rather the one that complimented her genetically.

Clive Harper said “It is becoming increasingly clear that top horses are not made by having a collecting of top performing stallions in the pedigree.”