We complain about ignorance when breeding conformationally "defective" horses and the consequences to the horses this causes. We complain about
people just breeding for color/ coat patterns but be never talk about the consequences of breeding for certain colors. The colors I'm talking about are
grey and cremello/ perlino. These colors have adverse reaction to the overall health of the animal.
If you look at a herd of wild horses (mustangs), you will mostly find bays and chestnuts. Natural selection has wiped out double dilutes and greys that well grey. You can occasionally find a grey but these are ones that remain relatively grey. I worked for a farm that stood a beautiful cremello welsh stallion, he deserved to be a stallion for traits other than just his coat color, this horse however had to stay in the stall literally 24/7 he only got a short turn out at night, as a result he was much more uptight about being handled than the chestnut welsh stallion. The cremello was bred to palominos in hopes to breed another cremello... My question is why? So that this foal too could stand in the stall for most of her life. She'll never act like a real horse because she might sunburn.
My point? Nature whiped out double dilutes. Which would a cougar take down first? The blinding all white horse or the dark brown one?
About greys, they dont have to stand in a stall 24/7 because of their skin color, but they have such a high rate of melanoma. Why the hell if you knew that your horse had such a high rate of cancer why would you breed, so that it can pass on its greying gene to its foal? I've known three greys in my life 2 were older white mares that had melanomas, one who was a conformational train wreak, which is more true for the fact that her back was as long as a train, the other has melanomas so big that she cant bend her head down to graze, all her forage has to be elevated. The other? A three year old gelding that was almost black.
The farm I boarded at, which contained BYB galore, and I have since moved, bred this train like grey horse with melanomas. Why? Because greys are SO PRETTY! Yeah they are but when you cant ride them anymore because their melanomas interfere, where are you now? They have determined they are going to breed a bay mare who is due in JUNE to a grey stallion, for hopes of another grey. This mare, is an OTTB registered as an Oldenburg, that has contracted feet, chipped knees and the most God awful neck. The poor thing is also still ridden even though she is due in two months. The thing doesn't deserve to have her uterus.
So think about it, nature would have wiped out the greying gene and genetic complications associated with some genomes. So horses that grey fast wont survive and those that do will develop melanomas and quickly be killed because they will be slowed down by tumors.
So why do we have to create pretty colors. for the sake of the horse?
Also I have never seen any overo, wild horses only captive. I have only seen tobiano paints... is that because of sunburned faces and blue eyes? Who knows.
If you look at a herd of wild horses (mustangs), you will mostly find bays and chestnuts. Natural selection has wiped out double dilutes and greys that well grey. You can occasionally find a grey but these are ones that remain relatively grey. I worked for a farm that stood a beautiful cremello welsh stallion, he deserved to be a stallion for traits other than just his coat color, this horse however had to stay in the stall literally 24/7 he only got a short turn out at night, as a result he was much more uptight about being handled than the chestnut welsh stallion. The cremello was bred to palominos in hopes to breed another cremello... My question is why? So that this foal too could stand in the stall for most of her life. She'll never act like a real horse because she might sunburn.
My point? Nature whiped out double dilutes. Which would a cougar take down first? The blinding all white horse or the dark brown one?
About greys, they dont have to stand in a stall 24/7 because of their skin color, but they have such a high rate of melanoma. Why the hell if you knew that your horse had such a high rate of cancer why would you breed, so that it can pass on its greying gene to its foal? I've known three greys in my life 2 were older white mares that had melanomas, one who was a conformational train wreak, which is more true for the fact that her back was as long as a train, the other has melanomas so big that she cant bend her head down to graze, all her forage has to be elevated. The other? A three year old gelding that was almost black.
The farm I boarded at, which contained BYB galore, and I have since moved, bred this train like grey horse with melanomas. Why? Because greys are SO PRETTY! Yeah they are but when you cant ride them anymore because their melanomas interfere, where are you now? They have determined they are going to breed a bay mare who is due in JUNE to a grey stallion, for hopes of another grey. This mare, is an OTTB registered as an Oldenburg, that has contracted feet, chipped knees and the most God awful neck. The poor thing is also still ridden even though she is due in two months. The thing doesn't deserve to have her uterus.
So think about it, nature would have wiped out the greying gene and genetic complications associated with some genomes. So horses that grey fast wont survive and those that do will develop melanomas and quickly be killed because they will be slowed down by tumors.
So why do we have to create pretty colors. for the sake of the horse?
Also I have never seen any overo, wild horses only captive. I have only seen tobiano paints... is that because of sunburned faces and blue eyes? Who knows.
