Breeding on Type

"Whatever is in the pedigree will come out - nothing else can"   William States Jacob

Breeders have always bred for type - by  strengthening the mares strengths  ,  and attempting to correct faults in the mare with a stallion who is strong in these factors. This 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. 

Heidi Schlenker says “Breeding stallions and mares is a blend of mtDNA, structure and pedigree. It is not about luck or hype – it is the art and science of aligning structure, genetics and physiology to create an athlete that is capable and durable. You cannot just throw two flash pedigrees together and hope divine intervention fixes the pastern angles.” 

Anne Bowling, equine geneticist says " An appreciation of how genes are inherited, their variation within the breed and the inevitability of genetic trait reassortment with every individual in every generation -  will provide the critical foundation for sound breeding decisions."

Breeders should at least have a rudimentary knowledge of genetics and the laws of inheritance. 

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 – 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 generally do not 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.  Chance and luck 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 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 onto 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. 

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Logically we should aim to strengthen the mare's strengths with stallions who are strong in the same desirable characteristics in type 

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Breeding to correct faults is a different ball game – we need a stallion that does not double up on the same weaknesses – this is more achievable than expecting the stallion to fix several faults in the mare as well as strengthen her good points. 

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 horses this question is not that simple -   the phenotype which results from the interaction of allele pairs, the number of loci involved and the number of alleles at these loci is so far unknown.

Dominant genes will always  be displayed in the horse but may be paired a recessive allele that is masked - but could resurface 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, and 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 phenotype 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"

Prepotent Breeding Stock 

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 prepotent breeding mares often better themselves far beyond what is thought possible from their own phenotypes - but these mares are quite 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 faults.  

Historically there have been very few bloodstock agents in warmbloods to help point out their prepotent pedigrees and which mares to buy. Grand Prix Pedigrees will now offer this service.

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 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 regularly outproduced mares that had the better phenotype. 

The reason for this is they were very prepotent in their genotype and were therefore able to pass on the best characteristics of their superior bloodlines 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 prepotency  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.  

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.

Falkland’s pedigree is a good example of the type of dominance needed in a pedigree to become prepotent for setting type.  Mares with this type of potency should always be given a chance in the breeding shed even if their own phenotype is very plain -  they can produce types far beyond 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 horses with other 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.

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 - the horse must have the build and type to suit its job.

Dressage horses will not be served well by a downhill build or ewe neck  - where the rider is having to make constant adjustments to lift the front end.  

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 for little cost on the foals where required.

Or if a mare and her mother both have a very long weak croup, this could also be a fault carried in the mother line and will be very difficult to correct.  

Better research of both parents, grand parents, and horses up to the 6th generation of the pedigree - as well as  closely related horses -  will   result in a far more reliable method of breeding for type than just assessing strengths and weaknesses in the  parents phenotype