On 2/12/08, Skye and Sally ~Fire Island <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Well if humans never crossed any horses we certainley would never > have many of the good ole Southern gaited breeds that are wonderful. > Most of the horses in the world would not exist. What about hybrid > vigor? >
thats why I like mules :) and they can't reproduce to negate the "vigor". I like the way the McCurdys were bred... behind the plantation heirarchy, where fancy people were breeding fancy horses owned by other fancy people, slaves were quietly, among themselves, slipping around breeding the best horses, the most naturally gaited with the most agreeable temperaments, to each other. They weren't breeding for hot tempered show horses, they were breeding ol solomon's sweet loving smooth as silk mare to ol Jed's sweet loving smooth as silk riding stallion. Then the original McCurdy, I forget if its lewis or ed or whatever, he starts riding his horse "Doctor" every year from Selma to Montgomery to show him off at the state fair. Thats quite a distance for a horse ride, many opportunities along the way for people to stand and watch a fine looking smooth gaited horse go by. A lot of people started breeding to him and you have the many many registered McCurdys that are also registered TWHBEA. "McCurdy's Doctor" is also a foundation horse of the TWHBEA breed. But at the same time, the breed was also progressing behind the scenes in the "unoffical" way among the plantation help. As such a lot of people will say the finest McCurdys are the ones not registered. Because they were bred for a nearly singleness of purpose. I have nothing against people breeding two separate breeds except for the sad dilemma of people trying to sell these crosses, especially mixing gaited and nongaited. . Its hard to sell a cross of a gaited horse as a youngster because even the finest bloodlines of any gaited breed can result in non gaited offspring and you will never EVER know what its gonna do under saddle til its ridden. I dont have anything against UNREGISTERED purebred offspring. But I think all horses should be bred considering what a person wants in order for it to be most desirable and ending up in a loving forever home. I know enough about gaited horses to know you have a percentage of non gaited come up even when breeding purebred. So if looking for a gaited horse, why on earth would you dilute that further? I have ridden with some walkaloosas and they were fine gaited with gorgeous color. Two actually. Made me wonder how many hundreds are out there that aren't gaited, with lousy color, unwanted and miserable. Janice-- courage is being scared to death...and saddling up anyway--John Wayne
