>>> OK, that data has to be measurable UNsubjective data, right?
The data would need to be 100% objective...AND, you'd have to be 100% sure that the trait (THE trait, not bunches of TRAITS) is inheritable. For instance, had we not worked with Hroi's upright pasterns and they hadn't settled correctly, you could predict how the pasterns of his foals (assuming Cary doesn't let me geld him!) would look. Why? It's believed that the condition he had at birth is based on the foal's position en utero, and isn't inherited. In other words, it's just the luck of the draw. It's an actual, physical condition, and it could have become a minor handicap (probably wouldn't have, but we didn't want to risk it), but it probably wouldn't have been passed on. Anyway, rump-sitting riders aren't passed along from stallion to get, so if the gait is influenced by rump-sitting...and it frequently is in the evaluations... then the data is no longer subjective and it most certainly isn't inheritable. And, strap-goods like dropped nosebands aren't passed along from mare to foal either. And I could go on...and on...and on... BLUP just falls apart any way you look at it. It's a BLUPper. Karen Thomas, NC
