Closing the
Loopholes
© 2010 Roxanne Rogers
"The Elephant in the Room",
created a bit of a stir so I decided to continue with this theme
and address the "loopholes". Kathy Smoke is doing a
great job heading the Arabian Jockey Club
and giving generously of her time and effort. The Registry seems
to have little interest in
Arabian racing, therefore funds are limited for the Jockey Club
and the wheels turn slowly but
Kathy's (AJC's) proposal of a second DNA test at the racetrack
by the racetrack vet or tattooer
would be a great first step and I strongly hope to see this implemented.
The second test would
help to eliminate the people who are splitting their semen shipments
between an Arab mare and
a Thoroughbred mare, sending in the DNA from the Arab and then
drawing the markings from
the Thoroughbred cross. Of course shipped semen was one of the
worse things that happened
to the breed in my opinion but I can see no way to reverse it.
Now we have offspring from a
small handful of popular stallions and the gene pool is getting
smaller and smaller. The
Thoroughbreds have maintained live cover for centuries for many
reasons and I completely
agree with this practice however the point is moot now that pandora's
box is opened. I
understand that some breeders/owners are unhappy with the second
DNA proposal because of
cost. This is just ridiculous. If you cannot afford the cost of
a second DNA test then why do
you own horses? It's a tiny price to pay for peace of mind.
As for a DNA test to prove the purity of bloodlines, I have heard
some talk that they are closer
to this possibility in Europe. At this point it is conjecture
and talk but I am quite sure that a test
should be available soon to at least determine if a large percentage
of Thoroughbred or Quarter
Horse blood is present. This prospect is not only relevant to
Arabian racehorses but also to
Arabian showhorses with regards to Saddlebred blood. I went to
an Arab show last year just to
man a racing booth but those showhorses they are calling purebreds
look an awful lot like
National showhorses instead, to me. I am sure we have all heard
the rumours and stories. One
thing that large breeders forget is that they need grooms to run
such big operations and it's
impossible to hide everything from the help and the help talks.
Of course, people will make things
up. but when a story is passed around and it maintains its original
integrity over the course of
decades there just may be something to it.
Most people jump to the conclusion that I am referencing French
horses but I am not targeting
French horses with this purity question at all. If French Arabs
have some Thoroughbred blood
it's so far back as to be unimportant to me. And in point of fact
there really is no such thing as a
pureblood Arab anyway. The desert records are not as meticulous
as the Al Khamsa people claim
and we all know the story of Hidalgo. Occasionally an Arab foal
is born that has enough white to
be registered as a pinto as well as an Arab for instance. When
Russian Arabians first came on the
scene everyone said they were not purebred and there was some
political tap dancing to get
them registered here. The same with Polish Arabians. I remember
a German guy, constantly
grinding on Dad about this purity issue with the Polish Arabs
and Dad ignoring him for the most
part until one day he simply said to this guy, "Well if the
Poles did mix some other blood in they
did a damn fine job". The German guy bred Blue List/Blue
Star Arabs that looked like little desert
rats with every conformation flaw in the book so at some point
we have to just turn our backs on
the question as to whether this or that country's horses are the
most pure or muddied and simply
breed the best horses we can with the horses we have. I have never
seen any better Arabians in
my life than what they have in France. The problem I and many
others have is with the immediate
crossing out to Thoroughbred and/or Quarter Horses here in North
America. When I see a
domestic Arab coming from a truly obscure pedigree who stands
16 hands and wins everything by
12 lengths under a strangle hold then my and many other's suspicions
cannot help but to be
raised. It's especially alarming when dams mysteriously die before
a second blood test can be
performed or other dam's ancestry is unknown after the 1950's.
I cannot imagine any Arabian's
parentage being unverifiable in the '50's and the registry issuing
papers on said horse. It's a bit of
a scandalous farce in my opinion. All the Polish and French pedigrees
I research go back to an
original Desert Bred somewhere about two centuries ago and stop
there. If there are records
about the original desert breds they are of no interest to me
as it is just too far back to mean
anything. This issue of purity is a very complex problem but the
solution as mapped out in the
October 25th AJC race committee meeting seem quite logical and
elegant. It would be superb if
Genex Labs can go even further back than just immediate sire and
dam but I am afraid at this
juncture what's done is done. The question really is one of at
what point should we become
enraged over the issue? Should we be concerned with something
the Poles, the Russians, the
French, a Sheik or Lady Wentworth may have done decades or a perhaps
even a century ago, or
should we concern ourselves with the immediate scoundrels in our
midst? I am more concerned
with the problems we face here and now rather than split hairs
about a distant past that is
unknowable. As for imports that are of concern I look not at the
French but a lot further east.
However, there is one notable thing about the suspicious horses.
They eventually reveal
themselves by breeding out in about three to four generations;
with little or no strength in the
balance of the pedigree the non-Arabian blood loses its clout.
As breeders we have the ability
and the duty to inform ourselves and make the best decisions that
we can. I am sure a second
DNA test would give those of us who wish to play fair a better
outlook on the sport and at least
start cutting the cheaters off at the pass. These people take
the joy right out of racing and
sooner or later everyone will either quit or join but the playing
field will become smaller and smaller
as it already has. It's difficult enough to get new people involved
in racing but with this stigma of
Thoroughbred "ringers" attached it makes the entire
package very unattractive and brings out
people's worst fears about the racetrack: that it is a hotbed
of crime. Until a test for purity becomes
available please let's do all we can to get the second DNA test
going as soon as possible so we can
at least prevent any new partbreds masquerading as purebreds.
Tanglewood
Breeders of Polish and French Arabian Horses and Thoroughbred
Racehorses
RR1
New Noway, Alberta
Canada T0B 3L0
Tel (780) 352-6413
roxannerogers13@gmail.com
This document © 2010 Roxanne
Rogers, all rights reserved.
