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Registries Revisited, Part I
I’ve always thought of registration papers as having three main values:
- They prove that a horse belongs to X breed, or at least is X type.
- They provide a way to track performance and lineage.
- They allow the horse to compete in breed shows.
In other words, every breed has their ideal breed characteristics. Even allowing for the fact that the differences within a breed may be greater than the differences between one breed and another, the idea is that the average horse of breed X should fit breed X’s characteristics. If not, there’s something wrong with the breed registry as far as I’m concerned, because it’s lost track of what type of horse it’s supposed to be producing. There’s value, to me, in knowing that the horse I’m looking at is X breed, because that provides with me with some framework for my expectations. The individual horse may fall outside the framework, but knowing the breed gives me a place to start.
From there, if you know pedigree, you can start tracking performance and sometimes conformation expectations. This line is known to excel at jumping; that line is known to excel at dressage; this line produces superior cutting horses; that line has a history of champion halter horses. Or good feet, weak loins, a great shoulder, or wild eyes. Breeding is always a gamble, and what looks good on paper can be a dud—or what looks dull as dust on paper can turn out to be an international-class star—but, again, in general proven and documented pedigree and performance provides the closest thing we have to a crystal ball into the horse’s likely future.
The breed show aspect I’ve never been involved with, other than knowing there is a lot of money in breed shows.
For people who are set on showing breed shows the registration papers are required, whereas for people who are geared more towards open shows the papers become an indicator of talent but the lack of papers on a horse wouldn’t necessarily preclude it from consideration. And even there—if I am looking at two horses who are pretty similar in conformation and ability, I will buy the registered horse because, even if I don’t plan to resell, it will be easier to market the registered horse down the line.
Now, in all honesty, when I go horse shopping I am not going to have a very high spending limit, and most of the horses I will end up looking at will probably be grade horses and/or breeds that, on paper, are not ideal for what I want to do. I will be looking for the exception to the breed standards, and conformation and movement of the horse in front of me is going to end up mattering a whole lot more than whether or not the horse is registered. I will not buy (or not buy) a horse because it is (or isn’t) registered.
But if registry and/or pedigree information is available? I’ll certainly use it as a starting point for deciding which horses to look at first. Not because it guarantees anything—but because it helps stack the odds a little more in my (and the horse’s) favor.
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On Jan 7, 2008, mrs mom said:
I agree- papers are a good way to know an indicator of POTENTIAL talent. Also, in the case of “some” breeds, it is a good way to investigate and find out if the horse you are looking at will have genetic predisposition to certian health disorders. When you “buy blind”, you are taking risks as there are j*rks out there who will knowingly sell a horse with issues, and hold the papers so that potential buyers can not investigate what they are buying.
Sure makes horse shopping interesting these days!