Saturday, August 30, 2008

I do not care how nice it is...geld it ANYWAY!



Under normal circumstances, this Appaloosa stallion would be featured here as an example of something good to breed to. He's successful in both halter and performance. He trail rides. They can pony off of him which means he's not a rank bastard. He's probably an absolutely lovely horse to be around.

He should still be gelded. He is HYPP N/H.

They do realize this is bad. They address it by offering a negative HYPP guarantee - much like a live foal guarantee, you get a free breed back if the foal is positive. But you've still produced a positive foal. There's the problem.




"I’m Your Dreamfinder is HYPP N/H and we recommend testing the resulting foal for HYPP. If the foals is confirmed N/H or Positive for HYPP we will offer a return breeding with only mare care being charged in the case of live cover or chute fee in the case of shipped semen."

I am sure that by now this stallion has at least one stellar N/N colt on the ground. Right? So keep that as your stallion and geld this boy and enjoy riding him for the next twenty years. I am not bashing your stallion at all - except that he has a potentially fatal genetic defect. His athleticism and conformation need to continue - without the defect, through his N/N get that are already on the ground.

Do you really want to be responsible for this? Or this? Or this? I'm just asking you to think about that.

I know it seems like I harp on HYPP alot as opposed to other genetic defects but HYPP is kind of unique in that it would be so easy to eliminate it forever. All we have to do is stop breeding H/H and N/H horses. Period. Just stop breeding them. There's no other way for the disease to perpetuate itself. It doesn't skip generations and suddenly reappear. It hasn't been found to mutate out of nowhere. If 100% of our breeding was N/N to N/N, there would be no more HYPP. And there are a TON of nice N/N halter horses out there, more every day, so don't even start trying to tell me you can't buy a competitive halter horse who's negative.

P.S. And good Lord, people, how many times do I have to tell you? Impressive does not equal HYPP. There are lots of wonderful Impressive bred N/N horses that cannot suffer from or pass along HYPP. THOSE are the ones you buy, show and breed from. Like this APHA stallion, Impressive bred, HYPP N/N and absolutely lovely! (Watch the whole thing - they show him in all of his events, super nice versatile horse) Please stop running around like the paranoid mother of a kid who's got a HIV positive classmate, spewing misinformation about a disease you don't understand.