Post by karismakigers on Jan 20, 2009 19:57:28 GMT -5
While cruising the internet I found an interesting article: NORTH AMERICAN COLONIAL SPANISH HORSE UPDATE, May 2003 by D. Phillip Sponenberg, DVM, PhD.
www.frontiernet.net/~RanchoTamarisque/Sponenberg2003update.htm
I'll provide some snippets here for discussion fodder:
"The original Spanish type was probably more variable, including some horses with higher set tails, broader chests, and rounder conformation generally. "
These techniques [bloodtyping & DNA typing] have some limitations in that no breed or herd is uniform for the presence of what are generally considered to be ìIberianî markers (or bloodtypes). These techniques do offer great help in verifying the initial results of historic and phenotypic analysis, but are by themselves insufficient to arrive at a final conclusion."
"Recently some conservationists have mistakenly concluded that Iberian bloodtype variants can be the basis for deciding which horses of a population are more (or less) Spanish in origin. Due to the inheritance pattern of these markers it is easily possible for an absolutely pure Colonial Spanish Horse to have missed inheriting any of the Iberian markers. It is likewise possible for a crossbred horse to have inherited several. "
"Therefore, conformational type is a more important factor than bloodtype, and will always remain so."
" It is impossible to determine the relative percentage of Spanish breeding in a horse through bloodtyping."
"The feral horses from the Kiger region in Oregon are usually included in discussions of Colonial Spanish Horses. These are feral horses that are selected to be dun, grullo, or red dun. These are managed both in the feral herds and in herds of private breeders. The excess horses from the range herds are periodically rounded up and adopted to interested buyers. The conformation of horses in the herds is currently somewhat variable. Some are still of more traditional Spanish type, but others are smoother and taller than the usual Spanish type of conservation interest. This conformation could result either from crossbreeding in the past, or from selection within the original Spanish base. Either way, the taller, smoother type is somewhat less useful to Spanish horse conservation than is the more distinctly Colonial Spanish type which also exists in the herds. Of all the groups of North American Colonial Spanish horses of conservation interest, the Kiger is most remote from the others in terms of type and in terms of conservation philosophy of the breeders. It nonetheless stands as a strain of Colonial Spanish horse, although its history and its conformation point to the importance of breeders continuing to select for the distinctive Colonial Spanish type instead of away from it."
www.frontiernet.net/~RanchoTamarisque/Sponenberg2003update.htm
I'll provide some snippets here for discussion fodder:
"The original Spanish type was probably more variable, including some horses with higher set tails, broader chests, and rounder conformation generally. "
These techniques [bloodtyping & DNA typing] have some limitations in that no breed or herd is uniform for the presence of what are generally considered to be ìIberianî markers (or bloodtypes). These techniques do offer great help in verifying the initial results of historic and phenotypic analysis, but are by themselves insufficient to arrive at a final conclusion."
"Recently some conservationists have mistakenly concluded that Iberian bloodtype variants can be the basis for deciding which horses of a population are more (or less) Spanish in origin. Due to the inheritance pattern of these markers it is easily possible for an absolutely pure Colonial Spanish Horse to have missed inheriting any of the Iberian markers. It is likewise possible for a crossbred horse to have inherited several. "
"Therefore, conformational type is a more important factor than bloodtype, and will always remain so."
" It is impossible to determine the relative percentage of Spanish breeding in a horse through bloodtyping."
"The feral horses from the Kiger region in Oregon are usually included in discussions of Colonial Spanish Horses. These are feral horses that are selected to be dun, grullo, or red dun. These are managed both in the feral herds and in herds of private breeders. The excess horses from the range herds are periodically rounded up and adopted to interested buyers. The conformation of horses in the herds is currently somewhat variable. Some are still of more traditional Spanish type, but others are smoother and taller than the usual Spanish type of conservation interest. This conformation could result either from crossbreeding in the past, or from selection within the original Spanish base. Either way, the taller, smoother type is somewhat less useful to Spanish horse conservation than is the more distinctly Colonial Spanish type which also exists in the herds. Of all the groups of North American Colonial Spanish horses of conservation interest, the Kiger is most remote from the others in terms of type and in terms of conservation philosophy of the breeders. It nonetheless stands as a strain of Colonial Spanish horse, although its history and its conformation point to the importance of breeders continuing to select for the distinctive Colonial Spanish type instead of away from it."
