British Breeding

[trelawnyhorses1]

there are obviously many people on here who are totally dedicated to british breeding, and others who support the importation of horses on the continent, so just wondering what ur views n feelings r on this subject??

 

[Sarah_Jane]

I am not over fussy on whether a horse is bred in Britian or abroad.

I do worry that too often in this country if a mare has gone lame or is unsuitable tempermentally we stick it in foal. We should be a little more selective with what we breed from. However there are some fantastic horses being bred in this country.

 

[trelawnyhorses1]

defiantly agrree with u, about breeding out of lame mares or mares wiv heriditary defects, but i think this is partly due to their owners ignorance and not being eductated enough about it

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

I am on the fence in a way i'm afraid lol, i think our british breeds are fab and i think foreign horses are also great, all have their merits. When it comes to buying i would more likely buy british as it were as i love our native cobby types, i love many breeds of horse in the world, but if i had to choose, it would be a cobby type

 

[Torryvald]

I agree that some people bred from unsuitable mares in this country, however my TB is pure British bred and I like the feeling that I have bought a bit of British history and heritage.

 

[magic104]

When the WB's were at the height of fashion in the 80's we had people importing the rejects from abroad. This was because the fad was to own a WB. Did not seem to matter that they were being bred in the UK. We had a Holstein stallion that had failed his grading in Holland, but they could not understand why the BWBS would not grade him. A Gelderland X, that was a sweatheart but had some confirmation issues, & another Holstein that has temperment problems. Until recently when it was sold on we had the most dipped back mare I have ever seen & it was a branded Gelderland!! Now I was always under the impression that these sorts were put in the meat chain, obviously not if us British are happy to buy them! I dont have an issue with foreign bred horses, but I not if it means we are taking the rejects in preference to good UK stock. As from breeding from lame mares etc, how about the Stallion owners taking more interest. If I owned a stallion it would be in my best interest to only use decent mares, otherwise it wont do his reputation much good. I read one studs excuse as if I turned down 90% of the mares I would be out of buisiness, well I dont think it a very good relfection if it is being stated that 90% of visiting mares are no good! When my fathers family were farming they used to take the working mares to the local TB stallion who was very often in the HIS scheme to breed their hunters. We have come a long way since then, but we did used to breed some of the best hunters/eventers in this country. We should be supporting the UK breeding industry because they are not supported by the government unlike the continent. I think it should also be remembered that a lot of the WB's have a lot of UK TB's in their past/present breeding. I think LadyKiller 1961 was actually UK bred & he features in countless WB's breeding.