Competing against cloned horses

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Silent Knight

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Imagine, the clones of the best of the best horses winning all the shows. Sounds abit unfair to me.

The FEI are now going to allow them to compete. Whilst I know that there is much more to a winning combination than a horse with good dna, I can't help but feeling that equestrianism will become the sports of the elite where only the richest of the rich will stand any chance of success.

Or will nature's natural selection win through?

Mixed feelings from me.
 
hasnt it always been those with more expensive horses and more money that win? I remember as a child,going round a course on my cut and shut looking pony and the kids with the rich parents winning everything.
 
I can't help but feeling that equestrianism will become the sports of the elite where only the richest of the rich will stand any chance of success.
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Isn't it already??
 
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I can't think of many top, top riders that have made it without some significant finance behind them - either through family, or fortunate sponsorship deals and the like. I may be wrong, but I just can't think of anyone off the top of my head that has really made good without some serious cash being spent by someone at some point.:confused:
 
Guy Ritchie didn't come from a big ££ family. You hear him talking about needing to win the class to pay for the fuel home from show when he was a bairn.

But yes, I think money talking in this sport.
 
Sure you can buy nice horses with big money but for those of you who have never unloaded a common-looking pony from the transport no-one else wants to park next to and gone on to win classes against much classier and more expensive competition let me tell you, you have seriously missed out.

It isn't always the big money horses that win.
 
At the end of the day owners could well be throwing a whole heap of money down the drain. Who says the cloned horse will be just as good as the original? It could be completely useless for the job it was created for.
 
The best horses cost a fortune cloned or not so I don't think it's in anyway unfair to let them compete.
There never will be enough cloned horses to seriously affect the gene pool.
 
At top level the horses cost a fortune anyway so its not going to make a difference. And even at local level, money helps but you can get away with some talent & hard work. The level that cloning will make a difference is way above the level where money starts having an effect though so I don't think it makes any odds.
 
As I said in another post, even if the clone was from a highly successful 'original', they will not be genetically identical, mutations occur and many genes are environmentally triggered - and that's before training methods and the rest of the nature vs nuture debate!

personally I don't have a problem with it,

When I got my first pony I went to a very low level little show, and a family turned up in an expensive looking lorry and won everything after treating the show like it was olympia and putting the fences up to 3'6 in the warm up whilst instructing the kids to get angry and kick with their spurs.
Now, I have no judgement on anybody no matter how much money they have etc (and I certainly don't turn up in anything less than my old ifor with a meat wagon pony in it :D )- I have good friends from every social circle but these particular people were just making themselves look stupid- one person there got truly fed up and walked up to say 'look you are winding up all the horses here and nobody dares jump the practise jumps! I understand it is important for you to give your children the over-inflated ego they require to win but please can you either use the facilities fairly or leave the showground' :o- bit of a pointless ramble but just popped in to my head as I was typing..
 
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This may sound weird but I want to meet a cloned horse and poke and prod it to see if it really real or not. It just seems a bit bizarre to me, an intriguing science experiment. I kinda half want it to feel a bit like Play-Doh as it just doesn't seem real.
 
EKW said:
This may sound weird but I want to meet a cloned horse and poke and prod it to see if it really real or not. It just seems a bit bizarre to me, an intriguing science experiment. I kinda half want it to feel a bit like Play-Doh as it just doesn't seem real.
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I know just what you mean :D
 
EKW said:
This may sound weird but I want to meet a cloned horse and poke and prod it to see if it really real or not. It just seems a bit bizarre to me, an intriguing science experiment. I kinda half want it to feel a bit like Play-Doh as it just doesn't seem real.
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haha i know what you mean, although I was dissapointed to find out that white markings are only 'added' in the womb, so they wouldn't look truly identical :(
 
dee O that is so me! Or was prior to pony back injury. As we pulled up in old cattle truck with dodgy clutch and unloaded 14.1coblet sorry miniature warmblood lol. Proceeded to win horse classes as she out jumped the lot. Agree it's not the norm though. She's a legend. :-)
 
Dee O'Dorant said:
Sure you can buy nice horses with big money but for those of you who have never unloaded a common-looking pony from the transport no-one else wants to park next to and gone on to win classes against much classier and more expensive competition let me tell you, you have seriously missed out.

It isn't always the big money horses that win.
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Best feeling EVER!! And the looks of disgust you receive from them just adds to the glory :D
 
Who wants to compete a horse that was winning 15 years ago competitions change and fashions change and what about nature or nuture?
 
A few years ago a friend of mine had the ugliest horse youve ever seen, looked like it was made up from spare parts and mane and tail rubbed out with scratching due to sweetitch, bought for peanuts from a dealer, but if you didnt interfere, and left him to do his job he would jump whatever you put in front of him.
The local big shots on the scene used to groan when he was pulled out of the box as they new they didnt stand a chance, he could jump the top of the wings and nothing could touch him in a jump off, the girl didnt have money backing her and it was always unaffilliated, im sure if she'd had the funds to affilliate they'd have done really well
 
Sorry it has nothing to do with money or winning, it is morally wrong and they should not be allowed to compete.
 
I'm SO intrigued to see the cloned horses compete! Just think how much it will tell us about horses! I know there are ethical issues to be debated but my curiosity is just getting the better of me!
 
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