Behind the Foaling Door - Breed Specialities and Bloodlines

Most of us have a few s/d lists that always seem to make it to the top of our files and are used again and again. These breeders always seem to know just a little more then the next person about a specific breed and are always able to help us with our questions. This month I asked breeders what breed they most enjoy researching and if there are any particular bloodlines they utilize in their program.

"I specialize in the breed I am most familiar with....Quarter Horses. I don't particularly keep with a particular line, but choose lines which are known for producing the 'type' of horse I am looking for. If I have a halter horse, then I choose the top halter lines. If it's a pleasure horse, I'll use horses in my program that excel in pleasure. I also have a string of Foundation bred horses. Basically, I use the bloodlines that best serve the model and what the model will be used for."
-Mary Vinyard

"I do almost nothing but Hackney Horses. Most of my lines are English, simply because they seem to be the most active breeders and many American horses are imported. Holland also has many excellent Hackneys, along with Argentina. I would like to get more information on Dutch Hackneys since they are rumored to still have the gene for roan there. I specialize in grey and tobianos, so obviously all of my horses, with very few exceptions, trace back to grey or roan horses. The big names here are Stutney Benedict for tobianos and the Monson horses for greys. It seems like nearly every tobiano Hackney traces to Stutney Benedict. A lot of my horses are linebred to Seaton Pippin, who is widely considered the best Hackney ever. I'm trying to vary this a bit, though. Another horse I've used a lot is Black Magic Of Nork, a great show horse of the 40s. Solitude was another influential sire from the 30s and 40s. More recently, I've used many of the Walton horses and a few from the Hurstwood stud."
-Michelle Shuman

"I specialize in Polish Arabs, Saddlebreds, and Andalusians. With Andalusians, I'm not as picky, because there are SO FEW pedigrees available that you kind of have to settle for whatever you can find. With Arabs, I prefer Polish because of my experience with real Arabs. I've found the Polish lines to be the most sensible, trainable, and athletic. In particular, I've used a lot of Negatiw-bred horses (although he was imported to Poland from Russia, so I guess you could call him Russian too - plus he traces to Crabbet horses, so he's a jumble!) because I like the pretty, typey look that line produces. There are so many Bask-bred horses already that I don't use him a lot, but I do love the intelligence that line has. I have some other Witraz sons besides Bask that I've used a lot, like Celebes and I've used Bask's sister Bandola and her son Bandos (by Negatiw- great cross) quite a bit. The great mare Forta is also in several of my pedigrees, since she carries black. I've used Probat quite a bit too, who is from Sweden but from Polish lines. Lately, I've pulled in some outcrosses like Palas that have been featured in the Polish state breeding programs like Janow Podlaski more and more in recent years. I usually try to see what they are doing and copy that. They are the real experts.

With Saddlebreds, my approach is very different. There, I try to get a variety of lines. There are so many Saddlebreds with lines to Supreme Sultan that I've tried to create some outcrosses by going back to older lines, or using lines that don't have him, like Mountain Highland Memories, Will Shriver, Yorktown, or Attache. Then, when I do have a Sultan-bred horse (and I do have some), it isn't so inbred and I like that. With Saddlebreds, pedigree isn't always a predictor of show ring ability, so it is harder to nail down a certain line.

The most important thing, I think, is to try to match the genotype (the pedigree) to the phenotype (the model). That's what PA is all about, in my opinion."
-Michelle Peck Williams

"Quarter Horses are 'my breed', especially Foundation Quarter Horses. With over 80 of them though, I don't keep one specific line. I have a lot of Doc Bar, Poco, King, and Leo, with a nice measure of racing Thoroughbreds such as Easy Jet. I try to breed for versatility and performance, though I do have 'specializers' with proven real lines for their fields. I of course have ones with more Thoroughbred as well, common with the modern horses. As you research you learn a lot of very successful crosses, and I utilize these, as well as creating my own. I like to breed for distance in age, as witnessed with my new 1971 Grey Badger II foal, Badger Man. Having him makes it easier for me and future breeders to have access to very old lines (he's 50% Midnight Jr) in their modern foals. Badger Man is one of his sire's last foals, born when Grey Badger was 30. This creates quite a gap in time, and brings the old lines forward. My stud will last awhile kickin' around the breeding shed too, like his father did!

I like a mix in my Missouri Fox Trotters but usually stick closely to the same inbreeding fashion that the proven show horses have, with plenty of Zane Grey and Missouri Traveler E. Of course, having heavily-bred horses of one line makes it a necessity to have other horses to cross that have little or none of that line!

With other breeds I try to have some variety, but stick with a lot of the lines I know. I like to see conformation and class, and a known pedigree is nice too but some great horses come from obscure lines. As for breeding for model-bred ancestors, I like to have known names that stood out long ago in the showing or breeding shed. This is where horses like *Alconbury Hill, *Opium, and many many others come in!"
-Melissa Effenberger

"I specialize in Quarter Horses, all types and colors. The bloodlines I focus on include Dash For Cash, Easy Jet, Impressive, Sonny Dee Bar, Go Man Go, Leo, King, Poco Bueno, Three Bars (TB), Top Deck (TB), Jet Deck, and others. I also try to include some lesser known sires (but still good ones regardless) into my breeding program who trace to the above. Basically the main reason I choose those sires is because they were exceptional show horses, race horses, or the sire of the same because after all, models from a legendary past can and will produce legendary foals!"
-Johanna Dolch

What lines do YOU specialize in? Write and let us know! Our next topic will cover your history in the PA hobby...how did you get started in pedigree assignment? Who do you consider your mentor in the PA world? Write in and share your views!

Back