Inspections serve as an educational tool:
Thanks to Elaine of Curly Sport horse International for offering the following information regarding inspections.
-- Breeders can use inspections as a learning experience, helping them
train their eye to sport horse conformation and movement.
-- Breeders can make more informed decisions on the future of their
breeding operation, helping them improve the quality of their stock in each
generation.
-- Buyers can look at an independent assessment of the horse's potential
for an individual sport before purchasing a new horse.
-- As the CSI studbook develops, breeders and buyers alike will be able to
see trends in the ability of particular bloodlines based on inspection
scores and performance results.
-- Knowledge is power. It takes knowledge to make decisions. Inspections
take some of the mystery out of the selection or your next sport horse.
Why don't more breeders have their curlies inspected?
Elaine from the Curly Sporthorse International helped answer this question.
I think it's a number of things, one being that folks don't really
understand why that information is important. Second, money is an issue for
many people, curlies often don't sell for big bucks, and the price range is
all over the map, so it's hard to finance something like that if a person's
babies sell for lower end prices. Third, in the US, the culture has a bit
of the "no one has the right to tell me what to do, I can decide that for
myself" flavor... the natural sort of renegade attitude in
the US has a lot of folks feeling that inspections are a way to stop them
from their goals rather then help them reach their goals.
The WB registries follow the lead of the European registries and accept that
inspection and approval is part of the process. Because at one time
European WBs were so far superior to US bred horses, no one was really
willing to challenge that premise. It's harder for breeders coming
from a culture (the Curly culture, I mean now) where anything goes, no
restrictions, not a lot of guidance other than a breeder's own opinion or
preference, OR perhaps they breed based on what's available in their area
since AI is fairly recent, and still not wide spread. Anyway, it's a
paradigm shift, and will take some time for folks to adjust to the idea. It's a bit of a crazy cycle, if Curlies sold for more money (as a rule) then
it would be easier to justify spending money on inspections to improve
quality. And if the quality were higher, Curlies would sell for more (again
a general rule)... Some curlies do command decent prices, and some sell for
dog food prices... I think that fact reflects the range in quality in
Curlies as well, although there are the occasional diamond in the rough and
also the occasional horse priced way behind it's ability to meet
expectations associated with that price... And then it's all complicated by
the economy... A glitch most of us weren't counting on 5 years ago...
On paper I think many folks agree that it makes sense, but doing it is
another story. And it's not just inspection of stallions, the stallion is
only half of the genetic contribution. Just inspecting the stallion doesn't
really give a breeder the information needed to make the best informed
decision.
How is the CSI striving to change this?
The long range goal of CSI is to only allow registration off offspring from
inspected and approved parents. This has been the ultimate goal since the
original plan for CSI was drawn up, before the registry came into existence.
However, it's too soon to close the books because the gene pool is too
small. To close them now would cause too much inbreeding. So, for now the
books are open and we are working toward more inspections so that this
future IS possible. Read more about the CSI inspections here:
Where can I have my curly inspected?
Depending on your breeding goals, two organizations offer inspections & assistance to breeders.
1. CSI - Click here to host an inspection.
2. ICHO - Click here to see the next upcoming inspection held by the NACHIP
|