Windt im Wald Farm Geauga County, Northeast Ohio since 1995

There has been much criticism of Preservation Breeders as "paper breeders". The following analogy may give a better understanding of the importance and value of Preservation Breeders.

Mules are wonderful animals and have great value for different uses but if no one continued to breed pure horses or pure donkeys we would no longer have any mules. That is the basic principle that motivates most Preservation Breeders. A good Preservation Breeder is not trying to convince you that their "chosen" blood lines are the "best" but tries to explain the physical features, capabilities, temperament, and strengths that motivated them to choose their blood lines. As you can see from this analogy, horses and mules are very different and have different uses, physical characteristics, and temperament. Knowing the differences between theses animals will give you a good idea of what they will produce. Now if it were possible to breed a mule to a horse would the offspring look more like a horse or a donkey? Genetics will tell you that it would vary with each breeding depending on which chromosomes get passed on to the offspring and which (mule or horse) was the sire since only the sire can pass on the "Y" chromosome that can carry different genes.

Preservation breeding is not much different than a person who intends to breed Pasofinos or any other breed. A Pasofino breeder would not breed to an Arabian if their breeding goal was to produce registered Pasofinos. Its their "chosen" breeding goal and not a statement that one is any better than another. God creates this wonderful picture in "our minds eye" and we each seek to recreate that picture with his guidance.

If you would like to know more about Arabian blood lines and Preservation breeding, please continue to read the monthly articles in this publication.

Betti Goddard

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