| Free HERDA test kites for everyone - Feedback |
| Last week I posted an article about the AQHA's decision to make HERDA testing mandatory for all mares registered with their associaiotn read more. Here's a bit of feedback I have received, the writers have requested to remain anonymous. If anyone has anything they to wish to ad please email your thoughts to admin@justcuttin.com.au. Hi Ray, Couldn't agree with you more! I am so sick of having to cough up for these associations that say they are "not for profit" and "for the members"!!!! I am sorry, but what have they done for me but take my money, besides getting a paper thin magazine that I can flick through at the Newsagents, and then put back on the shelf. The shows, (both AQHA and NCHA) seem to be on the decline, with any little excuse enough for the organizers to cancel. There is bugger all support, incentive or help for these hard working volunteers from these so called "for member" associations. They now want even more because we are deemed incompetent to breed horses. Now people are more aware of Herda, and the AQHA have done a really good job on making us aware of the dangers, I am very careful and do research before I breed a mare. I am sure I am not the only one doing this now. I have just about finished negotiations on a filly in the States, and you know what, I'm not even going to bother to bring her back to Australia, she will stay there and show. It costs the same as here to train, I never see my horse here now anyway, so what's the difference? The difference is, there are shows every weekend, and during the week at times, the prize money on offer at a lot of these shows makes ours look like a joke, and why you ask? Because their associations support their members and their activities, they give back a bit of what they take, they keep their members interested in doing things with their horses, they have substantial breeding incentives for their members and in short, they care about their members. I don't think that some associations here give a flying you know what about their members, apart from constantly thinking up more ways to take money from them. They should call themselves insurance companies instead. Ray, 1. HERDA is not a disease, it is a genetic trait, a mutation of a gene, an affliction, but not a disease (by definition)! 2. Whilst you can try and breed HERDA out of quarterhorses, it would be foolish to do so. That's like saying, let's breed red-haired fair-skinned people out of existence, as they are more likely to develop skin cancer. What you would do is eliminate a sizeable amount of genetic material (along with the HERDA gene) from the Quarter horse. Why is HERDA a problem? - because horses carrying that gene have a huge representation amongst successful cutting horses. Some stallion other than Poco Bueno may have had a mutation just as important , but we would not know because nobody was breeding to that (unsuccessful) stallion. 3. The Aus AQHA rules mean that effectively right now nobody should breed to High Brow Cat, Smart Little Lena... I'm sorry, I would, I'd just make sure my mare is negative... 4. All mares going back to Poco Bueno need to be tested... even the one's who's only linage back to Poco Bueno is through a stallion that can't be tested, because he's dead, but statistics prove that there is a 99.9% chance that he was not a carrier (eg: Docs Spinifex)? That is pointless and a waste of money ! Just about all horses going back to Spinni that are HERDA carriers received that gene from Pine Olena, some from other maternal lines. I reckon the HERDA hype is based on AQHA directors with no actual knowledge of genetics listening to the marketing "scientists" from the US, and whoopidoo, their imported stallions happened to be negative, so lets run with that story, no matter how little sense it makes. And sure enough, some do-gooders with no idea how genetics work will jump on board and spread the word. Isn't it amazing how nobody in Australia had ever heard of HERDA, or reported any horses with their skin peeling off, until a genetic test was developed and marketed by a US university? If some breeders want to breed HERDA out of existence, good luck to them, they are giving me a competitive advantage. But if the AQHA wants to regulate it out of existence, and trust me, they will try, it will the victory of a bunch of petty, ill-informed and narrow-minded people forcing their misguided opinions onto the rest of us. It may all be for the best, as breed societies may fade into insignificance and performance bodies (like the NCHA, NPHA and NRHA) taking their place... I reckon we should also ban fences, as I know of a lot more horses dying after getting caught in a fence. Oh, and whilst we're at it ban lightning, I know of more horses dying after being struck by lightning than HERDA...sorry I did not consider, nobody can make money out of that! |
