A wind of change in the US.

In the last few of months a couple of things have happened in the US which will no doubt flow over to cutting enthusiasts here in Australia.

In an ad on the back page of Quarter Horse News by GCH Land & Cattle Co., they stated that their stallion Bowmans Smart Jewel was N/Hr, a carrier for HERDA, this has caused a lot of interest for the right reason. Not because the stallion was a carrier, but because GCH Land & Cattle Co., was brave enough to come out and say he was.

This opens up a new can of worms for breeders. If they discover that their stallion is a carrier then it should make sense that this information is made public so that mare owners can make a calculated decision whether to breed their mare to that stallion. If they have a HERDA Negative mare then they it would mean they would have to make the decision if they want to have a 50% chance of having a HERDA Negative foal and a 50% chance of having a foal that is a carrier. If the mare is a carrier herself then there is a 25% chance the foal will be born with Herda. This is a fatal disease. Naturally if a stallion is herda positive and is bred to a HERDA negative mare all offspring will be carriers. Research has found that the HERDA gene traces back to Poco Bueno, BUT that doesn't mean that ALL horses with Poco Bueno in their pedigree's are carriers. There are horses out there carrying the Poco Bueno blood that are HERDA negative. So with selective breeding you can still have a cutting horse with the famous lineage.

The other event of note occurred last month in the Kentucky Derby. Eight Bells after running second in the race had to be put down because of fractures in both ankles. This has now started people asking the question about raising the age of racehorses from Two year olds. It is the belief of some vets that two year olds are to young to commence training and should be left until at least three years of age. This would help alleviate the tragedies that are sometimes seen in the sport of horse racing. This in turn has people in the cutting fraternity now talking about raising the age of Futurity horses to four years olds. The argument is that by doing this less horses will need to be retired prematurely because of injury.

If anyone wouldlike to comment on this please don't hesitate to email me at admin@justcuttin.com.au

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