Against the Wind

The hot topic on many equine message boards today is what is called responsible breeding. Certainly no one can be against the concept of responsibility but we reject the ultimate implications of this silly rush to "responsible breeding" as it is defined by some of its advocates. Instead we advocate a very simple principle of equine stewardship which is that breeders should breed no more horses than they can care for and sell. Three factors underlie that determination---the overall economy, the breeder's skill in training and handling horses, and the demand for the specific type of horse being bred.
In the long run horses may benefit from the extreme downturn in the economy that this nation faces. Conventional horse care is as economically inefficient as it is misguided. Natural horse care cost only a fraction of what is spent for "full stable board". It is ironic that some owners may be driven to natural horse care out of economic necessity only to discover just how happy, healthy, and responsive their horse can be when it is allowed to live a natural existence. The same is true of natural hoof care. The cost of continued mistreatment of the horse's balance, comfort, and over all health by unnecessary shoeing may cause more owners to learn the benefits of maintaining a barefoot horse. (We recognize that some horses need corrective shoeing and those few horses that would benefit from such therapy should continue to be shod. However, those horses are few and far between).
Unfortunately, many of the proponents of breeding restrictions under the rubric of their Orwellian term "responsible breeding" would seek to direct the horse industry in the exact opposite direction. They seek to increase the cost of horse ownership by restricting supply and the perpetuation of the myth that the competition horse is somehow superior to the family horse.
Breeders of rare and endangered horses must resist this hand wringing and look closely at the factors that have lead to this hysteria about unwanted horses. This belief grew out of the campaign to support horse slaughter. Proponents of horse slaughter predicted such dire consequences for the industry. They spent so much money to protect the practice that a belief has developed that because we no longer send 1% of the equine population to slaughter in America we somehow have a huge surplus of unwanted, neglected horses. (Of course, they ignore the fact that those horses are still being exported for slaughter to other countries).
There is, however, a problem with a poor market for horses as those horses are now produced in America. The mainline breeds, with their emphasis on competition have produced too many horses with costs that are beyond the means of working people. The irony is rich when such breeders complain that breeds as rare as the Spanish Mustang, or even worse, the Banker strain of Spanish Mustangs, are responsible for the market glut. Such misguided people are but strainers of gnats and swallowers of camels.
I hope that enough mustang breeders and true preservationist of rare breeds can ignore the siren song of those who advocate equine genocide under their self congratulatory claim of being "responsible breeders." Many are drawn to the mantra that responsible breeding means to only breed horses that have 'proven' themselves (in competitions, of course) so that the resulting offspring 'improves' the breed. In short, their solution is to follow the lead of those who are responsible for the 'improvement' of today's Arabians, Quarter Horses, and Thoroughbreds. Quarter Horses have been improved all the way to the slaughter houses. I have no interest in having Corolla Spanish Mustangs follow them there.
Unfortunately, the solution to the problem of excess horses requires more work than simply tinkering with the status quo by loading up the slaughter houses and shutting down breeders of rare and endangered horses. We support responsibility in breeding and what we call for is much more rigorous and much more radical than the smug claims of big money breeders who find a responsible solution to only be the solution that is best in keeping with their greed.
The responsible breeding that we support is as follows:
1. The demarcation between those who breed and those who train must end. Breeders must be able to train so that they produce either started riding age colts or well trained weanlings for sale.
2. Breeders must adjust their breeding plans annually according to the market and their own financial capabilities. In short do not raise more colts than can be sold or used in one's own operation after breaking to saddle.
3. Breeders should promote natural horsemanship, natural horse care and natural hoof care in order to decrease the cost of horse ownership and increase the pool of potential owners.
This prescription for responsible breeding would revolutionize the horse industry and solve the problem of surplus horses. The horse of today faces one major problem--an entrenched established horse world. The horse of today has only one hope--that a new horse world can be developed that focuses on how to best raise horses instead of how to squeeze the most money out of them.
Mokete, pictured above, is the first foal born of our off site breeding program designed prevent the possible extinction of the Corolla Spanish Mustangs. After having given due consideration to the proponent of the status quo who demanded that we end our breeding program, I decline to do so.