Saturday, November 13, 2010

My Bucket's Got A Hole In It




We all must understand a very important point. We are not trying to save something as plentiful as Quarter horses. We have left only the remnant, of the remnant, of the remnant, of these horses who have been wild here longer than any living tree on the island. Every horse that dies or is killed in the wild at Corolla represents about 1-2% of all wild Corollas.

Every Corolla that is gelded is the equivalent of loosing more than 2% of the wild stallions at Corolla. With many other breeds I have to agree that a colt should be gelded unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. We do not have any Corollas to waste. Corolla colts should not be gelded unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

And no, now is not the time to discuss only breeding the "best to the best." The worst Corolla is good enough, and for the riding that I do, better than nearly any other kind of horse that I could own. Porter once had enough ugliness in his body to be able to start ugliness franchises. At age four, he became beautiful. I would love to have colts from him. Samson's endurance is off of the charts. Perhaps he could have produced a colt or two that carried his heart.

Jurassic Park was fiction. Extinction is permanent. We can be agents of preservation or agents of extinction. We cannot let the stallions slowly leak away.

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