Characteristics of famous lines

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garyo

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Often when talking to breeders about their horse they will say "they have the Buckaroo look" or when someone is criticizing a horse they will say "Well... all the Egyptian King horses are know for ..." What characteristics do you most often associate with the more well know mini lines? What are your favorite crosses and why?
 
This is a tough question. There are no definite answers! For someone to say "All the egyptian King horses have this . . . . " to me just sounds ignorant, because such a generalization can't really be made.

The Rowdy line is known for throwing height and LWO. But there are plenty of Rowdy bred horses that are LWO negative and/or tiny . . . .

Blue Boy is sometimes known for beautiful heads. But there are plenty of Blue Boy bred horses with ugly heads . . . .

Rhotens Little Dandy was an outstanding driving horse, and passed the ability to many offspring, but there are plenty of Dandy bred horses that don't move well . . . .

See where I am going with this?

If you want to breed for a horse with a pretty head, don't go out and look for a Blue Boy bred horse, go out and look for a stallion, of any breeding, that has a pretty head, and is throwing it. Or better yet, choose a mare with a pretty head, breed it to a stallion with a pretty head, and then hope for the best! Personally if I wanted to breed for a certain type or characteristic, I would not care so much for a certain "line" as I would care about finding a stallion that exhibited and was throwing the characteristic I wanted.

I always chuckle a bit when I see adds that say "Great grandson of Buckeroo" . . . . That is too many generations back to matter! Look at the horse before you worry about their pedigree!
 
This is an interesting subject since the MARES are just as important if not MORE important than the Stallions in the resulting offspring. There are very many "new bloodlines' that are producing offspring that you must consider also in your equatation. There are good and bad in each bloodline that has nothing to do with sire or dam, it just happens and many just pop up from "way back".

I will watch this thread with interest.......Yes, Matt you are correct, a general statement cannot be made, although the stallion gets the credit for the produce.

Beth
 
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I'ma Boones Little Buckeroo Too "BTU" right here.....

Grandsons Below..pasture pics

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Reference: "BTU" ...you can see "the look"

btumag.jpg


Its "that" look....they all have "that" look...direct babies....grand...great grand, it just goes keeps going and going....that look is what i love.
 
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Unfortunately, "that look" does not transfer to each and every foal! Wished it did, then there would not be so many pet quality horses with National/World winning pedigrees! Sorry............
 
Unfortunately, "that look" does not transfer to each and every foal! Wished it did, then there would not be so many pet quality horses with National/World winning pedigrees! Sorry............
I was refering to the expression passed down that line, constantly...now of course not 100% constantly, but there is no denying that BTU expression. I see it in the sons...daughters and on down the line, then agian i guess i have looked at enough of them.
 
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Now, I will say that YES, ABSOLUTELY there are good and bad "representatives" of every line, particularly the further away you get. When you get to "GRANDson/daughter" I think you really LOSE a lot of qualities because the lines become so watered down. Personally, I prefer to get sons/daughters directly if at all possible because I believe that anything past that is not worthy of much unless both sire and dam have done anything or produced anything directly.

That said, here's what I notice:

Blue Boy: Pretty "pony type" heads with short dishy faces, big eyes, small ears. Big heavy necks. Nice toplines and refined legs but coarse in the body.

Buckeroo: Lots of dilutes, a pretty head with nice eye, good toplines, lots of "showring presence" but tend to be on the coarse side.

Rowdy: More refinement than other lines in the leg and body and sometimes neck, but tall. Heads a little plainer.

Rhoten's Little Dandy: Knee-action type movement with a plain head.

Bond/Komoko/OtherOlderLines: Older style minis that tend to be short in the leg and coarse throughout the body and neck. These lines go further back.

Egyptian King: Lots of greys, pretty heads but very short thick necks and unbalanced bodies, no hip

That's just my observations as I cruise through the websites... I think a lot of these lines have laid foundations to "newer" lines that will create horses more "modern" in type. The AMHR goes towards far more modern styles of minis, and even AMHA has seen a huge push for more refined, modern animals.

The sires above have thrown a HUGE variety of offspring, some have been successful and some have been just dreadful. Unfortunately, I see a lot of farms purchase the "less quality" stallions to breed to their less quality mares because of the pure price of the less quality son. It's tougher for people to geld because of that "big name" sire and that's a shame.

I personally think that is why there are so many ugly offspring of such... the ugliest are left intact just because of who their sire is, and keep breeding, but the ugliest end up in breeding programs that can't afford the best... when they might have been able to afford a far nicer horse who wasn't bred on paper as well. This is why it is SO important to look at the horse in front of you, not who the sire/grandsire is.

Andrea
 
Blue Boys do have a pretty head and they can move but I have to tell you they have more BRAINS than most of the other lines. Yes some do have heavy necks but for the most part the ones I know [and I know a LOT of them] are refined and are some of the best broodmares around. They also tend to be all around horses that can do just about anything and have a heart that will not fail you. I love a pretty horse but I love a horse more that has the brains to get the job done. Linda
 
Ok, I'm going to focus on the positive attributes that I've recognized in the bloodlines:

Buckeroo = showy arrogance, usually good movement, buckeroo head, prepotent

Rowdy = refinement, horse proportion

Lazy N Red Boy = nice necks

Orion = refinement, proportion, appy

L&D Scout= neck set, proportion, strong hip

Blue Boy = pretty head, good broodmares

Gold Melody Boy = pretty little compact verybut well built horses usually nice heads, good broodmares

Roan Ranger = long hooky neck

Sid Rebel = strong hip, upright hooky neck, prepotency

FWF Wardance= nice overall conformation, good hip, neck, prepotency

Rhotens little Dandy= movement

Dippers Duffy= nice hips, generally good conformation

Sierra Dawn Uno De mayo = Nice heads, often nice upright necks, good proportion, prepotent

Ramundo = refinement

Boones Little Andy = pretty heads

Bond (Sir Galahad/rollback) = pretty heads

Ok, that's enough for now.
 
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I agree w/Matt, forget the pedigree and look at the individual, I see an awful lot of well bred crap out there, and the owners are either blind themselves or are banking that the buyers are all blind. I say breed for an individual that is aesthetically pleasing without 9 months of "tweaking", and you may be getting close to achieving that perfection that we all strive for.
 
I'm a big fan of the Orion line. Not only for refinement, proportion and appy mentioned above but for beautiful heads, necks and clean throat latches as well. Do all Orion bred horses have all the characteristics? No, but many do and are pre-potent for producing these qualities.

I believe a good breeder should match individuals not blindly breed on pedigree alone. Pedigree and bloodlines should be used as a general idea of what the horse is capable of producing. I also believe that a program that weighs the mares qualities equally to the stallions will be more successful in the long run than a program that puts all it's weight in that stallions qualities.

I like a lot of the other above mentioned bloodlines as well and the qualities they are known for.
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I agree that looking past the pedigree and color is first and foremost as well. A good horse is a good horse regardless of his/her color/pedigree. However, I do believe that there is more to a pedigree then just the first 2 generations...I have seen many horses that have some of the great foundations in their pedigree waaaay back, but can still see characteristics in todays foals. I know that supposedly the %age goes down with each generation buy the "book" standard but I believe that each individula horse is different and can have or throw more of a characteristic from their heritage, whether it be good or bad. I have seen many a Buckeroo bred horse that is hardly even related to him that you can say without a doubt is Buckeroo bred!! Rowdy as well...the overo color. The Blue Boy or EK heads, Orions "eye".

I know a stallion that has arenosa in his pedigree a few generations back with nothing else remotely arenosa looking back there with it, that tends to throw an arenosa looking build on his foals with a pretty face. The pedigree and heritage can pop up at any time, just depends on the individual horse. Of course this is only MHO.

I just think it goes back to the individual horse....A great looking horse is first a pedigree is a bonus and if he/she throws great characteristics from his/her heritage then double bonus!! I give stallions and mares equal credit on pedigrees...they both count 50/50.
 
This might be a good time to discuss a "nick" in breeding, but don't want to hijack a thread.

I know some who think if you cross Buckeroo lines with Rowdy lines, you can get a "nick."

Any opinions?
 

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