An important tool for our success is the information we will gain by understanding pedigrees of our horses. This article is meant to help you read your horse's genetics from his pedigree.

In our quest to breed horses with pre-potence for excellence in sport, most of us have been told by the experts that only the first 3 generations in our sport horses's pedigrees are significant. They will usually state that the genetics of any individual further back is too slight a influence to be of any importance. And the reasoning does seem logical when you look at the following percentages:

The linebreeder's response to this apparent fact is this: We agree that the percentage of influence of an individual ancestor that will carry forward to the foal can be gauged as the above shows. However, if you add multiples of an ancestor into a foal and close relations such as full and part siblings, you have not only added these amounts but also multplied their genetic influence by expanding the entire presence of common genes and their quality.

In addition, geneticists have noted that genes come forward in clusters. If all the genes in the cluster are positive this can result in a huge upgrading in pre-potence, far out of proportion to the simple percentage numbers listed above. And this is why, when practicing line breeding, it is imperative to choose superior ancestors to double up on. The augmentation is great with this type of breeding, and if inferior targets are used, then the downgrading can be huge also.

In 2003 I was planning a mating based on a ancestor duplication for the 4th generation of the foal's pedigree. The wisdom of this was questioned by one of the heads of an American branch of a European registry; he said "...you should think about going back to the fourth generation as an argument for your choice. There is almost no genetic influence anymore from bloodlines that far back." Please note that this opinion is not unique to this individual, and if you are a sport horse breeder you have probably heard similar statements.

Thoroughbred expert Ken McLean has these strong words for this same attitude in the Thoroughbred Industry: "Certain people in the industry will say that it doesn't matter once you look beyond a three-generation pedigree. Let me state cateogorically, these people are downright ignorant!...A pedigree is a truthful blueprint of the animal's ancestry."

Let me illustrate why I believe that the "3 generation rule" we have all been told is wrong by using a current example. We will look at a 12 year old American bred Holstein stallion who is actively competing in the USA now.(article first published in 2005) Here is the first three generations of his pedigree:

Holstein Stallion- 3 generation pedigree

This depth of pedigree is all that is important according to many Sport Horse and Warmblood experts: the first 3 generations. So, lets just look at this information and see what we can determine about this horse.

If you are familiar with sport horse lines you would notice right away that this horse is descended from two of the greatest jump transmitters of recent times: Cor de la Bryere (seen here), through his son Calypso II, and Ladykiller, who was named the "Euro Stallion" for being the leading jump sire in the world. Ladykiller's line is totally pre-potent for jump, no other sire line even comes close to the earnings of his progeny. Then there is the notable Farnese who gave his descendents great movement along with jump ability. And the tail female line is all Thoroughbred which gives the needed toughness and stamina. With only 3 generations to consider, there would be no equivications, this is a jump pedigree.

So then, what is the reality? Did this horse turn out to be a great jumper? No, but he can jump very well, the jump is definitely in him. What he has excelled at is first of all dressage, and then his second career is in eventing, and he has been a champion in both. How can a pedigree be so wrong? Well, it is not wrong- it is just incomplete.

Once you go beyond the 3rd generation you find the combinations occurring that create other abilities in force, and that carry more weight than what is apparent in the first 3 generations.

Cimarron-7 generation pedigree

Percentage wise, in Cimarron's pedigree, the individuals who carry the most genetic impact are the Holstein Fahnrich by a large margin, who is a representative of the old Achill line, second are Loretto and then Heintze, conduits of the old Ethelbert line. Loretto and Heintze are both present in the pedigree of Fahnrich, and they are also found repeatedly in all the rest of the Holstein part of the ancestors. Fahnrich is represented by each sex, through the 3/4 siblings: Wunderbare and Farnese. This compounds the Fahnrich influence giving all his genetic material a push forward.

The farther you go back in this lineage, the more common ancestors you find, such as mutliples of Ethelbert, Achill and Tobias in the 7th and 8th. At the far reaches (10 generations and beyond) it appears to all lead back to Brilliant, a Yorkshire Coach Horse and Ethelbert, the Thoroughbred ancestor of the Holstein Ethelbert, both foundation sires of the Holstein breed.

So Fahnrich's genetic imput goes far beyond his two presences in the 4th generation, which by the chart would give him 12.5%, because his ancestry is multiplied throughout approxmately 50% of the pedigree, by his common genetic relationship with other individuals. Fahnrich becomes the funnel of this powerful Holstein type in the pedigree.

Fahnrich, 1953. Powerful, deep, wide stallion of the heavy hunter type, well muscled, strong bone, correct legs and large feet, he was well known for his powerful gaits, very good walk and canter, great trot. Sire who reproduced his type with fabulous gaits and smooth topline. (Tietz and Rossow).

Cimarron shows Fahnrich's type quite strongly in his own phenotype. He certainly has the beautiful movement this stallion gave his descendents as he has won many championships in dressage. If you look at the above photos the resemblance is uncanny, especially the front end and head which appear to be almost identical. (I have found that the physical appearance of the subject horse is usually a reliable indication of which part of the pedigree is strong.)

While the Fahnrich contribution is clearly dominant, giving Cimarron that beautiful heavy hunter look, this stallion is still 46% Thoroughbred. His dam: Lustige is 75% Thoroughbred with the first class Tom Fool and Mahmoud close up. His sire: Columbus is 20% Thoroughbred through Furioso and Rantzau the sire of Cor de la Bryere. So there is the gallop, athleticism and stamina you need to succeed in eventing.

In less than 3 years at his new career Cimarron is running through event levels as a champion at a very rapid pace. I just witnessed his victory at the Training Level Championships, where he won by a huge margin with only 26 total penalities.

Pedigrees should be looked at through at least the 5th generation, but I prefer the 7th generation and beyond, to get a clear picture of the true genetic components that make up the horse. In Cimarron the tremendous movement with which he won at dressage and the Thoroughbred athleticism were always present in his pedigree, you just had to look farther back than 3 generations to understand his true genetic potential.

Note: Since this article first appeared on my old website (Sport Horse America) in 2005, Cimarron has been granted a lifetime breeding license with the American Holsteiner Association- based on his sport performance record. Cimarron was bred by Betty McElvain, made his name in dressage while owned by Holly Kaye, and he became an event star while owned and ridden by Debbie Davis. He is now back where he started, with his breeder Betty, standing at her stud farm.

This article was kindly supplied by Kathleen Kirsan of Jadehorse LLC

Kathy offers Sport Horse Pedigree Analysis, to help you increase your odds of breeding that special horse and are based on the breeding principles outlined on her website.