Potent Pedigree Patterns

Examples of Potent Pedigree Patterns
in Sport Horse Stallions

Pre-potent pedigrees come in many different patterns, and you will find several potent horse pedigrees on this site for you to study. But here are two sport horse examples that should give you an idea of the range possible, from simple to tight, in potent pedigree patterns.

First, lets look at the Swedish Warmblood stallion Flamingo. He is a horse that demonstrated sport ability: 1984 Team Dressage Bronze Olympic Medal, and the individual Gold Medal at the 1986 World Championships in Freestyle Dressage. And Flamingo did not even start his international career until he was 15 years old, so we know he must have something strong in his pedigree. Flamingo was also able to pass on his talent reliably to his offspring, which is the true test of potency.

Flamingo Pedigree

You will notice right away that Flamingo's pedigree is incomplete- this is not unusual in sport horse lineages. Remember, for breeders accuracy is more important than completeness- although we would prefer to see both.

His grandsire, Drabant, is inbred to Humanist through sons only. Humanist is a Trakehner line which transmits dressage ability. The son only inbreeding explains why Drabant, while possessing dressage talent, was "hard to ride". He was a very high strung horse, and he passed this on. The all maleness of the lines is helped somewhat by the two sons of Humanist being by a son and daughter.

Flamingo's sire Urbino was a much easier horse to handle. Even with his incomplete lineage, we can see that the calm Anglo-Norman influence was beneficial.

Flamingo improved the genetic package he received from the sire line. His dam brought in the much needed sex balance for the Humanist line with a daughter: Carese. This addition allowed all the talent to come through without the difficult temperament. Flamingo certainly is an illustration of the power of the mare, for Alva, his second dam is what "made" him. As well as reclaiming the greatness of the Humanist line, she brought in her own potency. She carries sex balanced lines of Avepal 6x6. And sex balanced lines of the Hanoverian Ruster 5x7. This mare corrected and improved the genetics. Flamingo was then able to pass on enough versatile talent to have winners in all disciplines. Study what this mare did for his genetic potency.

You will want to do something like the above pedigree when building your own pre-potency. Sport horses are not pure-breds and Flamingo, a mixed bred horse, is a prime example of how to get pre-potency by targeting significant lines instead of focusing on just the breed registry.

Now, for the next example, the other end of potency spectrum. Matcho is an extreme example of linebreeding and potent pedigree patterns.

Matcho

Matcho, a black Anglo-Arabian, was used with much success as a refining sire for the Hanoverian Society. He was a small, but a very beautiful stallion. He passed on his beauty and refinement consistently, along with good croups and clean legs. If he lacked anything at all it was maybe he could not deliver the upper level of dressage ability, although all his progeny have dressage talent and his foals always scored high in their presentations. His get were easy to ride, with pleasent temperaments, and were generally versatile. Many of his progeny have jump ability.

Matcho Pedigree

This pedigree is about as tight as you would ever want to build one. And remember always, when you bring in full siblings and duplicate ancestors, make sure it is an influence that you really want. When you build in solid potency like Matcho illustrates, it will carry on for generations. A pedigree this strong will always pass on its characteristics- this is prepotency personified.

This pedigree is also a perfect picture of the recommended full sibling construction and the reinforcement of ancestors that the experts suggest. Matcho carries the full siblings Nitouche and Noveldo (brother and sister) 3x4. Their sire is present again through another son: Chamberet- this is great complexity, but is only the beginning. Their sire, Lotus VIII, is joined by his full sister: Lilane, and then they are reinforced by additional siblings, 1/2 brother and sister: Kraina and Abel 4x4!

If you want to stamp any characteristic into your herd for generations, this pedigree pattern is a certain way to do it. The genetic power it represents will override just about any other potency.

But there is still more in Matcho. We talked a little about Teddy on the sex balance page. Match carries a sex balanced Teddy double, which certainly helped his use as a line in Hanover. The German Thoroughbred lines have a large concentration of the Bay Ronald line, usually through sons only, Teddy is out of a daughter of Bay Ronald. Sex balancing the Teddy line unleases the power. (The Marcio and Maigraf lines in Hanover also carry a Teddy line).

With his potent genetics, this little stallion was able to create an enduring line in Hanover of beautiful horses, all with some dressage ability and some with jump talent. If there was any lack in his genotype it might be that he was not able to transmit the highest level of dressage talent; but then, a stallion with such a heavy Arabian concentraion in his background, would not be passing on quite the right conformation for the upper level movements.

This is where your sport goals are so important. If you are clear about what you want to create, then you will choose the lines and their concentration with much more skill. You are the architect of the genetics and you can steer your breeding program in many directions.

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