Breeding Sport Horses
Selective breeding favours selection of an isolated trait, so to breed a show jumper, with the strength, aptitude and will to win, is a multiplex endeavour.
"Breeding sport horses is as much art as science - applying practical and theoretical knowledge and skills to concepts of the imagination, appealing to the senses and emotions.
To breed a showjumper requires knowledge of the traits and characteristics of sires and dam lines, the expertise to assess these in breeding stock, statistical analysis of progeny and their performance, and the application of the science of genetics to experience of past mating’s with a vision to breed progressively towards a conceived evolution.
A decade of patience, persistence and optimism - to produce a Grand Prix showjumper requires passion.
Only blind dedication, diligence and determination can overcome the unpredictable and unavoidable obstacles that accompany a partnership with nature - a horse who's physical and emotional needs are as important as ones own. It is impossible to ignore the feeling that a horse gives its rider in the saddle, the emotion that a stallion might ignite as it jumps to a grand prix victory.
So with science, statistics and good sense stacked in his favour, the breeder must trust his gestalt, and breed with his heart. "
Dr. Nicholas Bush
Breeding Terminology
Nick's Studs primary focus is the production of high quality showjumpers within its own breeding program. We use a combination of traditional and modern breeding knoweldge and technology to achieve the best possible progeny from our mares.
OUTCROSS
The mating of two relatively unrelated breeding stocks. This is the practice of introducing unrelated genetic material into a breeding line. Generally, this is done to remove undesirable traits and confer hybrid vigour.
BACKCROSS
The mating of a hybrid back to one of its parents or to breeding stock with the same genetic characteristics as one of its parents.
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION
A fine catheter (tube) is directly inserted through the vagina and cervix in order to deposit sperm directly into the uterus with the aim of achieving fertilisation and pregnancy.
EMBRYO TRANSFER
After inseminating and impregnating a ´donor´ mare, the embryo is collected and transferred to the reproductive tract of a synchronized ´recipient´ mare.
In this way mares who can not carry a pregnancy to term, such as those with reproductive tract abnormalities, or those who are actively competing in the sport can produce offspring. It also allows for multiple offspring from a single mare in the same season.
INTRA-CYTOPLASMIC
SPERM INJECTION
An in vitro fertilization procedure in which a single sperm cell is injected directly into the cytoplasm of an egg. The resultant embryo can then be transferred into a recipient mare.
FOAL HEAT
The first oestrus cycle or heat period that occurs after foaling. Mares usually come into heat six to eight days post-partum. The average interval from foaling to first ovulation is ten days.
A BREEDING ´NICK´
Sire over damsire patterns that arise when a sire, when bred to dams from another sire consistently achieve higher than expected success rates in their progeny.
An example is the infamous Clinton X Heartbreaker nick (the stallion Clinton bred with a mare out of Heartbreaker) that produced the famous approved stallions Cornet Obolensky, Utrillo VD Heffinck, Cordess, Consul DL Vie and countless other Grand Prix showjumpers.
LINEBREEDING
Arranging a mating so that one or more ancestors appear more than once in a pedigree, with the aim of perpetuating desirable characteristics of the common ancestor.
Linebreeding is a form of inbreeding generally accepted to be when the common ancestor occurs more distantly in the pedigree than the immediate two generations, which is referred to as inbreeding.