Sunday, March 6, 2011

Can the ApHC survive?

 Based on the American Livestock Breed Conservancy website they list the "Parameters of Livestock Breeds on the ALBC Conservation Priority List" that includes the following:

The breed census satisfies numerical guidelines:

    * Critical: Fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 2,000.
    * Threatened: Fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 5,000.
    * Watch: Fewer than 2,500 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 10,000. Also included are breeds that present genetic or numerical concerns or have a limited geographic distribution.
    * Recovering: Breeds that were once listed in another category and have exceeded Watch category numbers but are still in need of monitoring.
    * Study: Breeds that are of genetic interest but either lack definition or lack genetic or historical documentation.

As of right now ApHC has been registering around 3500 horses per year. A 1000 horse drop in registrations just might put the Appaloosa horse on the watch list. Some members of the ApHC have developed a plan that would bring in more members and more registrations to a "half" or "color" section of the ApHC. Unfortunately several members are in opposition to this new portion of the registry because it would allow horses of unknown breeding with Appaloosa pattering to be registered. The new section would be run in a manner similar to the Pinto registry in that any horse of Appaloosa patterning would be eligible to be registered. This new section would bring in new members and new registrations and just might save the ApHC from the steep decline it's been in the past several years. The strangest thing is that the vast majority of individuals opposed to opening up a "color" or part bred registry of any kind within the ApHC are the same ones who actually approved of the registration of a colt who had a Paint registered sire. 

The ApHC is losing ground fast and some of it's own members refuse allow it to go forward and gain some of it's former popularity back.   If you are one of the few members of the ApHC left, you need to get in contact with your BOD member and let them know how you feel. 
 

5 comments:

  1. Unfortunelatly ,while I see that they are trying to increase membership, they are frankly not going about it in a way that I am comfortable with .If the y want a "color registry" they might be wiser to hacve an annex on the regular registry for horses of unknown parentage with color.To dilute the gene pool further in the way they seem to have plannned might increase membership in the short term, however as the numbers of horse with unknown parentage grows within the regular registry , the risks to the breed increase.This is a breed with greeat heritage ,it will be sad to see it destroyed

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  2. Actually that is what is trying to be done is to make a color only portion that will not be 'bred forward into the currently acceptable regular registry. Basically creating something similar to the Half Arab registry where the horses are never to be bumped up to the main registry but can be bred as part breds. But that isn't acceptable to some members at all.

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  3. That is similar to what the ApHCC is looking at , asl long as it isn't going to be part of the regular registry I don't acually have a huge issue with it. I do however take issue with the idea put forward recently of horses being allowed into the regular registry based soley on characteristic and no record of Appaloosa heritage.Hoping that issue is no longer being considered

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  4. See the problem right now is that you CAN put a horse of unknown parentage straight into the regular registry if they are gelded or spayed. The Color section Or half or auxiliary registry (what ever they end up calling it) would be run kept separate and would not have the horses "bumped" up to the regular registry. Right now if spayed or gelded any horse of appaloosa spotting can be fully registered in the regular registry and has all the same full show and competitions rights as any other horse. The color section would do away with that and all the horses would be put into the separate category.

    The weird thing is that people are actually OK with the unknowns in the main registry as geldings or spayed mares but refuse to allow them into a separate registry and not force them to be spayed or gelded.
    Additionally the same people who intensely oppose this option also support for the most part that colt sired by the Paint stallion. Strangely it's OK to have a colt with 1/2 paint parentage, 1/4 AQHA parentage and only 1/4 Appaloosa parentage and it's also OK for most of them to accept a 100% AQHA stallion with appaloosas spots into the MAIN regular registry but they cannot support a color or half registry of any kind at all.

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  5. What a mess! that seems to be more of a political bent than it is about the breed. I do hope they are able to sort this out in a positive way , The Appaloosa breed is obviously one I am extremely proud of and I would hate to see the registry reduced to a joke.

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