This happened for instance during meetings of the ‘Bond van Merriehouders’ in Tijnje (League of Mare Keepers), and recently in Koudum (Breeding Chapter ‘It Fryske Hynder’), says KFPS director Ids Hellinga in his monthly column of Phryso (March issue). ‘In most cases these discussions are about the selection process between the First Viewing and the Central Examination, such as the added value of the cage, whether lunging of stallions should be introduced as part of the pre-selection rounds, etc. Changes implemented over the past decade have had a demonstrable effect. Since adaptations to the First and Second Viewing and blueprint of the Central Examination in 2004, the average genetic level of stallions is significantly higher. Still, I think that we have more or less reached the ‘end of the road’ when it comes to changes. We must of course continue the process of fine-tuning, but this is not the area where we should direct our efforts for further gain. People often forget that the process of stallion selection starts in fact with the breeder. And this is an area where further gain can be realised, simply through a better use of the genetic potential of the top region of the mare population. In this context, the fact that each year a third of the best mares, our potential stallion dams, is left barren for various reasons speaks for itself. This is a missed opportunity. Another point of focus should be to gather more information about sport aptitude of mares. The breeders in Koudum certainly had a point when they reasoned that more value should be attached to predicate-rich mare lines in the process of stallion selection. But what information is available about our mares in terms of sport? Just one out of five dams of the participating First Viewing stallions have completed an ABFP or IBOP test or take part in competition sports. If more information about the sport (aptitude) of these mares were available this might positively affect the rate of success for the selected stallions in performance testing. And last but not least there is the matter of stallion choice. There is only one way to capitalize on the potential of our mares and that is by making correct matches. At this point it is worth mentioning that all information provided by the KFPS, such as reports, breeding values, kinship percentages, etc. are more and more effectively used. So there is work to be done. But the good news is: we´re at the start of another breeding season!
As posted on the KFPS March 2015 Newsletter
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