SETTING TYPE All breeds have a "Standard". This basicly is a description of how a given horse of that breed "should" look. If one were to read the Standards set down for different breeds, one would obviously find them sometimes vastly different. However, the "Standard" for our individual breed of choice, is something to which we should all hopefully aspire. Our Breed is fairly new to the world outside the Romany and Travellers, but there certainly is a Standard. While differing slightly from Registry to Registry, they are all much the same and give us a good idea of how good quality Gypsy Horses should look as adults. By looking at photos of Sires and Dams, Grandsires and Granddams, or seeing them in person, one can get some idea of what a given offspring might look like. However if the parents are an outcross (not related in any way close up on the pedigree) then it's the luck of the draw how a foal might look as an adult. It might resemble the Sire, the Dam or neither. Should one find a horse who shows up several times on a pedigree of a foal, then it's more possible that he would tend to look more like that horse or have many of his traits. This is sometimes very difficult in a breed where it isn't easy to trace the background of horses and that which we do find out, doesn't always turn out to be factual. So how can we "set" a type to come as close to the Standard as possible? How can we form a breeding plan for the future, to produce a line of "type", which we feel should come close as possible, to the ideal Gypsy Horse? A line of horses, about which breeders in the future, will be able to look at and know they came from our stable? Well in our Breed with so many unknowns, it's not easy but is possible I think. Firstly one must obviously start out with a mare who is as close to the ideal Standard as possible. If you know the horses in her background - even better. Note her faults and strong points. If you find she has a stallion in her pedigree whom you much admire and is consider an excellent example of the breed, then you might consider breeding your mare back to him, if available. One could also seek out a Stallion of quality, who has a similar background which includes that horse. These would be considered "linebreeding". Again, not always easy to do in our Breed, but with a little research, you might find some of the good horses in his background, are full siblings of those in your mare's pedigree. While not all full siblings are of the same quality, especially if they are a product of a complete outcross breeding, most of the time it would be better to breed to a Stallion who has some relatives in common with your mare - even if they are only siblings, if you wish to set a type along the lines of the horse or line you paricularly admire. Of course from there back you would then have ancestors in common. So in fact, what you would be doing is linebreeding on a particular horse or line. If the closely bred ancestors are up front in the pedigree, you would be than having a good start at setting a "type" in your stock. When such an offspring is an adult, once again breeding back into the line of horses which contain the horses or lines you admire and consider them to be as close to the Standard as possible, will give you yet another generation of horses which should start to resemble greatly, the horse who appears most often in the pedigree. If one is very knowledgeable about certain horses or lines, a breeder might well decide to combine two lines. Offspring from such a breeding might give the breeder an idea to breed back into one or other of those lines. Setting type more quickly, can of course be achieved, by breeding a mare back to her sire. This will not cause the offspring to have three legs, be crazy etc. as is a common myth, but will bring out not only the good points of the horse in question, but also bring to the fore his weak points, which previously might have gone unnoticed. This would be considered "inbreeding" and probably shouldn't be attempted by those who don't know the horse and horses in the background, extremely well. However, for those who know what they are doing, it can be an excellent way to achieve and set type quickly in their herd. Just remember though, it can also produce some surprises and not always one which the breeder wanted. I am quite sure, given the background of our Breed, that in the past, there was quite a lot of inbreeding which went on - and possibly still is. I would say that many of our horses of today, are much more closely related than we know. If were to have the availability of a five generation true pedigree, we would quite possibly see many of the same horses, appearing many, many times. Lots of the supposed pedigrees we are given on our horses today, are unfortunately far from the truth, as some of us have come to discover, so with most of our Breed, we really have no idea how closely - or not, they are bred. These days though, we have the ability to compare DNA on horses we are not quite sure about and to at least make a good start at setting the type within our own herd and not straying from that which the Gypsy Horse is supposed to look like, according to the Standard. I think it should behoove us all, to remember that first and foremost, he "is" and "should be" a Draft Horse. Deviating from that and trying to breed new lines, of a taller, leaner-legged horse for those purely wanting to compete in various diciplines, is in my view, an abomination and does the Breed and the Gypsies who brought him to us, no service at all. PLEASE NOTE If you are viewing this page on a wide screen monitor, any pictures might appear wider and the horses etc. will be stretched, and unfortunately appear a lot longer in body than they are. Setting your screen resolution to 1280 x 720 pixels will probably correct the problem. Go back to... All text, pictures, animations, borders and backgrounds, appearing on this site, are the sole property of E.DeLeo and S.Clark, unless public domain or otherwise noted and may not be copied or reproduced without permission. Copyright E. DeLeo. 2003. Website Design by Lizzie