2010 Breeders' Conference - Post-Event Press Release
by Monika Savier
Back to the Future:
Building Blocks for Contemporary Egyptian Arabian Breeding
2010 Annual National Breeders Conference
Organized by The Pyramid Society in cooperation with
The Pyramid Foundation, Inc.
Press Release and Conference Overview (web version)
“This conference endeavours to look at the Egyptian Arabian horse from more than one perspective. It does not intend to express already well-known points of view as fixed truths. Instead, it means … by presenting a variety of ideas, sometimes conflicting … to go beyond personal preferences and foster a spirit of inquiry, scepticism and imagination in the Egyptian Arabian breeding community.” (The Pyramid Society)
Friday, September 17-19: the 4th National Egyptian Breeders Conference was held in the elegant Westin Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. Nearly 100 delegates, members, and interested breeders from numerous states in the US, complemented by a handful of Europeans, participated in this conference, which saw as its task to cover the gamut - from the origin of Arabian horse breeding to today's international breeding strategies in Straight Egyptian breeding.
“How at once to build on the past – a past that for many of us is woven of legend and lore – and yet build for the future – a future that introduces daily a level of novelty, unanticipated and often threatening” – that's how Kent Mayfield, Ph.D., Moderator of the conference and member of the Board of Directors, stated it in his opening speech. Many had come not only to meet once more friends from every country and to exchange common experiences and breeding strategies, but also because there are some clouds casting their shadows across the sky of international Arabian horse breeding. The Pyramid Society read the signs, which is why the cornerstones for this conference were from different areas, covering innovation as well as prevention of threats: “Building blocks for contemporary Egyptian Arabian breeding” was the motto. The agenda covered 3 core themes:
- Principles, Practices and Tools in Egyptian Arabian Breeding
- Illustrative Models for Egyptian Arabian Breeding Historic and Contemporary
- Critical Issues for Future Breeding.
Even on the first day of the conference, there were interesting and controversial positions to be heard: the topic was "The Desert Legacy".
Mr Edouard Al-Dahdah from Washington, D.C (with his roots in Syria), opened the conference, offering the hotly disputed geopolitical position that the origins of Arabian horse breeding are owed to the Bedouins, and not to the countries of origin. The nomadic Bedouins did not consider the borders of countries, going where they found feed for their animals in the course of the year's seasons. To this extent, then, countries such as Egypt, building on existing breeding stock and consolidating and improving on that, must be considered "importing countries such as the US and Germany". Another one of his positions, one in which the spectators mainly agreed, claimed that classifying line breeding according to the well-known strains or families of mares – rather than sires – was done more for practical reasons, and that the denominations used for the strains are just that, names which today are no longer connected with the phenotype or the character displayed by the horses.
Mr. Joe Ferris, of Brownstone Farm, Quincy, MI, was another desert legacy research expert of international renown who made his spectators plunge into the historic development of Arabian horse breeding. In his gripping speech, he presented new aspects and analyses regarding the origins and the reliability of pedigrees of today's horses.
Mr. Ernest Bailey, Ph.D., MH. of Gluck Equine Research Center, Lexington, KY, informed the listeners on the present situation of genetic research with Arabian horses. His report on “basic equine genetics and mating systems” was quite unsettling in parts and made obvious the importance of a transparent and co-operative strategy of breeding, comprising all the breeders in the world, in order to gain control of different genetic problems in Arabian horse breeding, as represented by the different appearances of cerebral disorders.
In his speech, he presented his assumption that it's the problem of inbreeding in "closed studbooks" such as the one for Arabian purebreds which results in the well-known genetic problems within the breed. However, a lot of questions are still unanswered and scientific explanations still to be expected.
Speakers and audience alike agreed that only information, education, and transfer of knowledge can guarantee the development of sensible breeding strategies that consider more than just showing. The important thing is to preserve an original, healthy breed, with all the breed characteristics that are expected of an Arabian horse. Several speakers called for a common packet of measures and co-operative, comprehensive breeding strategies.
In the evening, the participants of the conference were invited to Talaria Farm, owned by Allison Mehta and Curt Westley, for a dinner with Egyptian horses. In addition to an excellent and typically Egyptian dinner and entertainment, the horses of the farm left their ineradicable impression – headed by 2010 Egyptian Event winner Botswana with his offspring. In addition to the visit to Talaria, many attendees had earlier taken advantage of the opportunity for farm visits to Paradise Arabians, owned by Gary, Wanda, Matt and Misty Kenworthy in Dalton, Georgia, as well as breeders from smaller farms in North Georgia.
The second day of the conference was devoted to the topic of “Laying the Foundation, Other Points of Beginning”.
Dr. Hans Nagel, WAHO president, made the long journey from Katharinenhof Stud in Bremen, Germany, to be present for the conference. At 80 years of age, he is still one of the outstanding breeders living today, offering as the explanation for his genetically well-structured concept for success, his comparatively small and closed gene pool. His typical "Nagel horses" have been influencing breeding world-wide. An interesting point is a fact he laid open in Atlanta: that even after 40 years of breeding, his stud never experienced any serious inbreeding problems and he is still able, unaffected by the discussions around, to pursue his personal successful strategies built on his own personal visions and preferences.
Mrs. Judith Forbis of world-renowned Ansata Arabian Stud in Arkansas, who has written her own chapter in the history of Arabian breeding world-wide, asked her audience a question: “Why do we breed? Is it really all about beauty and type, or is it about what these traits trigger in us and about how we judge them?" In order to be successful breeders, she suggested considering three items: “Type is the perfection but type is balance, harmony, body and not just the head of the horse”. Secondly, a good pedigree is needed for breeding as there is helpful information contained in it. However, pedigrees are only roadmaps! The third important factor in successful breeding is luck, but luckily, it cannot be bought! That's what brings all of us together at one table in the end; no breeder is an island. Look at the pedigrees, we are all working together to some extent". She summed up her inspirational speech herself: “Realize your dream, perfect your dream, share your dream”.
The fourth session of the conference was headed: Dreams, Hopes, Other Points of Beginning.
Although Judy Guess of Blackwind Arabians was unable to be present as planned, Marilyn Lang of Fantasia Arabians and David Gardner formerly of Arabians Ltd., were representative breeders of Egyptian horses. Having written their own breeding chapters for the US, they reported, in an interesting and humorous way, their various breeding concepts and experiences from 20 years in the Arabian horse industry.
During the next session, successful breeder Mr. Omar Sakr from Cairo, Egypt, steered the debate back to the topic of the origin of straight Egyptian horses. Titling his speech Along the Nile: Egyptian Arabian Breeding in Egypt, he followed the journey from the founding of the Egyptian horse to this day where Egyptian horse breeding is experiencing a renaissance, as an enterprising generation of Egyptian breeders have established more than 400 studs in less than a decade. These studs will fall back on El Zahraa bloodstock occasionally, but primarily, they aspire to use the best Egyptian bloodlines from all over the world. To this end, there are plans to re-locate and greatly extend El Zahraa
In the afternoon, the sixth session was held in working groups, with their topic being Beyond the Legend and Lore: Case Studies in North American Egyptian Breeding.
Basically, the task was about presenting good practice models and about trying to find, by group discussion, a way of formulating out of the wealth of experience pooled there catchphrases that are generally applicable and can be used to introduce these experiences into the mainstream of breeders.
There were four experienced and successful breeders, namely M. Brandon Bryan of DeShazer Arabians, TX, Dr. Joseph Cruz of Rancho Bulakenyo, CA, Mrs Jennifer Parsons of Etaya Egyptian Stud in Canada, and Mrs. Becky Rogers of Kehilan Bloodstock, TX. All of them reported about their strategies for breeding and overall success, their business plans and their strategies of getting positive experiences, sometimes also out of defeats, which are still useful for learning from them. The working groups held lively discussions, and the resources present in the audience were fully integrated, resulting in lots of information being processed and summed up. All four of the speakers presented examples and self-critical analyses of how to keep true to one's own concepts and ideas, particularly regarding one's own breeding goal.
For the third day of the conference, the motto was: The Future is Now: Critical Issues in Contemporary Breeding.
After Dr. M. Kent Mayfield had summarized results up to then, Mr Joe Ferris used the thematic context to refer to The Pyramid Society proper, which, having been founded in 1969, is a piece of history in itself. What kind of influence can The Society have on modern breeding strategies, apart from its publications on sire and dam lines? There were eventually two key speakers to split the topic into two core themes:
1. Genetic Diversity: Closed Herd Challenges, by Mrs Anita Enander of the Institute for the Desert Arabian Horse, Los Altos, CA.
Hers was the first contribution that referred directly to the genetic aspects of successful breeding management, including the current discussion on the impact of genetics on reproduction. As an introduction into the discussion, Mrs Enander distributed a number of date fruits among the participants, commenting: "If you plant these dates in different gardens all over the world, the resulting fruit will be different, even if the genetic material was the same originally." She followed that up with a gripping lecture on natural selection as opposed to human selection. How do genetic variations develop within closed or open horse populations, respectively, and what about the risk to a dominant homozygous gene pool from inbreeding? Inbreeding may be convenient for quick successes in breeding, but it is assumed to be responsible for risks and side effects resulting from the ever-shrinking heterozygous gene pool of a horse. There is no longer doubt about the fact that increasingly frequent disorders such as CA, SCID, and LFS originate from a kind of genetic "disarray", but even infertility and maybe Pigment Lost are not only the outcome of negative impacts from the environment, but might have a genetic component as well. To what extent can we anticipate today's genetic problems, and can we influence them favourably? Do we already ask genetics the right questions? What are the answers we are still lacking in order to decipher various genetics-based disorders, and can we control them with that knowledge?
What can individual breeders do as a prophylaxis? Mrs Enander recommended a more wide-spread use of the genetic variety of the Arabian breed – a proposal that many breeders, attempting to consolidate the gene pools of their successful show horses with careful inbreeding, are not going to like. What is safe to declare in this context: education and information are what is missing in particular, what makes The Pyramid Society Conference and its result an important step towards enlightenment and prevention – even if Mrs Evander did something to reassure her audience in the end: "from the genetic point of view, the Arabian Desert-Bred is the healthiest horse breed of all."
„The Problem with the gene pool is
that there is no life guard“ Dave Gerrold
2. Back to the East: The Role of Middle Eastern breeders in Egyptian Arabian Breeding, Mr Omar Sakr from Cairo.
To the surprise of most listeners, Mr Sakr didn't hold back as he described current market conditions globally and specifically in the Middle East, which is experiencing a phenomenal renaissance. Many of the new breeders and owners will not compromise on quality, but they do look for instant gratification. This results, among others, in growing prejudices against some bloodlines and a decline in show appeal, integrity, and functionality. In Mr. Sakr's opinion, Egyptian breeding experiences a “ leadership vacuum” - the leading role was once assumed by the EAO. To provide global leadership that would guide the breeding and preservation efforts of the Straight Egyptian horses, Mr Sakr demanded comprehensive co-operation and the creation of an international organization or extending the Pyramid Society’s reach. He also urged that an academy for advanced training and research be established that would provide the kind of crucial information that breeders often don't know how to get and that is so very necessary for the continuation of the breed.
Summary
The conference was celebrated as a great success by all participants. The Pyramid Society staff, headed by Education Chair, Dr. Kent Mayfield, and Executive Director Mrs Anna Bishop, did an excellent job – not only with respect to organisation and the communicative quality of the venues discussed, but also with creating the space in which topics could bravely be presented and discussed, topics which might be just in time to provide the kind of knowledge to breeders that will enable them to check on their strategies so far – and to correct them, if necessary. The choice of national and international speakers proved to have been lucky as well as productive, and so it remains to be hoped that this stone that The Pyramid Society cast into the waters, taking to heart Omar Sakr's words that "we talk a lot, but we do little", will set off high waves reaching even the area of origin of the Arabian horse.
Monika Savier
