Genealogy-Secrets.com

The odds are, your horse’s genealogy is far more interesting and thorough than your family’s genealogy is. One of the reasons such meticulous records have been kept over the centuries is that horses were seen as more than property, but as regal or even divine works of art. In helping to breed a better horse, a horse’s genealogy – usually called a pedigree – needs to be known before the horse can be used as part of any successful breeding program.

Arabian Horses

The longest records kept on any breed of horse are the noble Arabian. This is fortunate, because the Arabian is the foundation stock of many breeds, including the Thoroughbred, National Show Horse, Morab and Lippizzanner. The Arabian horse was considered sacred to the Bedouins and tribes on the Arabian Peninsula. They are specifically mentioned in the Koran.

In modern times, there are more Arabian horses in America than in all of the Arabian Peninsula. And when the Arabians came, so did their pedigrees. The modern Arab owner can log onto many Arabian geneology websites that are complication lists from studbooks, records and personal research. One of the best Arabian geneology websites is the aptly named Arabian Pedigrees (www.arabianpedigrees.com).

Thoroughbreds

The only other breed that comes close to having pedigree records dating to the 1700’s are for Thoroughbreds. The breed originated in England from crossing Arabians with native stock to make the fastest horse in the world. Despite time and World Wars, England’s pedigree records have been kept more or less intact. They have been transcribed to Thoroughbred geneology websites all over the world. Many of these geneology websites are free to access. One of the best is Bloodlines.net.

Your Stud Records

If you are breeding horses, you need to know their pedigrees to weed out undesirable traits and, hopefully, to discourage inbreeding. Keeping these records organized can drive you to ride El Diablo without a saddle. There’s no reason why you can’t use human genealogy software to organize your stud records. They basically work on a fill in the blank system. They are convenient and photos can often be inserted.

Free equine geneology websites are all over the web, for all breeds and many half breeds. Horse caretakers are extremely proud of their horses. They might only go back to a few generations, but that still may be more than you know of your own family tree and enough to help choose wisely the breeding partners for your horses.