I was truly shocked by Paige Cade’s latest blog entry for the Chronicle of the Horse (Feb. 21, 2024), headlined “Made In America,” which so unfairly casts American sport horse breeding in a bad light that it’s hard to know which of the misinformed points it contains to push back on first. But I’ll begin with The Chronicle’s editorial discretion over content. Not only was discretion lacking in publishing Ms. Cade’s article as it was written, but by coupling the headline “Made in America” with “reverse evolution” (an eye-catching phrase pulled from the article), the Chronicle’s own social media post on Facebook was an additional affront to American breeders. Who thought that was necessary? No matter how quickly it was walked back and made to disappear (after the blowback) the sting is a lasting one. 

Ironically, I have been a Chronicle subscriber since its pre-glossy days and long before I owned a real “show horse,” the Chronicle’s annual stallion issue was an early spark that kindled an ambition to become a breeder at some point in my career. When I reached this milestone well over 15 years ago, it became clear to me that there was a need for breeders in the United States to work together to create a community that was not registry or discipline specific in order to have influence in sport governance issues, particularly those centered around the issue of positive identification for competition horses. This led me to become one of the founding board members and serve as the initial president of the U.S. Sport Horse Breeders Association. The USSHBA’s steering committee aimed to provide breeders with a voice in sport governance forums, educational opportunities, recognition the accomplishments of our breeders, and engage in outreach to others in the equestrian community, celebrating the success of horses bred, raised and competed here in the U.S. The USSHBA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that also works to promote the welfare of our breeding animals. A cornerstone of responsible sport horse breeding is that producing high quality offspring and developing them correctly is the best guarantee of their future welfare. American breeders are definitely not practicing “reverse evolution.” 

It’s no surprise that the internet has completely altered advertising and publishing platforms. Equestrian enterprises of all types have become increasingly profit motivated, and with increased commerce in equine related sales, the equestrian community has long been a multi-national one. Americans have moved to Europe. Europeans have moved to America. There are Europeans breeding in America. There are Americans breeding in Europe. Prices for top horses have soared. Corporate business entities, especially those associated with luxury brands, have capitalized on the trends and invested heavily in appealing to the demographic participating at the upper echelons of our sport. After several changes of ownership even the Chronicle itself has become the property of an equity firm based in the Netherlands. My point here is that horse sports have become international in nature from top to bottom. Breeding is no different, and U.S. breeders are full participants in the worldwide community of sport horse breeding. 

Mischaracterizing American Mares

Although the author says she hopes her article will “contribute to the betterment of the American system,” it’s hard to imagine that outcome, given its overall negative tone in characterizing American broodmares as genetically inferior, congenitally unsound, difficult and not contributing to the sport, while singling out Thoroughbred mares in particular as cheap throwaways. She additionally describes “many” of our breeders as amateurs seeking to reproduce favorite mares, while attempting to represent the resulting “pet” quality offspring as upper-level horses. If Cade admittedly does not shop in our marketplace, whose breeding farms has she been visiting here in the United States? On what basis has she formed her opinions on the overall quality of American breeding?

About those Thoroughbreds: As explained to me some years ago by Irish master horseman Gerry Mullins, the approach taken in American breeding was similar to that of the Irish, who used an ample supply of good Thoroughbred dams from both racing and sport lines and crossed them with Irish Draught stallions to create the Irish Sport Horse. 

In contrast, Europeans used Thoroughbred and even Anglo Arabian stallions (often importing them, sometimes from the Americas) to pair with their heavyset working mares. These Thoroughbred and Anglo stallions became the foundation of the sport lines we have become so accustomed to seeing in the pedigrees of all warmbloods. (Refer to online pedigree databases and study top sport pedigrees to see the large percentage of Thoroughbred/Anglo blood and the individuals from whom that blood originated).

Americans likewise used Thoroughbreds with great success, breeding many for sport and developing countless others from the track. When warmblood sires were imported from Holland, Germany and France, these too were crossed with Thoroughbred mares. Warmblood mares with excellent sport pedigrees also have also been purchased for import to America. Our American mare base is therefore made up of a genetically diverse selection of domestically bred and imported sport mares.

European Standards, European Branding

Cade’s statement that “breeding is routinely done as a hobby in the U.S. by amateur horse owners with little to no knowledge of sport horse breeding” is not an accurate one. 

According to the 2023 World Breeding Federation of Sport Horses State of the Industry Report, 1,392 U.S.-born foals were reported by WBFSH member registries in 2022. These numbers are far fewer than those 2022 foals born in Germany (28,109), the Netherlands (16,421), Belgium (13,305) or Ireland (5,530). The accuracy of these numbers is problematic, even according to the report’s authors, as data collection methods are not always reliable. But they do serve to illustrate that there is much more to American breeding than amateurs seeking to produce “pet” quality “heart horses” from problematic mares.

Clouding the entire topic of sport horses bred in America is that there are several European sport horse registries with well-established U.S. or North American chapters. The quantity of horses bred in the U.S. annually (very low thousands) cannot compare to those in Europe (many tens of thousands), yet the latest Annual State of the Industry Report (2023) of the World Breeders Federation of Sport Horses (WBFSH) shows the highest number of WBFSH-recognized sport horse studbooks outside of Europe is to be found in the United States, which has seven. This is clear evidence of an American breeder community actively engaged in meeting and maintaining high standards of production—and European standards, at that—which should reassure readers, whom Cade may have persuaded to think otherwise, that we Americans are on the right track in seeking to produce quality offspring from good breeding stock. 

A positive aspect of having multiple European studbooks in the U.S. is that each of these will conduct annual quality screenings, called inspections, to evaluate pedigrees, conformation, movement and athletic performance of prospective breeding mares and young stallion candidates, along with grading foals. This process ensures that our breeding mares are independently assessed against European standards by the same expert sport horse judging teams used at inspections in Europe. 

What places American breeders at a disadvantage is that the “European branding” of our domestic breeding stock makes it appear as if American breeders and the quality offspring they produce are absent from the scene, when nothing could be further from the truth. This could change with more support from breeders of the WFSHB-recognized North American Studbook (NAS), but this would require a cultural shift. Breeders, just like others in the industry, value the rich international connections they have formed with their counterparts in Europe as modern sport horse bloodlines have moved in all directions across continents, accompanied by all the paperwork involved. Unwinding that red tape would be a monumental proposition, even if doing so would be well worth the trouble. But going forward, wider support of the NAS by American breeders could go a long way toward ensuring recognition where it is due. 

As for “cheap” Thoroughbred mares, those with good conformation and proven sport bloodlines are sought after bargains for breeders savvy enough to find and acquire them. Thoroughbred mares of quality and their warmblood offspring are fully eligible for acceptance into the registry studbooks. Sadly, upon being granted their “European citizenship,” they too can become invisible to American trainers, riders and sales agents. 

Challenges Are Real

The challenges listed in Cade’s blog are indeed real. American breeders could use more support from the U.S. Equestrian Federation and discipline groups, from show managers and our training community, to create affordable and accessible young horse development opportunities. 

The USEF and discipline groups simply have to find a way to rein in the excessive costs of competing, not only for the sake of breeders and their young horses in development, but also because the expense of competing has become prohibitive for so many. If this can’t be done, would it be fair to ask for them to create funding for development grants? We have scholarship programs for young riders. Why not for breeders with clearly promising young horses? 

Training days at good venues with nice footing and appropriate courses for affordable prices are available in some areas at certain times of the year, but few and far between in others—it’s either feast or famine. Let’s see more of these in more locations. 

There could be programs to pair junior and young riders who aspire to become upper-level horsemen with breeders and owners who need their young horses developed. The education of our elite junior riders in all disciplines should include schooling young horses through the early stages of elementary flatwork, piloting them over their first jumps, and riding them outside the ring. What a win/win for the future this would be! It’s not that I’m questioning the value of pursuing a national equitation championship on a seasoned horse, but should “seasoned” be the only type of horse these riders have experience on if they hope to make riding a career, or represent our country on a team? 

‘Hobby’ Breeding Is Where It Starts

For those who contemplate breeding, let’s acknowledge that “hobby” breeding by “amateur horse owners” is how many of us get started. But that doesn’t mean we started out or remained ignorant. When Sue Williams purchased the legendary Trakehner show jumping stallion Abdullah as a 3-year-old, she thought she would maybe end up with a nice horse to ride, and to breed. She and her husband Terry already bred Quarter Horses, but were not very familiar with jumpers, and started out by eventing him. She could not have realized she would wind up with a World Cup win, Olympic silver and gold medals from the 1984 Games, and go on to stand one of the U.S.’s most prominent stallions. Basically, she was a “hobby breeder,” with a very nice stallion, and then the rest happened. 

And Americans don’t have a monopoly on amateurs or lower level pros who breed “favorite mares.” HH Azur, for example, was bred by a small family stud in Belgium [out of mare the owners had shown a bit]. Some of our sport’s most exceptional athletes have come from small programs, using stallions who are not well known at the time, out of dams who have few (if any) qualifications in the disciplines their offspring are destined to excel in. 

If they continue their endeavors, most “amateur” breeders  will have learned from experience and will succeed at improving on their initial efforts. They might try following the example of Lisa Lourie of Spy Coast Farm in designing a very serious breeding program, rising to become a major player in the sport, throwing their support behind other breeders, riders and competitions in addition to meeting the goal of producing upper-level equine athletes. 

Instead of trying to discourage amateurs from breeding, let’s ensure there is an infrastructure in place to educate and support them. Everyone has been a beginner at one point or another. Yet, we all learn. As breeders, we especially learn to be emotionally and financially prepared for poor as well as great outcomes, because anything can happen.

While there are hopes, dreams, and probabilities in breeding, there are no guarantees. But let’s please stay away from making blanket assumptions about an entire class of horsemen in our midst whose very existence centers around looking toward the future. Let’s all work to ensure a good future for our breeding community. This is good for our wider community because we are nowhere without our horses. And without breeders, there are no horses. 

Mary O’Connor was a founding board member and past president of the U.S. Sport Horse Breeders Association and is a member of the American Hanoverian Society’s Jumper Breeder’s Committee. A USEF-licensed Judge (H/J/Eq), she operates Inner Bay LLC in Middleburg, Virginia, producing one to two jumper-bred foals each year.