When we published Paige Cade’s blog, “Made In America,” in which the author tackled the question of why she doesn’t purchase more domestically bred horses, the online reaction from readers was swift and expansive.
“With some exceptions, I find that many U.S.-bred horses are not of the same quality as their European counterparts,” Cade wrote, going on to say she believed this is due to two primary factors: one, breeding being “routinely done as a hobby in the U.S. by amateur horse owners”; and two, because the U.S. doesn’t “have the same depth of purpose-bred genetics from our mares.”
The blog criticized how some horses are bred in this country but also talked about the difficulty even the most established U.S. breeders face developing young horses in a place and system that makes it cost-prohibitive to do so.
“For the American system to improve, we should support the breeders who are working diligently to produce a quality product,” she wrote. “This is where there is dissonance between what we say we want and what the industry will support. We say we want U.S.-bred horses competing in sport—but professionally producing, campaigning and marketing a young horse from birth to age 7 is prohibitively expensive for most breeders. We can either breed horses, or we can produce them.”
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Cade’s blog garnered more than 500 comments on Facebook and nearly 2,000 likes on Instagram, with reader reactions running the gamut from strong agreement to outright outrage.
Several breeders took the time to write rebuttals to the blog, and we’re publishing those here to provide a different perspective on the issue:
• An Affront To American Breeders
Mary O’Connor, past president and founding member of the U.S. Sport Horse Breeders Association, pushes back on the points made in the blog and the Chronicle’s decisions on running and promoting it.
• Breeding Quality Isn’t Lacking; Avenues For Development Are
California breeder Anneliese Kannow penned this response, co-signed by almost three dozen fellow breeders, about the professionalism of North American breeders, the exceptional quality of horses they produce, and the challenges they face.
