Your Breeding Program Goals?

[Argent]

Mini-rant ahead: Inbreeding is never a no-no if you know what you're doing. I really hate the stigma against inbreeding on most sims. It is usually perpetuated by people who don't actually know what they're talking about. Inbreeding to good traits = good animals. Inbreeding to bad traits = bad animals. Outcrossing/Outbreeding = you'll never really know what you're getting. While it's true that inbreeding depression can cause loss of fertility, a breeder who knows what they're doing will know to outcross on occasion to bring back some diversity (or select for fertility in the first place, so this is less likely to become a problem). People have this idea that if you never inbreed, you'll never end up with bad stock which isn't true because a) because there's no consistency in your program, you can't make any educated guesses to produce good animals, so it's really just a roll of the dice, and b) deleterious genes don't just go "poof" because two animals are unrelated (like the myth that mixed breed dogs are healthier than purebreds - if you breed two unhealthy dogs, you're going to get unhealthy puppies. End of story.).
/rant

[Valkyriea]

Yay Argent for saying what I was going to say!

Tis true about the inbreeding and it's a subject that people most often find terrible without having done any research to find out the pros and cons. Same goes for linebreeding.

If anyone is interested in grasping the term, I found a neat little article http://bowlingsite.mcf.com/genetics/inbreeding.html

[Danii]

While inbreeding and line breeding are very valuable tools for breeding the traits you want, the stigma with it is the fact that there tends to be people who over do it, therefore it can amplify bad traits if you're not careful since you are lowering the genetic diversity of that stock and as you said with the lowered fertility and you actually have a higher chance of having deformities. Dogs are a very good example of that (e.g. pugs). I think there should be limits on inbreeding and line-breeding but it definitely shouldn't be banned altogether as it is on some of sites.

But I would like to point out that even with inbreeding, you won't always get the traits you want, as with outbreeding. Genetics is very random however, you can get the traits you want from not inbreeding. It'll just take longer and you'll have a higher chance of getting the traits you don't want, but to say that its inconsistent is not really correct, not if you manage your stock correctly and make sure you only breed with individuals with the specific traits you require. Also, while "bad" genes don't just poof away, with out breeding you are much less likely to come across them than with inbreeding/line-breeding. However, with any breeding, you get out what you put in in terms of quality really, well most of the time anyways since sometimes you end up with mutations and recessive genes popping up every now and again

What's quite funny is in fact every animal is pretty much related, we all evolved from one species into another, therefore we share ancestors so you'll never find non-related stock so we're all technically inbreeding, just some are more closely related than others

[Jorlana]

I'm not sure what my ultimate goal will be just yet. I love the white patterns so probably Paints and Appaloosas will be involved at some point. I've got a soft spot for all of the Spanish breeds, so that will likely be my emphasis.

[SilverLined]

I'm not sure what my ultimate goal will be just yet. I love the white patterns so probably Paints and Appaloosas will be involved at some point. I've got a soft spot for all of the Spanish breeds, so that will likely be my emphasis.

I would love to do paints as well(: I'm still deciding!

[Argent]

Danii, the people who overdo it are just bad breeders. End of story. It isn't inbreeding's fault that some people are incompetent. The look of pugs is due to breeding for that grotesque smushed face; inbreeding was merely the most effective way to get the result, not the cause. Arbitrary limits to inbreeding would make me consider leaving this game; again, people who push for this rarely actually know the mechanics of what's going on. As is, I believe Larissa has the game set up in an accurate way, where inbreeding is only detrimental if you inbreed to poor traits.

The probability of getting what you want is immensely higher with inbreeding and linebreeding (same concept, but some people like to delineate). Outbreeding is highly unlikely to produce whatever you were going for unless the two lines you're crossing are already [in]bred to set particular traits. You're much better able to get rid of bad genes through inbreeding because you'll actually know which ones you have and can cull out affecteds and carriers; outbred horses could leave you with a herd full of carriers and you'd never know until that fluke cross that produces an affected horse.

[annibal]

I want Norwegian Fjords. I need to do a little more research on what exactly they have in their history, but I know my foundation will be Prezwalski's Horses.

[Nate]

In the game, Fjords are the result of breeding a pure bred Mongolian to a Mongolian/Tarpan cross. Larissa has done some VERY extensive research into each breed's history. Mongolians are created by crossing a pure bred Przewalski with a Przewalski/Tarpan cross. So really for Norwegian Fjords you only need Tarpans and Przewalskis. It's my hope that everyone will look to other players' studs in advancing their own breeding programs every with relatively easy breeds like Norwegian Fjords. Does this mean you will have the dunnest horses in the game in short order?

[CalicoJenn]

Right now playing with teks and building to TBs, eventually i want to build to morgans.

[Akayana]

My breeding goal is to produce a "custom breed" not already founded. Gonna be temperament from "bombproof" to "calm", Skills will be centered on intelligence, and Light - medium light build, 9-11hh, black or blue roan in color, long mane and tail with feathering. No idea how this is gonna work out, but we shall see. Muahahaha

Starting off with Tarpan's and Shetlands, wooo.