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Crossing The Line

Paint Horse Journal
02/ 1998
Frank Holmes

Maternal Linebreeding

Linebreeding
Linebreeding is built on the principle of "breeding like to like to get like." It affords the serious horse breeder the opportunity to set a type in the shortest amount of time.

The late Hank Wiescamp of Alamosa, Colorado, was the undisputed king of the linebreeders. Utilizing Skipper W. AQHA as the cornerstone of his program, Wiescamp linebred a "family" of Paints, Quarter Horses and Appaloosas that were so easily distinguishable by coloring and type that they are more often described as "Wiescamp horses" than as members of any single breed.

The greatest danger in a linebreeding program is that it intensifies all of the genes--good and bad. In other words, if you have a line inherently gifted racehorses, breeding like to like--speed to speed--should result in an ever-faster line of horses.

If, at the same time, this line of horses is consistently bad-tempered, breeding like to like should result in an intensified line of poor-dispositioned horses.

In a linebreeding program, you, as the breeder, find out what is good and bad about your program in a hurry.

The only way to offset the intensification of undesirable traits in a linebreeding program is to ruthlessly cull the undesirables from the herd.

Inbreeding
As explained earlier, inbreeding is an intensified form of linebreeding, with the sole difference being in the genetic closeness of the horses being bred to each other.

Among the advantages of inbreeding, according to Ensminger, are that it affords the surest and quickest method of fixing and perpetuating a desirable characteristic or group of characteristics, it tends to create lines or strains of animals that are uniform in type, and it keeps the closest possible relationship to a desirable ancestor.

The disadvantages of inbreeding, Ensminger states, are that it almost certainly increases the proportion of undesirable breeding stock, with lethal whites and other genetic abnormalities often appearing with increased frequency.

Inbreeding, Ensminger concluded, "...requires skill in making planned matings and rigid selection, thus being most successful when applied by 'master breeders.'"

Craft or Science?
Whether you decide to build your program on the principles of outcrossing or linebreeding, or a combination of the two, it is important to remember that, scientific discoveries notwithstanding, horse breeding remains much more of an acquired craft than an applied science.

Or, as Hank Wiescamp repeatedly told those who made the pilgrimage to southern Colorado to attempt to glean from him the "secret" to his longstanding success as a horse breeder:

"There is no secret, and there is no magic formula. It's knowing your horses, studying them every day and being honest with yourself when it comes time to make your breeding decisions," Wiescamp would say. "Horse breeding is not a science. It can't be taught in school. It comes from deep inside you, and that's the way it should be."

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