# Calculating Percentage TB Breeding in Sport Horses - Interesting Findings!



## Eothain (6 April 2011)

Right! So I was a bit worried about my Classic Vision mare this year as I don't want to breed her to a Thoroughbred again for a while yet I had drilled it into my head that she hadn't enough blood for a Sport Horse stallion.
This got me to thinking about something John Watson said at a breeding seminar I was at recently and how to work the percentage of blood in mares and stallions and the resulting offspring!
The results were quite fascinating really.

I went back through the pedigree to find the thoroughbred crosses and especially on the Draught stallions to see which horses brought about the most quality. It was tricky to do in places because of the high level of unrecorded pedigrees but I think my results are pretty accurate!

I'll use some stallions as an example.

The King Of Diamonds is arguably the most famous ID stallion of all time! Yet he is genetically approx 32% TB breeding!!! He's by Errigal who himself is 14% TB approx and out of a mare called Ruby that is 50% TB. Now Ruby is by True Boy but because of missing pedigree info, he has to be taken as 100% ID. So taking the 14% or 14.0625% to be precise of Errigal and adding it to Ruby's 50% we get 64%. Divide it by two and we get 32% - the percentage of blood that is Ireland's most famous Draught stallion!!!

It turns out my Classic Vision mare is 52.4% TB! So I'm breeding her to the Cruising stallion Cougar this year and he turns out to be 81.25% TB. The resulting foal ends up at 66.825% TB. Enough blood for anything really!

So, if anybody is interested, I'll give you the blood percentages of some other stallions now. Finding blood percentages for Continentally-bred stallions is quite difficult. I took Trakenhers and Anglo-Arabs to contribute as much blood as actual Thoroughbreds. Right or wrong, I don't know but I won't give my approx results for them just in case I'm a mile out.

Cruising (Sea Crest @37.5% - Mullacrew @87.5%) = 62.5% TB
Classic Vision (Ginger Dick @39% - Lady Glen @~11.375%) = 25% TB
Laughton's Flight/Errigal Flight (K.O.D @32% - Highlight II @~57%) = 44.5% TB
Cougar (Cruising @62.5% - Rain Star @100%) = 81.25% TB
Flagmount Diamond (K.O.D @32% - Gowran Betty @~12.5%) = 22.5% TB
Puissance (Imperius @100% - Lady Marlene @47.5%) = 73.75% TB

I've a Duca Di Busted mare that is 79.875% TB. She's in foal to Puissance. The resulting foal will be 76.8% TB. On seeing that statistic, my fingers are now crossed for a colt who might grow up to be a stallion!
The Classic Vision mare is actually a daughter of that Duca Di Busted mare and she's in foal to the Thoroughbred stallion Sirillo. That foal ends up with a blood percentage of 76.2%

I'm not sure what that means going forward but, it's certainly something to consider. We say that the more blood, the better for Eventing but Showjumping needs blood too. Not in the same way of course. Going through the pedigrees of some International competitors, it seems that generally speaking, the straight use of Thoroughbred stallions is better for Eventing while for Jumping it is the culmulative effect of breeding blood mare to powerful jumping stallions that reap the most rewards.

It might just become a handy tool for breeders to use in the future. Obviously conformational traits and all that plays it's part too!

Anyway, enough of me rambling. I just wanted to share my results with people.


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## Waterborn (6 April 2011)

very interesting...... it is surprising how much TB blood is in all the showjumpers I've looked at. Even my pony showjumpers!


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## seabsicuit2 (6 April 2011)

Thats great Eothian, I have often wondered how much TB blood my Irish gelding has, did get a calculator out and worked it out to be roundabout 50% TB and 50% ID but could not really be sure as there is such an infusion of different draught bloodlines. 

What % TB would you say? his pedigree is here-

http://www.sporthorse-data.com/db.php?i=10703106&time=1302071560


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## amage (6 April 2011)

Very interesting thanks for that. I covered my BWP mare with a TB stallion to bring more blood to her but have always been put off certain IDs as mare is a strong 17.2 and well built so have always been afraid I'd end up with a baby elephant!


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## Navalgem (6 April 2011)

How do you calculate it?  I just go with whats on paadenfokken, according to which KOD has 28% 'blood' http://www.paardenfokken.nl/pedigree.php?horseid=50195

I'm curious as wouldn't mind having a go myself with a few of mine that are not on paadenfokken.

just as an aside: Totilas has LESS blood than KOD! (ok 2% but still....  http://www.paardenfokken.nl/pedigree.php?horseid=162411 so if that is the case I wouldn't worry too much about blood as Totilas is at the top of his game!


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## chrissie1 (6 April 2011)

That is very interesting and most informative, thanks.

If I may throw another RID stallion into the mix here, we used Skippy, the original, on a TB-with-no-papers mare.  I knew at the time that Skippy was out of a mare called Rosie (or Rose) by Final Problem, who I am certain was a TB.  I have often pondered that Skippy would probably have been considered a SH stallion now rather than a RID.

But the resulting filly foal went on to found a dynasty so no complaints from me!


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## GinnieRedwings (6 April 2011)

Eothain

It appears that you are at your most intellectually productive when on foal watch... 
<remembers with fondness THAT great thread last year>

That's really interesting and would be useful to try and interpret in terms of what percentage of blood out of what crosses produces the best sports horses for each discipline...

Anyone out there looking for a PhD subject?

PS I would agree that AA should be seen as 100% blood - not sure about Traks though.


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## Eothain (7 April 2011)

It's good to keep the mind busy!

I've some more stuff to put up in a while but first, in response to Seabiscuit, her horse works out at 55.25% TB from my calculations!

Several little things have popped up from this that I think merit further reasearch


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## seabsicuit2 (7 April 2011)

Thank you very much Eothian! I was rather hoping that you would find some more TB blood in there as he is going to be an eventer. But he's such a good horse so I really can't complain! He's a big heavy boy to look at but so light on his feet!


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