Anuario Raza Polo Argentino Anuario2018 | Page 244

discarding Sprinters, because none of these
breeders knew to which group the donors they
chose to breed from belonged. They only chose
them based on their performance on the field.
From the donors selected for this paper, and which
have already produced Open-playing ponies, only
one is a Sprinter in three groups of very distinctive
animals with very different styles of offspring
and play, which suggests that the genetic base
becomes instilled during early selection of the
animals. considering that staying power is used less.
However, in view of the percentages obtained, this
seems unlikely.
There is nothing new in that Polo demands speed
and staying power as well as other skills in horses. • Discover the genetic variables found in our sires
and donors.
• Orient the mating of sires and donors in order to
obtain the desired genotypes.
• Early selection of offspring presenting the
desired genotype.
• The tests could be made on the offspring in order
to orient us as to its genetic makeup in this sense
and so be able to reach useful conclusions that
can be measured against future inclusions.
Speed, which is indispensable in a polo pony, is
also present in stayers. In fact, a horse that races
over distances above a mile needs speed. The
difference with a natural Sprinter is that speed
may be administrated over long distances, since
the temperament of most of these horses makes
for easier training.
We may also ask ourselves if this genetic makeup
has been changing over time alongside the
evolution of the breed, which today appears to
have (at least in what has been tested) a clearly
defined standard.
In latter years, the mode of changing horses
during the chukka poses the question as to
whether this tendency might not migrate, favoring
the appearance on the scene of the Sprinter,
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As regards the issue of speed and staying
power in the racehorse, Federico Tesio used
to say: “…speed extended over time means
staying power”.
What would be its use in the Polo Argentino
breed?
Genotypic variants result from the biological
parents, and there is no reason for two full siblings
to have the same genotype unless they come from
homozygous parents of the same group, e.g. Sire
and Dam, Sprinter or Long Distance.
The test is simple, and only requires the genetic
material used for DNA classification.