The June Quarter Horse News headline said it all — “Wow! Jennifer Neudorf Sweeps NRHA Derby Non-Pro.” Neudorf, a sophomore in high school, indeed won all four levels of the Non-Pro, as well as the Youth division. It’s thanks, in large part, to Shining In Town’s pedigree and hybrid vigor.
Neudorf set a record as the only rider to ever achieve this unique win. She accomplished this feat riding her 6-year-old stallion Shining In Town to a 226.5. Carol Rose bred the horse, who Neudorf purchased through Craig Schmersal.
Shining In Town is the earner of $191,719. His sire is Hollywoodstinseltown (Hollywood Dun It x Miss Tinseltown x Great Red Pine), the winner of $178,156 and the sire of horses with earnings of more than $2.5 million. The dam of Shining In Town is Shine Ann (Shining Spark x Lil Miss Smarty Chex x Smart Little Lena). She earned three American Quarter Horse Association Working Cow Horse points and has produced eight performers with $204,000-plus in cumulative earnings.
When we review a pedigree, we look for breeding patterns or breeding systems. We look for inbreeding, linebreeding and outcross patterns that appear. The pedigree of Shining In Town shows what is called a “hybrid” pedigree. He is not inbred because he doesn’t have common ancestors on both the sire’s and dam’s sides of the pedigree for at least five generations.
Hollywoodstinseltown has duplication of an ancestor through his grandsire Hollywood Jac 86 with a breeding pattern of 2 X 4 to this great stallion. The other cross to Hollywood Jac 86 comes from Miss Hollywood Peach, the third dam of Hollywoodstinseltown.
Shine Ann has duplication of an ancestor in Doc Bar. Her sire is a grandson of Doc Bar and her broodmare sire, Smart Little Lena, is a grandson of Doc Bar. This gives Shine Ann a breeding pattern of 3 X 4 to Doc Bar.
Thus, Shining In Town has a hybrid pedigree that has linebreeding in his pedigree, but he is not linebred or inbred to these common ancestors.
(Click here for a cheat sheet on understanding breeding patterns.)
Hybrid Vigor is a term used to explain the phenomenon that happens when two unrelated individuals are mated and produce an outstanding foal. Hollywoodstinseltown and Shine Ann both show linebreeding to their respective common ancestors — Hollywood Jac 86 and Doc Bar. This then increases the potential for hybrid vigor when two unrelated linebred individuals are crossed.
If you have ever gone past a field of corn, you’ve likely seen the size and uniformity of the plants. They were developed by crossing two unrelated inbred lines of corn.
The role of hybrid vigor through an outcrossing has been an important aspect in the development of the Quarter Horse breed. A prime example of this phenomenon comes with Hollywood Jac 86 (Easter King x Miss Hollywood x Hollywood Gold). Easter King was a son of King P-234, a son of Zantanon. His dam was Gocha H, by Cuate, by Zantanon.
This gives Easter King a breeding pattern of 2 X 3 to Zantanon. Miss Hollywood shows no linebreeding or inbreeding in her five-generation pedigree. Thus, the inbreeding of Easter King to Zantanon was outcrossed on Miss Hollywood (Hollywood Gold x Miss Buggins 86 x Buggins).
We see so many individuals showing today that are linebred in their pedigree. These are great individuals in their own right, but we always need to look for that outcross to boost hybrid vigor in our breeding programs to ensure the continued improvement of our horses.
