Page 24 - NMHBASummer2019

“We’re trying to expand the options for fillies,” continued True. “We’re trying to give them a lucrative program with more depth than ever before.”
A Female Feature
A large portion of the female population is quite vocal when it comes to supporting gender equality, especially any time the subject of equal pay enters the conversation. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
It’s interesting, however, that even with this loud gender equality debate, there are still certain tasks and functions that are traditionally assigned more to one gender than the other. For instance:
By Diane M. Ciarloni
But, in 2019, it’s becoming more and more obvious that most roles lend themselves quite readily to “gender switch.” Consider, as an up- close example, the writer of this discussion. In the past 18-months, I have scraped that horrible popcorn from ceilings, prepped and painted walls, repaired the toilet twice, fixed the fresh water dispenser on my refrigerator, installed new slider brackets for one of the drawers, refinished kitchen cabinets and installed crown molding......for starters. The point is, gender isn’t everything.
Gender has also been a topic within the Quarter Horse industry.
It wasn’t too long ago that we talked about the advantage of stallions over mares when it came to proving themselves as producers. After all, we said, stallions can breed 100+ mares every year. Proving themselves as successful sires is a numbers game. The more mares they breed, the greater their chances
to come with a winner. If nothing else, the law of averages can take them quite easily over the top.
Then there are mares, with their one poor, pitiful baby. Just one. It takes one forever to prove whether or not she might be a valuable producer. There is one experiment per year
to find her best breeding niche and, for each experimental mating, it is three years before knowing if it rated as a success or as a failure.
Another element of contention rests in the genetics department. Stallions spread their genetic markers throughout the pool at an amazing rate. Mares, on the other hand, have nowhere the genetic influence of stallions.
We worried over the reproductive inequity like a dog with a favorite bone.
Most of us didn’t realize a “solution” was unfolding as early as 1977, when a Texas A&M graduate student was working on the first viable embryo transfer. He succeeded, putting a live,
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Cooking = Female Laundry = Female Mechanic = Male Roofer = Male Plumber = Male
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New Mexico Horse Breeder