Over-selected critters

kw: opinion, artificial selection, entertainment

One of the first "real" books I read, at age 6 or so, was about a cocker spaniel named Champion Tom [some name I don't recall]. The story of this genius among dogs was a real inspiration. During my grade school years, several friends and neighbors had cockers, and they were bright, affectionate, eager companions.

By contrast, cocker spaniels today are a bit cuter, with better "conformation", but slaverish and dumber than stones. I read a comment in a column about a dog show that spaniel "lovers" had "bred all the brains" out of the breed, in the interest of a certain physical template called "conformation".

Today, the horse Barbaro is much in the news again. This poor colt is still spending lots of time in a sling, as the vets and trainers help him recover from the laminitis that's been plaguing him for months now. "Signs are hopeful," says one commentator.

Does anyone else think, as I do, that Barbaro is a prime example of an over-bred horse? One bred for so much speed that he is too, too fragile? Would the owner of any costly mare really be willing to breed her with Barbaro? Such a match is most likely to produce foals that might run fast, but be truly useless and worthless as a "real horse", overly likely to break a leg.

We recently visited relatives in Arcadia, California. When we drove past the Santa Anita raceway, we saw that they are preparing to convert another big chunk of the parking lot into an addition to the gigantic Westfield Mall that takes up half the lot already. I remarked to my wife that the advent of color television in the late 1950s had led to a great reduction in attendance to "live" events such as horse and auto racing.

The reduction is still going on. The cash flow in horse racing leveled off decades ago and is decreasing. Why are we still over-breeding the animals? Do aficionados really think they can get billions of couch potatoes to sit in a real arena and watch horses run from hundreds of yards away, when they can see it on TV for so much less bother, with a hugely better view?