“... about having a horse that could play polo and be good. We didn’ t care whether it was tall or short, fat, dun colored or dapple grey. We cared about its aptitude”
could play polo and be good. We didn’ t care whether it was tall or short, fat, dun colored or dapple grey. We cared about its aptitude. That is why, when I was asked to commit to founding the AACCP, I wanted to modify selection criteria. When I drew up the articles of association, I copied five statutes from other associations. Aside from this, as I had been Vice-President of INTA( National Institute of Agriculture and Livestock Technology), I had had the opportunity of speaking about and becoming informed as to what biotechnology was all about. And that is why, one of the most novel things about the statute was not only allowing, but also promoting insemination and embryo transfer and any other improvement technique; it was open to everything. Even to what today we know as cloning. Maybe that was the most original part of the Association, and all that because selection would be based on aptitude.
But later, during Jorge Torres Zavaleta’ s first term as President, Jorge said that the Argentine Rural Association( SRA), in order to keep the genealogical records, demanded the baptism( definition) of a type of horse. I was against this, but they were so insistent, that I took drawings of a polo pony from a book on zoo-technology by Christopherson, and added a few measurements related to type which I had taken during the 1972 Open final, together with the Professorship of Animal Husbandry of the School of Veterinary Sciences: average standing height, 1.56 mts; weight between 400 and 500 Kg, etc. And that was the breed standard, required of us by the SRA.
But all the same it was all oriented towards selection by aptitude. That is why we value the three opposed qualities: the horse must be sensitive and strong; it must have a nerve; vitality, and be serene; and it must run fast in short distances despite having the staying-power to play seven minutes non-stop. Generally these are opposed qualities: speed and staying-power; vivacity and serenity; sensitiveness and strength.”
MG:“ But you consider sensitivity particularly important, don’ t you?” APH:“ All my life I’ ve selected according to sensitivity.”
MG:“ What does sensitivity include? A soft mouth, anything else?” APH:“ I want a horse to be a part of my body. I want it to transmit; that it should not stop due to pain, but that it should stop because you transmit to it the feeling that it should stop, and so it stops. That it captures the sensations that I transmit. It must have the sensitivity to perceive those sensations.”
BB:“ A question for you, Alberto. At what point in time do you realize that a horse is sensitive?” APH:“ I personally have detected sensitivity in a horse when it is first tethered to a post. That is how I chose some stallions. I broke in Polo Nevadito and Polo Sol Puro as well. I broke them in because I saw, when they went through the process of having a halter put on for the first time that they had a special sensitiveness, which is why I decided to tame those horses myself. I realized from the start that they were responsive when pulled along on a halter and would step on my heels, and I mounted them and it was the same. That is why from when they are very new I can tell if the horse is sensitive, and of course, when mounted I perceive it all the more.”
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