[HairOfTheDog]

I have been thinking about your solution.... And I can't bring myself to agree. I do think the promotion and selective breeding of horses (and dogs for that matter) for show is an overall benefit to the welfare of horses. It encourages the participation in and appreciation of horses and good horsekeeping.

Horses and dogs both suffer from the same overbreeding moreso by people who should never have thought to breed and do... The "wouldn't it be fun to have a foal and sell it" kind of mentality. The backyard breeder with very average stock.

I have a pony no one can ride. She is too wild for kids and too little for an adult to train. She would be hard to sell to a good home, so I keep her. Someone said to me "Well, she's pretty, you could breed her". For what? I said... To have another pony that I don't really need?" But people think like that. And it is an avalanche of small stones.

[GovernmentShrinker]

There's nothing wrong with selective breeding. But selective breeding for profit and/or for competitive advantage is an entirely different matter. It's the latter that results in overbreeding.