North American Sport Horse Breeder

This new reference work, directed to the breeder of sport horses, specifically those in North America, presents the breeder with a fresh way to evaluate equine genetics through the pedigree, a method to identify key individuals in the ancestry that can be dominance building candidates, and with instruction on how to use this information to construct the most advantageous mating. The application of these breeding principles is focused on the Olympic-style sport horse but is just as applicable to all other equine breeding endeavors.

Sure to surprise many is the revelation of how long and how committed North Americans have been in creating and enjoying true sport horses. The history section identifies the untapped sport potential that resides in our usually ignored domestic breeds; many of them carry far more sport DNA than we see in the genetic spectrum of the currently popular European horse.



Kathleen Hiney Kirsan

You may say I am the least likely person to have written a book about sport horse breeding. I was not part of the horse culture in my younger years, and I did not even own a horse until I was 39. I was born in Boston and raised in its suburbs; I spent most of my adult life working in the construction industry.

My entry into breeding began with a Thoroughbred mare that was a cull from the racetrack. I became intrigued with the names in her pedigree, and this then began my study of bloodlines and heredity. My passion coincided with the appearance of great works in the Thoroughbred industry that evaluated which pedigree patterns were producing winners. Because I understood genetics work the same in every equine, I applied the Thoroughbred industry's findings to my own program, which resulted in immediate improvements in my foals.