Breeding him was the biggest mistake. Over 60% of his foals are deaf. Thats like breeding a stallion throwing vlub feet yo everyone. Money hungry mongrels is what this truly is.
Oh please! What an old school (obsolete school) mentality! Thanks to research at UC Davis and the University of Kentucky, the new understanding of genetic inheritance makes line breeding for color unnecessary. Modern breeders have a better understanding of how it works and no longer rely on inbreeding to produce spiffy colors. Gunner could cover a mare from a completely different breed, let alone family, and produce beautifully colored foals. In fact, that's how stallions earn their keep.
yeah he got hurt a little bit before and they tried to fix it, the rider wanted to just quit showing him but he was like the hottest horse at the time so the owner had like a super prestigious vet do stuff to him and then after this run in the semi finals they decided to retire him and breed him
@painteddakotastorm I'm not for certain, but I would guess that the small ears is just a coincidence, or if anything caused *by* the deafness somehow and not the other way around. There's been too much research about lack of pigment in the ear as a cause of deafness. Just because the blaze isn't huge like Gunner's (bald face) doesn't mean that the pigment can't be affected inside the ear. There are similar circumstances with other animals, like dogs, where they are deaf because of no pigment
Gunner is Deaf and some of his Gets and Grandgets are deaf...but thay are very smart horses..but gunner and his foals have small ears...and it most likely the deaf ones have small ears
The first horse I learned how to stop on was a Gunner horse and he was super fun. Even though he was deaf I rode almost the same way. Even when he was spooky, since he was deaf too, he was very willing to trust it was okay if his rider was okay with it. Gunner is one of the best things to happen to the paint reining gene pool
@lindalentz54 Gunner IS deaf, it's pretty common knowledge if you just do a bit of research. I can't post any links here because RU-vid won't let me. The bald faced horses do have a much higher risk of being deaf. I'm not sure the details of that, but it's true. Again, you can look that up. Since he passes his bald face onto many of his offspring, then logic follows that they, too, will have higher risk of being deaf. Now, what were you saying about novices?
What the hell are you people talking about? Deaf? God help the novice who thinks he is an expert. Is there documented proof the horse produces deaf foals? Where, so I can read it. Unless you have documented proof don't start a smear campaign. My old trainer, may he rest in peace, told me that most people know just enough to get them in trouble. This is surely one of those cases.
Ms. Lentz, you might want to do a little research. Go to Google and enter "Gunner + deaf foals" and see what comes up. It isn't a smear campaign. They aren't rumors, they're facts. If that isn't enough to satisfy you, call Tim and ask him. Spooks Gotta Whiz is also bald-faced and has produced deaf foals, so there's got to be something to it. It's not a smear campaign against him, either, since I've seen the comments about it made by his owner.
I can say this, based on my 45+years as a professional horseman and one of the people that had the good fortune to work with Gunner in his first years as a breeding stallion. It has been my personal observation that deaf horse by in large, at least that I have dealt with had lopped ears, typically pointing out to the side and never standing up like other horses. Additionally, they have very little expression if any at all with their ears and are thus it's very hard for most horsemen to accurately read their disposition at any one time. My non-medical and purely anecdotal assumption is that since they are deaf, and they have no reason to use their ear muscles the way a hearing horse would. Thus, the ear muscles never fully develop and the ears just kind of flop to the side. If you watch Gunner in his performances from his early start with Clint Haverty his first trainer, till his last performances. He always did the same thing. He entered the arena, faced the crowd, looked to the left then to the right and went to work with almost machine-like precision. He always gave his all in every performance that I am aware of, and I think I’ve seen nearly all of them and a great many hours of watching him in practice at the farm. As for Gunner himself, he was a dream of a horse to work with in every respect. He spent most of his time at leisure sleeping. But when asked to perform any task he was always willing and cooperative. Of the hundreds of breeding stallions that I have started over the years, he was one of the easiest to train in that regard. I was working with Gunner at the time he was in training for the first USET events and ultimately put on a world-record performance in the USET semi-finals. After which we started breeding him and I delivered his first foals at Kim Sloan’s place in West Milford NJ. After I retired from the horse business the year after we started breeding Gunner he was sent to Texas and ultimately sold to Tim McQuay. Of all the horses I worked with in my long career with Thoroughbred racehorses and reigning horses, Gunner was one of the most memorable without a doubt. Now long retired I have no more contact with that world but I still have fond memories of working with Gunner he was a true horseman's horse.