a214  1132  13 May 84
AM-Sport Horse, Bjt,620
First New American Horse Breed in 100 Years
By JOE WHEELAN
Associated Press Writer
    FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - Adopting assembly-line techniques,
Colorado veterinarians and a Connecticut businessman have created the
first new breed of horses in this country in 100 years, the
''American Sport Horse.''
    The businessman, Marc A. St. James, owner of Windrush Farm in
Litchfield, Conn., believes the American Sport Horse will be
recognized as the world's best Olympic-caliber jumping horse a decade
from now.
    The new breed blends the quickness and athletic ability of the
American thoroughbred and the leaping talents of European warm bloods,
a broad category of jumping horse that dominates international
competition.
    St. James is establishing a registry for the American Sport Horse, a
marketing subsidiary for selling the horses at up to $500,000 each,
and a new sport that would showcase the breed's speed and jumping
ability.
    ''Our hope for this horse specifically bred to run and jump is that
it will not only be suited for this new event, but it also can go
into American Horse Show Association jumping events and lead to
international competition and the Olympics,'' St. James said. ''You
could say that if a foal born this year were exceptional, it would be
possible for it to be in the Olympics in 1992.''
    The new breed is arriving on the scene with a rapidity unknown in
horse-breeding history, because of new animal reproduction techniques
developed at Colorado State University.
    Working with just five mares and four stallions supplied by St.
James - all either thoroughbreds or European jumping horses -
veterinary scientists at the university in the past year have
engineered 18 pregnancies that so far have produced five foals, with
the birth of the other 13 expected in the next few months. Forty-five
pregnancies are planned next year.
    Each mare is artificially impregnated with live or frozen sperm from
one of the stallions. When the embryo becomes a week old, it is
removed and implanted in another mare. This surrogate mother carries
the foal to full term 11 months later. In the meantime, the real
mother, or ''donor mare,'' can continue producing embryos. St. James
says the donors can provide up to five embryos a year.
    Dr. Ed Squires, head of the university's Equine Sciences Program,
said, ''Here we have a breed of horse where they decided to break down
the barriers and use all the biotechnology available to develop a
breed.''
    St. James launched the venture when U.S. Olympic horsewoman Melanie
Smith suggested developing a horse breed along the lines of Calypso,
Miss Smith's champion mount and a premier U.S. jumper. Windrush Farm
manages Calypso.
    The first American Sport Horse, Windrush Eve, was born March 29. She
was joined during the next six weeks by Memphis, Windrush Adam,
Denver and a colt born last week that hasn't been named yet.
    All were conceived and transplanted in the Colorado State laboratory
west of Fort Collins. The foals' home now is a farm outside Memphis,
Tenn., owned by Windrush Farm. Other surrogate mothers are waiting to
give birth there, St. James said.
    The foals will be entered in the new American Sport Horse Registry,
the first horse registry to accept artifical insemination and embryo
transplants as viable reproduction methods.
    St. James estimates he and other investors have put up to $7 million
into the project, including financing the work at Colorado State.
    A regimen to bring the horses up to Olympic caliber, St. James said,
will start with in-hand competition when they are 2-year-olds. They
will begin European-style chute jumping as 3-year-olds, and as
4-year-olds, they will face stiffer challenges. They will enter
international competition as 5- and 6-year-olds.
    
ap-ny-05-13 1431EDT
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