The Conundrum

It's common to hear when a newbie comes into the hobby. They look around at the 45 accepted breeds, they might go to a convention or two. They see all the new breeds and varieties being worked on by others. And a lot of them will think to themselves, "I'd really like to give it a try, I have an idea for a new breed..." or perhaps they'll have been working on a particular breed for a short while and they think to themselves, "I wonder why X color isn't recognized, it's beautiful! I think I'll work towards getting that variety recognized."

Then if they make it a few years in the hobby, most come to realize just how difficult, time consuming, and money consuming attaining that ever-reaching goal of getting a new breed/variety through the ARBA. It literally takes time and effort that very few have in them and even fewer new folk ever really try, much less succeed.

The 'conundrum' that is the heart of it is this: in order for a breed/variety to pass the first showing at an ARBA convention, the animals must be a close representation of the proposed standard. In the succeeding years, the juniors from that original pair must demonstrate improvement over the previous year's animals. How can this be achieved by a person that barely understands the process of breeding and methods for improving an animal through genetics, selective mating, and evaluation techniques?! It's a rhetorical question, because in 99% of all cases, they simply can't. It often takes decades to achieve that kind of skill and ability. Best of luck to all the newbies with a dream. I hate to squash it, but I too once had an idea that flopped. ;) Now I content myself with simply trying to make the very best animals of my breed that I can. Fun projects are strictly that.