What do you think of Impressive bloodlines?!?!?

I have an Impressive bread 4 year old mare that is the greatest horse! She is smart, gorgeous,and pretty much has it all. But every time I tell someone what her bloodlines are they freak and say how horrible of a horse she is. Should horses even be judged on there bloodlines?

Have you heard of HYPP, the HYPP diseases come from the horse name Impressive. Here the Link to http://www.bringinglighttohypp.org/Impressive.html

http://www.aqha.com.au/registry_serv...neric_HYPP.asp

Yes, Impressive was a great stallion but it was then discovered that he carried a muscle disease called HYPP. Many of his offspring have it. You should test your horse to see if she is HYPP negative. Sometimes, even if the horse does have the disease, it doesn't show until the horse is much older. Sometimes it doesn't doesn't show at all. But it's better to have the horse tested for it.

I thought that disease was from over inbreeding of the Impressive line. Or was the inbreeding brought it out more?

I'd say not so impressive.

Have you had your mare tested?

LOL... And now you see why people scream... ick! Impressive, how awful! There is a thing called HYPP and you need to test your horse!

I have 2 impressive bred horses, My mare is out of Top Vantage who is out of Impressive. My gelding, is out of my mare. I LOVE the impressive line, they are smart, quick learners, pretty to look at and really can do it all.

The thing about the Impressive line is that when he came along, he was THE horse. I mean, if you wanted a quarter horse, that day and age, he was the ultimate horse (according to the quarter horse world) so everybody in there brother bred to that horse. It wasn't until years later that his offspring started showing signs of HYPP, back then, it didnt exist, so NOBODY would have tested for it. It wasn't until even many many years later (sometime in the 80's I think- which would mean that horse had been breeding and his offspring had been breeding for over 10 years at that point) that they were able to link the disease to Impressive, which means he was still being bred while they were researching the causes, effects, and origins of this desease. By then you had registered AND unregistered horses that carried those bloodlines. The next step would have been to SUGGEST people test for the disease, it used to be expensive, now I think it's only like $40. AQHA started a rule that they had to be tested at some point and now I'm not sure you can even register an HYPP horse. The disease isn't quite as common now, I'm not sure the Appy association or the Paint association has rules on testing or not, but they used Impressive lines as well.....

Sorry for the long story, just trying to make a point, although I'm not really sure what my point is? Other than, AQHA is trying to fix the problem, but you are looking at what? 30 years of breeding that line with tested and untested horses? It will take a long time to "fix" the problem and it will probably never fully go away....

I geuss my point is this... I love my Impressive horses... they are HYPP/NN............

I have been lurking around for about 2 months, and now and after reading some of these posts I finally decided to make an account.

Impressive was Impressive by name and Impressive by game. Him and many of his descendants were very successful in the show circuit and still are. I am not going to rattle on a list of how many shows he won or how well he did in halter, I am just going to tell you to do some research before you go and diss him or any of his offspring. This disease can be fatal but it can also be controlled by medication and a low-potassium diet. I am not saying to buy a horse because it has this gene, that is just plain stupid. I am just saying that if the horse is already born it is not completely useless just because of this gene.

This disease should be controlled and in a perfect world it would not exist, but it does and now aqha, apha, The Appaloosa Association, and the American Palomino Association are trying to fix it, but that is going to take time.

So to answer your question farmpony, yes the other registries are demanding blood tests for any Impressive descendants. Only horses tested n/n can be registered.

I hope what I have said has not offended anyone or made anyone angry. And I also hope that I got my point across, that one day Impressive should be remebered because of his impressive legacy not his imfamous one.

I'm with cremellocowboy on this one........If an Impressive horse has tested n/n, then it means that they do not have the hypp gene & will not pass it to any of their offspring.
IMHO, Impressive horses are being misjudged because of mis-informed people......for whatever reason, they don't have all the facts & base their judgement on hearsay. So now it's up to us who own these horses to set the record straight & provide accurate information when we can.

We had Impressive horses when I was growing up. Again, I'd say... not so impressive. I think back in the day the hype was deserved but not so much in this day and age.

So I wouldn't exactly classify the people that judge them as such, misinformed. Some of it is just flat out fact. Now for those that have Impressive horses and like them, that's all that should matter- what you think, not if the rest of don't think highly of them.

I'm sorry... I must be feeling argumentative today... I was at an AQHA show just yesterday and there was a Sky's Blue Boy there that was nothing to look at... Didn't do well at all. BUT - Sky's Blue Boy has some KILLER babies out there right now, in fact there were several at that show that were in the ribbons all day.... so, to see, or even own just one horse that's out of a really great producer that isn't the cream of the crop and then to say that the bloodline just arent that great... well... I mean, not all babies are going to be perfect or even flawless...