Does the studbook give scores or rank mares during approval?
No. The Continental Studbook operates a pass/fail approval process that is designed to detect and reject undesirable defects that can be diagnosed, measured or described in detail. Your horse will never be rejected for traits that cannot meet these criteria. The Studbook is not designed to grade the goodness of one mare verses another mare in absolute numbers. There is little correlation between inspection scores in any registry and breeding or performance success; furthermore, rejection of mares at breeding inspections of any registry is a very rare occurrence. These inspections are also not designed to capture problems such as ocular or bite defects, for example, so their value in the breeding process is questionable. No registry can tell an educated breeder about the future quality or performance of a horse with the basic in-hand and free exercises of an inspection. This is further complicated by breeding specialization in dressage, eventing, hunter and jumper sports. Such grading i
