Line Breeding

What are your thoughts on line breeding? I was looking at some pedigrees of someones horses and saw a ton of line breeding... I personally think it is gross, Eg. you don't want to see fathers breeding daughters in the human line..... Is it more common than we think? Is there anything regististries could do to discourage it? Is there reasons people do it? My understanding is to try and improve a certain quality, am I wrong? Just wondering what other people thought of it?

My father had Standardbreds for years and bought most of them from yearling sales. He always looked for certain line breeding (I can't tell you which ones for the life of me) on the dam's side . He was very successful@ racing and bringing yearlings along. He always said the line breeding he was looking for produced quiet well mannered horses and they has speed. Whether it was all in his head I can't say but his method worked and work well!

interesting, I am surprised that their isn't more genetic defects with line breeding....

Line breeding usually enhance the lines strong qualities but also can magnify their negative traits as well. I don't mind seeing line breeding a few generations off but definitely am not a fan of close line breeding as in parent to offspring.

I totally agree. The line breeding Dad was looking for was back a couple of generations. He always got his yearlings a little cheaper than most but maybe this is why. Dad took a lot of time studying pedigrees and researching and marked the ones in the catalogue he wanted and the price they should go for. I think line breeding works to get a breed have its "foundations" if that is the right way to say it.