Do saddles make good homers?

[g0ldenb0y55]

I'm curious to know if anyone has won races with saddle homers and are they short or long distance. I don't know much about them so that's why I'm asking. I found some really nice looking ones online and will purchase if they are worth it for racing stock.

Henry

[Crazy Pete]

Looks do not win races, reserch the back ground of these birds, if the parents or gr parents are winners then they could be.
Dave

[Pegasus]

If you want to know if they will go home yes...But joining a race, well I never heard saddles that won or join any race...A guy who lives about 4 blocks away from me got saddle homers only, from what he told me they fly from some distance but can not guarantee to be as fast as the racing pigeons...I was fascinated by Saddles and WhiteBar homing pigeons before but I don't know how they perform...

[Lovebirds]

Saddle is a color, not a strain. Color of course has nothing to do with whether a bird can win or not.

[g0ldenb0y55]

Thanks guys for your inputs.

Dave, what you said makes total sense and I wonder if there are any out there with good winning blood. I know if there were they would be really expensive and hard to get!

Oliver - I like the white bars too! beautiful birds...pinoys do think alike!

Renee - I agree 100%. But wouldn't it be great if you had a saddle that won races?

[LUCKYT]

True Lovebirds. Color plays no part in racing, unless you favor it, and some families tend to be one color, normally cause it happens in families. I have hardly ever heard of some one flying, and selecting for color, and having great racing results, unless the family is just prone to that color. An example, my partner when i was flying in Zion Illinois, flew Black Africans. After a year or so he tried to improve the black and his results in the race basket paid the price. Dave

[Birdman79]

Just like everybody said saddle homers are bred for looks not performance.

[g0ldenb0y55]

Thanks for your input Dave and telstar12, I'll have to think about it some more if I'm gonna go through with the purchase of these saddles. Maybe I can get a pair and try it out myself. Nothing better than first hand experience...

[MaryOfExeter]

I have a baby right now who is extremely close to being a saddle. Came out of two real racing pigeons. They weren't bred for color, but the genes just happened to be there. Color makes absolutely no impact on racing ability unless you breed for color. The more things you try to accomplish in your birds (such as rare color and racing ability at the same time), the harder it is to keep up and improve those traits.
There are splashes and piebalds that win races. So if you get some of those, you have a chance of throwing some birds close to saddles.

[LUCKYT]

Sorry lovebirds, just reread your post! Dave

[george simon]

I raise Saddles first thing you all need to understand is it is not easy to raise a true Saddle you will get a whole lot of splashes and we all know that people race splashes. In the early days of developing the racer of today one of the birds use was the SMERLE this bird was Saddle marked and also had a frill in the 1860's these birds were flown out 500 miles so some of the genes are still in our modern race birds we see it when we get a racer that has a frill. If you have the book Encyclopedia of Pigeon breeds go to page 69 you will see a picture of this bird and the write up is on the next page70. On pages177 and179 you will also see Sion saddles racing homers.If I were 30 years younger I would love to take on the challenge of breeding Saddles for racing, IT WOULD BE FUN, Think about it. GEORGE

[conditionfreak]

Yep. Color means nothing except for a couple of exceptions. One being that if the pursuit in the breeding program was looking for a certain color, then other attributes suffer. Another being that is it well known that hawks seem to pick out birds in flocks to target, if they are differently colored from the rest of the flock. In other words, a silver bar in a flock of blue bars and blue checks might be more likely to be targeted as birds race home.

Research can provide that even whites can and do win races. Grizzles win. I am sure that there has been a saddle or ten win some races. But, they may have been lucky or just happen to be saddles and were not specifically bred for the saddle coloration.

I had a saddle once that was not mine. It showed up at my loft and when I checked the band number, it belonged to an Amish Menonite group who did not have a phone number nor email address. It stayed around here in my loft for a couple of weeks and then I believe, but I am not sure, the hawks got it.

I know that we are not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but saddle homers just don't instill a lot of confidence in me that they are worth racing. There has got to be some that have done well though. Just about everything has sometime or another. Even barless.

[george simon]

Originally Posted by MaryOfExeter

I have a baby right now who is extremely close to being a saddle. Came out of two real racing pigeons. They weren't bred for color, but the genes just happened to be there. Color makes absolutely no impact on racing ability unless you breed for color. The more things you try to accomplish in your birds (such as rare color and racing ability at the same time), the harder it is to keep up and improve those traits.
There are splashes and piebalds that win races. So if you get some of those, you have a chance of throwing some birds close to saddles.

Hi BECKEY, Train him and race him give the bird a chanch to prove himself. Good luck racing BECKEY ...GEORGE

[g0ldenb0y55]

Originally Posted by george simon

I raise Saddles first thing you all need to understand is it is not easy to raise a true Saddle you will get a whole lot of splashes and we all know that people race splashes. In the early days of developing the racer of today one of the birds use was the SMERLE this bird was Saddle marked and also had a frill in the 1860's these birds were flown out 500 miles so some of the genes are still in our modern race birds we see it when we get a racer that has a frill. If you have the book Encyclopedia of Pigeon breeds go to page 69 you will see a picture of this bird and the write up is on the next page70. On pages177 and179 you will also see Sion saddles racing homers.If I were 30 years younger I would love to take on the challenge of breeding Saddles for racing, IT WOULD BE FUN, Think about it. GEORGE

George, I would give you those 30 yrs if it were possible! The idea of true racing saddles is an awesome thing!

[LUCKYT]

Yes Becky, race it! i would never discourage any one from flying a bird, But i would only tell them breeding for a certain color can hurt race results, as had been said, by you and others. Dave