Cloning -- Clayton, the clone of Scamper

liveryst · **Joined:** Sat Mar 17, 2007 4:52 pm **Posts:** 13

Clayton the Clone

You certainly have heard about Charmayne James' horse Scamper, the bay Quarter Horse gelding who won 10 consecutive barrel racing world championships. You may also have heard that Charmayne spent $150,000 in 2006 to have a clone of Scamper. But did you realize that clone is now a beautiful bay 2 year old stallion with a stud fee of $4000 being booked for this next summer?

Clayton, named for the little town in New Mexico where Charmayne was raised, was cloned to further Scamper's bloodline, conformation, mind, and heart. His DNA is an exact replica of Scamper's. Charmayne hopes that breeding Clayton to select barrel racing bred mares will produce foals that are predestined to win. At this point, the AQHA does not allow cloned horses to be registered, but unregistered horses are still allowed to compete in rodeo events, giving Clayton's progeny a chance to prove themselves in the barrel racing world.

Plans for Clayton include training and riding him, and teaching him a discipline. But Charmayne doesn't plan on the stallion running the barrels or competing seriously. Clayton is riding in on the coat tails of Scamper's achievements and it remains to be seen if there will be a big payoff.

What do you think of cloning, and would you fork out the stud fee for a chance to own a descendant of Scamper's clone? Share your opinions and give your insight, we'd love to hear what you think!

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DaisyKJ · **Posted:** Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:52 pm

In my opinion, the $4000 stud fee is excessive. Because while I'm a huge fan of Scamper and Charmayne and give them full credit for all of their accomplishments, I don't give any of that credit to Clayton. He may have the body and physical traits a barrel horse can use best. But I think the heart and amazing instinct that Scamper had is something that can never be duplicated.

I think Scamper's success went far deeper than just genetics. I think all of the training and life experiences that went into his career is what carried him beyond any other in the barrel racing industry.

Charmayne might be smart to take this route, time will tell. But I wouldn't be buying into it.

BTW, to read up on Clayton, visit www.breedtoclayton.com.

Hereford · **Joined:** Sat Aug 23, 2008 1:53 pm **Posts:** 10

Crazy. The money she spent and the money she's asking is just a total waste if you ask me. There are plenty of horses already, no need to be foolish about it.

Lauren · **Joined:** Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:32 pm **Posts:** 71

I am 100% against cloning. It's not our place to play God. Would I pay that stud fee? Goodness no. Why would anyone want two of the same horse? Then it's not special anymore. It's like saying hey, I just made ANOTHER Seabiscuit! Well then the first one was kind of pointless wasn't he...

Maybe it's just me - why would you clone a horse when there are so many unwanted ones who need homes??

chris2729 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:21 pm

i agree Lauren, the other thing about cloning is that it's not a guarantee on how the horse turns out - especially with tempermant and training! i've also heard that the animal cloned will tend to not be as healthy or hardy. it's like when you make a photocopy, then make a copy of the copy. the photocopy from the original is close, but not perfect and then the copies from the copies down the line get worse and worse

not something i'd ever want to invest in either

EchoSackett · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:00 am

Ridiculous!

trixie · **Joined:** Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:58 pm **Posts:** 18

I think it's wrong. The owner seems to have done this out of greed. Wasn't she famous enough already?

Cloning -- Clayton, the clone of Scamper

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