Breeding out Conformational Faults & the Importance of Mares

[Tremor]

I was wondering about this for a couple days now and its completely hypothetical. I will use my own horses as examples.

Say I owned a mare with a couple conformational faults (cow hocks for instance) and I was looking for a stallion to breed her to. My goal was to breed out the cow hocks and produce a foal with straighter legs than its dam. The mare in question inherited her cow hocks from her dam and that mare inherited her's from her dam. 3 generations of cow hocks; each sire with straighter legs than the mare he was bred to.

So, I have a goal to breed towards yet I'm looking for the right stallion conformationally.

Knowing what I do about the mare's female relatives (producing cow hocks) would it make sense to look for a stallion with a dam with straight legs and make sure he produces as such?

Obviously one would assume that it may take a couple generations. Another obvious fact would be to NOT breed the mare in the first place, but if somebody wanted to breed out the faults they could feel entitled to because they were hoping to produce a better foal than its parents. (or at least one)

I was seriously thinking about this last night because I do have a filly with cow hocks from her dam, who's dam also was cow hocked.

Like I said, hypothetical; I have no interest in breeding for at least 3-4 years in the future. I hope this made any sense because its past midnight and I'm tired...lol.

 

[Norah]

Hi ,without reading the whole post I can tell you how I feel about it , and it's an AWESOME topic BTW. I purchased a mare with a splay hoof and Padilla issues for 4'500. Was I getting ripped off ..yes , however I did not see the splay hoof because she was a stalled horse, and I was not educated enough , and I trusted people ( I don't anymore).

This horse was not able to grow with me as I became a better shower , sadly , because someone thought they could breed out a bad conformation . I made the sad decision to give her to a person for a child to show , and to learn how to showin a less competitive show, as she was nicely trained , and very sweet . My belief is that ONLY horses with a successful show record and impeccable confirmation should be bred .... And even then a plan B should be made in case the horse has a problem , meaning only breed what you have room for and money to care for yourself . If everyone did this we would have empty lots at the auctions . I would also like sellers to be more honest as to why they are selling , that being said people who are in the market to buy need to educate themselves. As I said before , I made the mistake of buying a poor horse , I was the fool . But at least I was 100 percent honest about her confirmation to the next person. I wish we could steralize mares with an injection, wouldn't that be awesome ... Splay hoof , bing , no more breeding that problem, hock kneed, out of the program , fluxulated patila , forget about breeding that ! I am not. Saying that you can't breed a mare with a short back or a visual dislike , that is up to the individual. , and that will separate the class of horse , driving , halter , jumper etc ....but anything that hinders the movement Should never be bred . IMO

 

[JMS Miniatures]

IMO you have to look at the dam, I think the dam is a higher percentage then the sire when it comes to the foal. Some may disagree and feel its 50/50 but I don't agree with that. So yes definitively pay attention to the mothers which sounds like it's what your doing. So many people think they have to breed to the best sire which is fine, I think you should breed to a well known stallion to help sell the foal, but if your mare isn't up there in quality as well then your going to look at getting an average foal. Also show records are nice but I rather see they are producing show winners.

 

[Minimor]

While us is possible to breed out conformation problems one must realize that it doesn't always work as planned. You can breed that cow hocked mare to a good legged stallion but that will not necessarily give you a foal with good legs or even with better legs than it's dam. The foal may come out cow hocked just like mama. or you could happen to get a foal with good hind legs but then...someday you breed that foal and the resulting baby could be cow hocked just like grandma.

 

[targetsmom]

I would not breed a mare - or a stallion - unless I would be very happy to get a foal exactly like that parent.

 

[Jill]

I would not breed a mare - or a stallion - unless I would be very happy to get a foal exactly like that parent.

This is how I have always felt, too. Unless I'd be thrilled to own the exact duplicate of what I feel is the "least" of the match, I would not breed the horse.