S
StarRidgeAcres
Guest
I don't have the emails in front of me as they are only on backups, and it was 3 years ago so my memory isn't very reliable at this point, but I recall her being referred to as type III (the foal) and then later I remember, via an email from John, him referring to Corona having type I and the Sunny, the mare, having type III. I'm pretty confident I remember the results of the sire and dam, but I may be foggy on the filly being referred to as type III. Maybe if both are present, the more acute is the label that is given to the foal? I don't know. I personally beinf is it incorrect that both the sire and the dam have to carry the same type in order to produce a visual dwarf. I'm pretty confident that only two have to be present, not two of the same type.I am getting more confused.. If Corona was Type 1 and the mare was type 3, what was the dwarf??? This indicates that the sire and dam don't have to carry the same type of dwarf genes in order to produce a dwarf. I do think someone else mentioned that earlier in this thread but without an example of it actually happening. This is getting more and more educational all the time.
Also, I realized I never answered your original questions about why we knew she was a dwarf. This is the only picture I have of her remaining, and I never saw her in person, but her head appeared to be almost as wide as it was long, her underbite was severe, her tongue hung out and would not stay in her mouth at all and she could not nurse at all. Her mouth couldn't close and therefore couldn't create a sucking reflex. Her tendons were very lax, she was about 14" tall and she also couldn't move her neck in the right position to nurse, assuming she could have suckled. Her spine appeared to be roached, and she was breathing with great difficulty. And I believe I said she passed at about 18 hours, but I think it was more like 8. Her owners wanted very much to save her and do whatever was necessary to save her, but after speaking with the husband it was decided the best thing was to let her go. They conferred with their vet and he agreed.
The saddest part of all of this is that Sunny, the mare, eventually passed from undetermined complications from the having the foal. She was a very special mare to the family, a show mare, with a pedigree that is very sought after. But mosty, she was their pet because of her silly antics and bossy personality. I will forever feel responsible for her being gone. Corona's life is great. He gets to be a rockstar and loved greatly by his young companion. He didn't suffer from this; it's the mares that suffer.