Big stallion to small mare...issues?

classic_astra

classic_astra

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im considering buying a 12.2 mare which has been scanned in foal to a 15.2 stallion, she is due april, and thats the same time my mare is due, so thinking it would be nice for her to have the company and the foals to grow up and be weaned together. but how likely am i to have problems with pregnancy or foaling with the stallion being so big?
 
mmmmm, I wouldn't have liked to put one so small to such a large stallion, what's the mares history? Maiden or experienced? Has she had foals by this stallion before? What size stock is the stallion throwing? What build is the stallion to the mare?

I ask these questions as I put my 15.2 mare to a 16.1 stallion, (dam G sire is 16.3 and stallion sire is 17hh) and as a maiden she produced a large leggy foal who will mature between 16.2 to 17hh! The birth was very quick, but she tore a bit of her cervix and gained a large heamatoma by her vulva, she needed a week of medication, she's fine now and it shouldn't affect her future breeding (not that I have any plans of putting her back in foal!) but that was just a height difference of 3 inches not 3 hands!!
 
she has recently had a foal which has just been weaned, but not to this stallion, im not sure about his stock but hes a middle weight cob and shes a sec c mare.
 
She will likely be ok. There have actually been instances of Shires to shetlands with shetti mums and I have known a shire x NF with the mum being NF - she was fine....and he, once out of the womb, ended up growing to 17.3!
 
Personally I wouldn't touch it. Yes, she might be fine - big stallion to small mare doesn't always mean problems (if the foal gets too big, mare will usually deliver early if she can.) BUT - if you're unlucky - it can be a serious disaster (as in dead mare, dead foal, and hundreds of pounds worth of vet's bills!!) Obviously you can have a serious disaster even when the stallion is SMALLER than the mare - but why push your luck? There are enough risks in foaling as it is!
 
I went to a breeding lecture by Twink Allen and he spoke about big stallions to small mares & vice versa and he said it had a lot to do width ie broad or narrow shoulders etc.
That is why a shire & shetland isn't as bad as it sounds as they both have comparable width to size.
Dont know if that helps
 
Don't know really, but I thought about putting my 13.2 welsh mare to a Halflinger stallion about 14.2, but built like a chesterfield sofa and the vet said don't do it.
 
My 14h mare has had 3 foals all by stallions all around 16.2h, of varying builds, her 1st foal was by Cameo's Reflection, who is fairly chunky.
All 3 foals foaled relatively easily, 2 decided they didnt want to suckle but thats got nothing to do with sizes.
The first foal, now 3 will mature about 15h, but chunky, the yearling (Weston Justice) is already 15.2h but much finer and the foal (Major League) I cant really tell yet.
 
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