Breeding myths...

[missmollylilly]

i was woundering i have a mare 12yr old bred for breeding and ment to be in foal when i bought her she is a belguim draft so v big due in 3 mnths and she has started to stand and squirt and wink at the geldings we have no stallions on the yard, does this mean that she is not in foal as i hear conflicting things can you help?

 

[elijahasgal]

Quote

Having a mare around a stallion will cause her to go into estrus

I have a mare that is very fertile. In fact the only time she didnt take first time was the year she went to stud with another, having just finished her season. The next day, having seen the boys, she was in season again

Some mares are sensative to the pheramones in the air, and it does affect them

 

[AndyPandy]

I have a mare that is very fertile. In fact the only time she didnt take first time was the year she went to stud with another, having just finished her season. The next day, having seen the boys, she was in season again

Some mares are sensative to the pheramones in the air, and it does affect them

"having just finished her season"... was this confirmed by ultrasound? If not, one cannot confidently state that a mare has "finished her season". Even if this was the case, and she had recently ovulated, the "return" to oestrus you describe is not physiologically possible, unless the mare had an asynchronous ovulation which led to a delayed (and secondary) increase in oestrogen levels.

Either way, it had nothing to do with the presence of the stallions; "pheramones" or otherwise

 

[Columbia]

Great thread, thanks. I couldn´t stop reading.

Maybe this one is also of interest?

Genetically, a foal has 50% DNA from his mother and the other half from his father. But in many real cases the part of the mother is higher, let´s say maybe 60%.

This can more evidently be seen in combinations of horses and donkeys. If mother is horse, the foal will look more like a horse. If mother is donkey, it looks more like a donkey. Always..

Nobody knows today the reason why, there are some suggestions as for exemple an extrachromosomal influence caused by free mitochondrias and scientists work currently on that matter (there´s no result yet as far as I know).

Could be another reason why clones don´t look exactly like the original (guess they´re not using the original mares oocytes).

 

[lillith]

Mitochondrial DNA is from the mother only I believe, it allows the maternal line to be traced. How much affect this has on the phenotype is unknown I think.

 

[Toffee44]

The follicle thing made me laugh when i first read it.
As I rushed my mare off to stud yesterday, as she lost the pregnancy but was ovulating while the vet was scanning her that morning, all I could see in my head was a follicle falling out hahaha sorry.


*goes back to new lounge where I belong*

 

[Dry Rot]

The following questions were raised on another forum:

Do stallions mount mares in the herd that are not in season as a form of social bonding? And, if so, is there penetration?

If a stallion serves a mare that is already pregnant, can it cause it to abort?

 

[addyjason]

Thanks for this cool post. I came to know many things about horse breeding. Great work!!!

 

[2Conker]

I would go for Eqvalan. Interestingly enough, Eqvalan was also shown to improve sperm quality in stallions about 20 years ago! It's good stuff

(always consult your vet, and the wormer vendor before use etc.)

Many thanks AndyPandy, some great information, very interesting and knocking some of those 'facts' I've certainly had over the years well out of the picture.

Also, very reassuring about the old mares, could never subscribe to the argument that they produced poorer foals - I did wonder whether their milk would be as potent? What's the oldest mare you've heard of producing a healthy foal and not harming herself (sorry, if already said this, will check through all the Thread).

 

[2Conker]

I have enjoyed this thread... I have found very informative! I love the bit about the 3000 balls, a great way to explain things!!

I have however been unable to contibrute to the thread on a sensible level because I am still finding myself highly amused that anyone would think...

[ QUOTE ]
I drove my mare to the stud and knocked off the follicle!

[/ QUOTE ]

This comment has given me the giggles, everytime I have read it!!

**HG goes back to the naughty corner... until she can control herself**

Sleepy; agree that caught me out - couldnt believe what I was reading.....such a great Thread.

 

[magic104]

Surely this is a myth!!
"FASCINATING FACT OF THE DAY Did you know that if you are working with a stallion and you spill water on yourself (or it’s raining say) the water on your skin will release hormones from your skin which could cause you a LOT of problems? I heard this from Monty recently and apparently there are studies on this – interesting!"

Was reading this thread today, when just now read the above on FB. I just do not believe this. Would this not mean that stallions could not be handled in the rain??

 

[micramadam]

Fantastic thread and have learnt a lot more.
Just to add to it, my maiden mare gave birth at exactly 340 days and had a HUGE colt foal. Wasn't a very quick birth either I think because he was so big. Luckily we were on hand to help her.

 

[scotia2k7]

...still a super thread, great reading through it again. Always liked the stallions & time of the month females story...was once told by someone "never turn yer airse to a stallion"...spent months reversing out the stables... ...

Great stuff, thanks!

 

[fburton]

...still a super thread, great reading through it again. Always liked the stallions & time of the month females story...was once told by someone "never turn yer airse to a stallion"...spent months reversing out the stables... ...

A related saying is "You can never trust a stallion" (or "Never trust a stallion"). That seems ridiculously dogmatic and alarmist to me. One might as well say "Never trust a horse"!

What about the possible myth that one shouldn't wear perfume (especially of the musk variety) around stallions because it can excite them? Although I tend to be skeptical about these this sort of statement, I have no hard evidence one way or another. There's some anecdotal evidence from people who have worn scent and have seen no effect on behaviour, but as far as I am aware no confirmed positive reports. All we would need to prove the assertion as fact is identify one perfume that causes problems. That shouldn't be too difficult!

 

[Loika]

Each parent does provide half the DNA for the offspring and in the case of the X and Y chromosomes, the Y is smaller, so it could be argued that the mother donates more DNA. This is disregarding mDNA which is passed on largly unchanged and is a dating source in archeology. It is easy to be side tracked but the real action is in the genome.

The differances of mules and hinny's is more likely due to genomal imprinting or Epigenetics and the more physical control of transcribing DNA. Basically DNA is not left unravelled in your cells but packaged neatly and unwrapped when required, it cannot be expressed in this state. Some genes are packed away and not expressed unless triggered by external factors, as demonstrated by famine followed by higher diabetes cases (as discovered in sweden, I think) or when a female, who is XX (or even XXX or XXXX), the spare X chromosome(s) is(are) inactivated at random during developement as demonstrated by link below, best example is sweat glands in humans (couldn't find heat sensitive camera picture!) as duplicate genes can be lethal or cause conditions like Downs (which is duplication of parts of chromosome 21).

Another inheritance condition is Angelmans Syndrome which is caused by a mutation in the materal copy and Prader-Willi Syndrome which is caused by a mutation in the same gene but from the father. These syndromes have very differant symptoms and only by isolating the gene was the connection made.

http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/x-chromosome-x-inactivation-323

 

[neelie OAP]

Yes agree have always found Equvalan the best