Foal hernia in potential Brood Mare

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whitewood

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Got a two month old filly which has a 2 finger hernia. The mare has had a foal before and her previous one was perfect. This filly had what I would call an explosive birth, she was born during the day in the field with all the other horses around her, who took a more than active interest and the foal was up and running with another mare (not her mother) too quickly. It was sorted quickly fortunately and I put it down to that.

The vet has seen her and is not bothered at all and said it could be banded if it didn't sort itself.

Question - would you buy this foal as a potential brood mare?
 
why would it be a problem to breed from her?

my Millie had a hernia as a foal as the mare jumped up before the hindlegs were even clear!

we had it banded when she was about 5 months, it dropped of about a week later and 5 years on absolutely no problems.
 
A hernia can be caused at birth, but I tend to think that actually that particular foal could have had a hernia if with a normal birth.

I also over the years have come to the conclusion that hernia can be hereditary and progeny from certain stallions have seemed more prone to have foals with hernias. In England you rarely get the opportunities to see more than a handful of foals in any one place so unless you are taking a particular interest in a stallion and his progeny you would probably never link the to together. However in Ireland a lot of stallion owners have large brood mare bands. In the last 15 years I have seen on more than one occasion when on stud visits several foals by the same stallion in one place with large hernias.

I have also had a brood mare by a british based stallion which I had seen foals by with hernias and she actually bred two foals (by different stallions) which need operations to correct large hernia. Now maybe I was unlucky, who knows but I do now, take a keen interest in hernias as breeding allows for little profit at the best of times, without adding risk!
 
I would add, the sire has had many foals and none of them had hernias, so you maybe saying it could be the mare? Is there any way this can be tested?
 
Unfortunately as far as I am aware it is not something which can be checked for. I suppose if you ask the person who bred your mare you might find out whether she herself had a corrected hernia, or perhaps if you know the sire you might be able to find out if he did in fact have several foals with hernias. Or of course you may have been unlucky and this foal with a hernia may be the only one she ever has, proving it can be a birth issue or just bad luck!
 
Whitewood, I wouldn't even give it another thought. I haven't a clue what the National average is, but proably 10% of foals are born with hernias, and they grow into horses with no disabilities, what so ever. Well that's my experience.

And the banding? It's usually a castration ring, more generally used for lambs, which is put in place by the vet. It works a treat, trust me !! Just one thing, under no circumstances try fitting it yourself. If the hernia hasn't resolved itself at the age of 9(?) months, have an experienced vet do it. Good luck.
 
I've had two foals with hernias in the past 8 years.

One was a colt last year. Mare I hadn't bred from before - stallion was being used for the first time but had 4 foals and only 1 with a hernia.

This year I have a filly with quite a big hernia - it is her 4th foal by the same stallion. I've had more than 30 foals myself by him and never had a hernia - nor heard of any other foals by him having one.

It IS generally thought that there CAN be a hereditary element - but not necessarily hereditary in every case. I would probably steer away from a brood mare with a hernia unless she was 'exceptional' - then I'd try a foal or two and see how it went!
 
The first ID filly I bred had an hernia. The vet decided to operate after weaning at 7 months. The filly was sold at 9 months to Ireland and has had no further problems. She's graded RID and had a perfectly healthy hernia free colt this year. Hope this helps
 
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