How close do you think is acceptable for cross breeding

[showley1]

Have been looking at many many stallions for my mare and have shortlisted 3, 1 of which has the same grandsire as my mare has on the sire's side, would you say this is too close a cross? None of the other breeding is similar and totally different dam line

 

[Tetrarch 1911]

I've seen a lot closer - half-brother/half-sister ... sire to daughter ... dam to son ... if it works, it's line breeding, if it doesn't, it's inbreeding, or so the saying goes. Most purebreds at some point have close breeding intended to 'fix' certain attributes. For example, there is one Shetland line 'Avening' which is very closely inbred and the type was very distinctive (and one which I am particularly fond of). If the stallion has attributes you want and that he appears to reproduce in his stock, I wouldn't worry about it.

The only thing I would watch out for are undesirable traits that the line can pass on. For example, I would never breed from a TB from the Dancing Brave or El Gran Senor line as both passed on parrot mouths to a lot of their stock. Heaven forfend line breeding from either of them! In your case I wouldn't worry too much if the grandsire is particularly prepotent in a good way.

 

[showley1]

Grandsire in question is darco, very new to breeding and foal is to keep so want to ensure we get it right . Thank you

 

[JanetGeorge]

Darco was the most brilliant showjumper - and has produced some outstanding offspring, including stallions. Which sons are in the two pedigrees?

There is a very good article about the French breeding 'crisis' - which mentions several successful horses who are closely line-bred. http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2012/10/french-breeding-in-crisis/

Obviousy there is always a risk of a recessive gene that no-one has discovered, but that is true with totally unrelated horses too. When you start looking right back in pedigrees of horses, you find a LOT of line breeding. Look at this TB stallion - who I found in the pedigree of Bend Or - http://www.idshs.com.au/perl/search.pl?op=tree&index=muley&gens=5 - and see some of the well known horses produced with close crosses of TB sires.

 

[Alec Swan]

The principles of line breeding would have us believe that the grandsire on one side needs to be the same animal as the GREAT-grandsire on the other.

There are too many ponderables in breeding for there to be any certainties, but that wasn't your question, was it? :redface3: The answer is No, it isn't too close, where horses live a feral life and in herds, they reproduce with far closer lineage than that, I suspect.

Alec.

 

[tristar]

i would always look for an outcross, horses have enough problems without in and linebreeding, study the lines of different stallions and the qualities they can bring to the cocktail, avoid stallions with vague pedigrees, its possible to find stallions even crossbreds who have nothing but superb breeding into their 4th or 5th generation, and of course its possible to research their progeny as you see it all in hindsight, but it only works when using very, very well bred horses of pure bloods or their crosses.

there are, for me too many variables in many `modern stallions` too mongrelyfied but there are stallions around with good old fashioned under utilised bloodlines, which if producing a filly will give more prospects for breeding on in the future.

while i realize this is not the popular view, we are dealing here with domesticated horses and hybrid vigour is for me an important ingredient, soundness and toughness are paramount, so no i would not use a related stallion on my mare.