In utero foal size?

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Marigold4

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Probably a stupid question but here I go ...

How much does foal's sire size influence the foal size in utero? So, for example, if I put my 15 hh mare in foal to a 16 hh sire would this produce a bigger foal in utero or just foaled than if I put her in foal to a 14 hh sire? Or are foals just born "foal" size and do all their growing later? A bit like human babies, I suppose?

Hoping that makes sense!
 
My vet always told me that the mare decides the size of the foal and that she wouldn't have one too big whatever the sire was like. I rather disagree with him. Not so much on size of stallion but on build. I used a very chunky, with a lot of bone stallion on my 14hh mare. She had previously had foals by bigger sires with no problem. This foal was a problem. He took after dad, loads of bone, big joints and he got stuck. She couldn't get his shoulders out and was panicking, swinging her hindlegs back and forth. It took my husband and I both pulling to eventually shift him. My husband was a farmworker at the time and very strong but it had him sweating. The foal was very over at the knee for several months and got worse if he ran around much, presumably because of the strain on his legs with us pulling him. Grew into a strapping animal. Mind you that mare had a huge ribcage and had several foals that were 10hhs at birth which for a 14hh mare is pretty big. Size of foal at birth didn't seem to have any correlation to final size. I use to chart the progress of my foals and it was amazing how much growth rate varied even in full siblings.

My thoughts are that it isn't so much the height of the stallion but the bone. In the cattle world Friesian/Holstein cows are used to breed to Belgium Blues which are a very heavily muscled breed. Resulting calves are too big for a normal birth. Our local vet used to be called in to perform caesarians as a regular procedure, usually several cows, like a production line. He really didn't approve but it was his job.

So a load of waffle here which may or may not be helpful. As I said, look at the bone of the stallion and if you can what sort of foals he throws.
 
Thank you. That's very interesting. I hadn't thought about amount of bone and potential width of foal but that makes total sense. My mare is 15 hh, a little narrow in front but average width behind. She has had two foals before, before I owned her, and managed both times to get the foal out without vet help. Stallion I am thinking of using is 13.3, quite square with a strong loin and shortish legs. I was hoping using a smaller stallion would lessen the load for her, but that is not the main reason for choosing this stallion, just an extra plus, I had hoped.
 
Marigold4 said:
Thank you. That's very interesting. I hadn't thought about amount of bone and potential width of foal but that makes total sense. My mare is 15 hh, a little narrow in front but average width behind. She has had two foals before, before I owned her, and managed both times to get the foal out without vet help. Stallion I am thinking of using is 13.3, quite square with a strong loin and shortish legs. I was hoping using a smaller stallion would lessen the load for her, but that is not the main reason for choosing this stallion, just an extra plus, I had hoped.
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You should be fine with that cross. I think the general rule is that there should be no more than two hands difference between mare and stallion, but as another poster mentioned, I wouldn’t put anything too wide over a particularly fine mare either.
 
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