Interesting phone call.... New horse maybe?

[mil1212]

I had a very random phone call last night from someone who had tracked me down through my horse and our competition results. It transpires that he owns my horses full brother, and it's for sale. As it was out of the blue I wasn't really thinking to ask questions, and all I know is its a just broken 4 year old, bay, 16.2hh. After thinking about it, I shall probably ring him back this evening, for more details - especially price!. It's in Ireland so it could take more organising!
I wondered if anyone could shed some light on how alike horsey sibling are? I love my horse and he has a fantastic temerament, is well put together and has turned his hoof to everything I have asked. What is the likely hood of his younger brother being of a similar nature?

 

[Patches]

No idea on whether the full brother could be like a clone to your horse, but thinking about it logically it might not be that similar at all. I mean, my sister and I are full sisters and look nothing alike! We're as different as chalk and cheese both physically and attitude wise. Only resemblance we have is hair colour, although we both dye our hair different shades now.

On the flip side, there are siblings out there who almost look like twins as they are so very alike.

 

[Demolition_Derby]

I know my horses full sister and she is almost identical to look at and very very similar character

. They even have some of the same little quirks (and temper

!!). There is 6 years between them and they didn't grow up in the same farm etc but I guess they just inherited the same qualities. They are both like their mum more than dad.
Keep us updated!!!

 

[sallyellis]

My old boy had a full brother and full sister both older than him, and they were all identical apart from sizes, the sister was the smallest, then the older brother and then Charlie who grew to be 17.1hh not sure why but they were all the same in temperament, looks and trainability.

 

[mil1212]

Thanks for the replys guys, I follow the 2 trains of thought, 1 is that there are plenty of brothers and sisters in the world who are opposites (me and my sister being a very good example!) But also, breeding is such a big part of horses in sport - especially racing, that it must count for something. I suppose it also goes back to the whole nature vs nurture arguement also.
I'll have to see if I can get some photos and post them.

 

[TarrSteps]

I've ridden lots of siblings and found it is like people - some families are very "prepotent". some not so much. Part of the trick of organised breeding is finding which horses, nicks and characteristics breed "true" and there are no guarantees.

I would CERTAINLY look with interest at a full sibling as a horse I liked, although I'd want to see for myself it had inherited the bits I actually liked!

 

[vhf]

How much of the same upbringing do they share?!

Genetically speaking it is possible in theory for full siblings to have no genes in common. And exactly as likely that they will be genetically identical (in other words, not very!)
So the law of averages says they will share about half their genes with each other. It all depends whether the half they share are the ones you like or not!