Stallions size for pony?

[fornema]

I was talking with a friend about breeding neither of us knowing huge INS and outs of it all, although know the basics, we were wondering if you had a pony of 13.2hh what would be the largest stallion safely to breed with, without it be damaging to the pony.

 

[competitiondiva]

best to post this in the breeding section but personally depending on the build of the pony, age of the pony, maiden etc, and the build of the stallion, i'd say no more than about 15hh, but as said it would depend on the points stated...

 

[MrVelvet]

any... AI !! lol

 

[competitiondiva]

any... AI !! lol

lol, i think they mean foal size!!! they say a mare only carries a foal she can carry but i've known a fair few problems occur with big foals, so i'd say you need to be responsible, would you forgive yourself if you put your mare to a big stallion, had a big foal that god forbid caused a bad outcome? yes people have done crosses with big height differences and gotten away with it, only you know how you'd feel if it didn't work out!

bear in mind a cobby mare to a fine build stallion you can go bigger, whereas a fine mare to a big heavy built stallion you're asking for more problems.

 

[fornema]

any... AI !! lol

I doubt it otherwise shed it'd have problems foaling

 

[team barney]

I believe many years ago Morgan Equine auctioned several Welsh B mares in foal to World Classic, he was over 16hh.

Edited to add... Just googled to see if I could find any pics of the resulting offspring. http://horsebreeders.myfastforum.org/sutra118563.php This mares dam was only 13hh, and according to SHBGB World Classic was 16.3hh!!!!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

You wouldn't go too big. If the mare was big and roomy you could go bigger, if she is dainty then I wouldn't her put to anything more heavyweight than a Sec D or a small tb of light build

I've seen a shetland x lippizanner with the mother the shetland. The foal was born the size of a big shetland foal, the mother foaled easy enough - she wasn't a maiden and knew what to do which helped no end! - and within a few weeks of freedom for growth the wee beasty shot up to be the same size as his mother. Not long after he was much taller. About 3 months old he had to be weaned from her as he was doing himself damage trying to get down far enough to drink milk. Bless the mare she did really try everything to help him but he just ended up too big. He was weaned onto a Clydy mare quite sucessfully so alls well that ends well.

P.S. The shetxlippy was never intentional, a friend bred the mare, took a few foals from her then sold her on, bought her back 3 years later already in foal.

 

[MrVelvet]

i thought it was the mare that determines the size.... ?

 

[MrVelvet]

Er obviously not, putting a 16hh stallion on a 13.2hh mare be it naturally or AI is still gonna cause problems, anyone who does this sort of thing is just irresponsible.

was there any call for the sarcasm/just plain rudeness?

 

[Foxhunter49]

I have used a 16.1 horse on a cobby 13.2 mare with no problems, foal grew to 15.2.

Like the above, had a Shetland mare disappear one night and was found about a mile away in a field with a TB Premium Stallion. No one thought anything could have happened as it was a flat field and he was 16.2. The result was a colt that grew into a cracking 14.2 pony. Like the other the foal soon out grew his dam but they were turned out on a steep hill field and he would stand downhill to the mare.
He grew into a wonderful hunting pony and was as sure footed as the best of them.

 

[Dexter]

My rising 2 year old is out of a pony mare, measured in as 148cms but in reality 14.1hh. Shes got bigger breeding and isnt a cob (3/4 arab) but is a big roomy mare. Dad is a 17.2hh mainly warmblood with a dollop of ID, Oberon lines so a big solid horse. I wouldnt have had the nerve to do it, but Dex popped out fairly small, I bought him at 10 months old standing 12.2hh. Hes currently 22 months old and pushing 15hands, expected to make 16hands plus at maturity.

 

[Spring Feather]

i thought it was the mare that determines the size.... ?

The mare's uterus determines the size of the unborn foal. The mare and the sire's genes determine the overall adult size of the horse.

I've been breeding horses for decades and in that time I've bred small horses to large horses quite a few times (so I must be "irresponsible" ). I've also bred ponies to medium sized horses. I've never had any problems whatsoever with the birthing of these foals.

Quite frankly, the breeders I know who have had multiple foaling problems have been ones who breed large chunky mares to large chunky stallions not those who breed light/medium weight ponies to light/medium weight horses.

The biggest height differences I've done was one many years ago, 13.1hh arab mare to a 16.3hh TB stallion, the colt came out regular sized and matured at 15.3hh. The most recent was last year when I put a 15hh TB mare to a 17.1hh hanoverian stallion, the foal was born dinky but now looks set to reach 16hh.

 

[MrVelvet]

if HHO had a 'like' button.... i would 'like' above comment