I own a 4 year old maiden DWB mare who is 15.1 hands (hopefully not yet done growing). Both parents were 16.1 hands, but the stallion does not throw size and this mare was her dam's first foal. I am considering breeding this mare next year but I need to get more height. This mare has a large barrel (looks like a quarter horse) good bone, and her vulva appears larger (longer) than normal. My question is - can I breed her to a 16.3 hand horse without problems? My inclination is to start smaller, but horses less than 15.2 hands are not eligable for full DWB registry, and I would be loosing money on the foal if it's not eligible for full registery.
Monique
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 07:57 pm:
I purchased a 14.3 h.h. cremello quarter mare last year. She is very big bodied basically a horse body on stub of legs. Anyway she was bred to 17.1 h.h. TB and as I understand it foaled just fine. I purchased her 2 weeks after she foal and she only had a little brusing which is normal. I am planning on breeding her this year to a 17+ hand stallion. I think of you have any doubts ask your vet. As I understand it wide hips are what you need. The foal will only grow to the size that the mare's uterus will allow but if her hips don't allow the foal to pass threw then you have a problem. Hope this helps.
Jackie Posted From: 216.99.108.5
Posted on Tuesday, June 01, 2004 - 11:09 am:
Some People small mares to large stallions, and they say they are just fine and that the foal will match the size of the mares at birth.
That isn't something I do. I'm just not comfortable with that. I look at frame size, not height to determine whether I will mate a maiden mare to a certain stallion. A very tall "modern type" horse would be what I would put on your mare. The foal will then have the best chance of being tall and leggy without being big bodied and bulky.
Anonymous Posted From: 145.254.116.71
Posted on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 12:31 pm:
The size of your mare is the result of the nutrition she received in the first 2 years of her life. some people are just in love with 17h stallions. Breeding to that size horse via AI is no problem, however live cover could create problems, if the stallion is not well mannered! You can push any foal with high protein feed to a certain size. Just throwing them out in a field without additional feed will not get you there, even if the parents are 17hh!!!!
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