What if my new mare is in foal to her son?

Hi all,

I recently purchased a new TB mare who had been sharing a paddock with her (currently 4 year old) colt when he went back to the breeder to spell between preps. She is in very good condition on barely any feed and not great pasture (which is somewhat uncommon in TB's).

We purchased her late december and she stayed with her old owner for another 3 weeks due to flooding. During this time I believe she has put on more weight on what I believe is a very basic diet.

I never thought to really ask (stupid I know) as to the chances of her being in foal to her son, as any self respecting owner would be sure to seperate the mare and colt if she was in season or any funny business was occuring.

Due to her condition I have called the previous owner tonight to ask if she thought that the colt (son) may have covered her and she replied saying that "they fooled around all the time"......ahhh....this is NOT good!!!!

I have a few years experience in the TB racing and breeding industry and while having a foal does not bother me...one born from incest does due to possible heath problems for mare and/or foal.

Have not found much info on the net as to whether the consequences of this (possible) mating are..If anyone has an opinion or knowledge they would like to share on this topic i'd love to hear it...p.s...have not had the chance to get a preg test/vet check yet...would prefer to be prepared for the results...no changing it now if she is already in foal to her son.

Thanks for reading.

Actually there is if it is within a certain time frame. Have your vet out and they can give her a shot to bring her back in to season.

Either way she should be preg checked because there is no way to know if she is in foal otherwise. If she is in foal to her son, I would be giving her the shot.

Thanks HowClever...

But I actually think that she is 'big' enough that is she is actually in foal to him, she must be at least half way through her pregnancy and unless their is a high risk of the foal being disfigured/unhealthy etc I would prefer to wait it out.

Agreed about the vet, but tonight is the first time I have really explored this possibilty...will speak with a vet this week about preg test. Just really trying to find out how bad this situation could be for mare and foal if she is pregnant.

A mother to son breeding is not a gaurantee of trouble. In fact, although its not done regularly now that the populations of most breeds have increased sufficiently, there have been many successful lines founded on closebreeding.

In the mother/son breeding, the genes of the dam are potentially doubled, so anything good in the mare might be better in the foal, anything bad might be worse, depending on the nature/inheritance of the trait. Inbreeding does increase the probability that a rare simple recessive defect might surface, but its more likely that the foal will be normal.

Don't worry or listen to old wives tales and myths JuJulio. Thousands of foals are born each year, from inbreeding. There is no greater risk really, than having problems in linebred or outcrossed breedings.

Good points and flaws the mare possesses, certainly are more likely to show up in this baby. Hopefully the mare is nice quality and will reproduce herself.

Don't worry!

Lizzie

I wouldn't worry about it, linebreeding happens all the time and there's cases much worse than this. I would have her palpated to see if she is prego, and if your mare isn't a comformation or temperament wreck and you're okay with having a foal from her, you can choose to keep or abort.

Thanks so much guys, im definitely feeling more at ease. Will have the vet out soon for palpation. The mare should produce a decent foal (if she is in fact pregnant). She has some behavioural issues im slowly finding out and not to happy with but that may be more nurture than nature.

Thanks again, really glad I stumbled across this forum.

All the best!

Don't forget to show us pics of the little one, when it arrives. We love baby pics.

Lizzie

I agree with the above statements. In all my years of riding and working with horses, I've seen lots of close and of course not so closely related babies, and there is only one that actually had any serious problems. He was an Arab, his mom was bred back to her sire by mistake, and the baby was born with wobblers syndrome, and while he can't be ridden much, he lives out his life spoiled in a pasture, happy and healthy. Especially in Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, you can find a lot of "inbreeding" in the bloodlines of a lot of the horses, and they've all turned out just fine, and some have even gone on to breed and produce good babies themselves. I would definitely have her checked, just so you can have an idea of when she may be due, and so you can start making sure her nutritional needs are met while she's carrying, and nursing her baby. Good luck, and definitely keep us posted and put pics up.

Now, if you take the foal that she produces then breed it back again to the dam or sire....yaaa might end up with a bit strange foal ;)

I do believe it takes 3-4 generations of inbreeding for really funky stuff to show up. I'll be linebreeding a rabbit when she's old enough, put together, I believe it the pairing will throw exceptional kits.